I've been studying @naval for years now.
I've read "The Almanack," listened to the full 3.5 hours of "How to Get Rich," absorbed his best podcasts, pondered countless tweets, and more.
Here are 20 highlights you should know (thread 👇):
"Answers to all the great questions are paradoxes … Pursuing them is actually really useful because then it gives you certain intrinsic understanding in your life that brings a level of peace." — @naval
"I think the closest I can articulate ... is to keep growing and learning in the short period of time that you have. To seek truth and to accept things the way they are. To see the world the way it really is. Then, just to live your life." — @naval
If @naval could put on thing on a billboard, it would be:
"Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want."
"I think the most common mistake for humanity is believing you’re going to be made happy because of some external circumstance." — @naval
@naval's most surprising discovery in the last five years is that peace & happiness are skills & choices:
"The most important trick to being happy is to realize happiness is a skill you develop and a choice you make. You choose to be happy, and then you work at it."
"Peace is happiness at rest, and happiness is peace in motion. You can convert peace into happiness anytime you want. But peace is what you want most of the time. If you’re a peaceful person, anything you do will be a happy activity." — @naval
"You have to be very careful because sometimes the voices talking in your head that you think is you is actually social programming." — @naval
"Life is really a single-player game. It’s all going on in your head. Whatever you think and believe will very much shape your reality." — @naval
- What you do
- Who you spend time with
- Where you live
Big Getting Rich Decisions:
- Knowing what to do
- Who to do it with
- When to do it
- Health (Physical, Mental, Spiritual)
- Happiness
- Love / Family
- Mission / Work
- Wealth
"Becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn." — @naval
Ultimate Meta-Skill:
"Reading (learning) is the ultimate meta-skill and can be traded for anything else." — @naval
- Reading
- Writing
- Arithmetic
- Persuasion (which is talking)
- Computer Programming (an applied form of arithmetic)
- Execution (getting things done, solving problems)
- Wealth creation / making money
- Read originals & classics
- Read the greats in math, science, philosophy
- Microeconomics, game theory, psychology, persuasion, ethics, computers
- Evolution, thermodynamics, information theory, complexity
"Money is not going to solve all of your problems; but it’s going to solve all of your money problems." — @naval
Wealth:
"My definition of wealth is oriented toward businesses and assets that can earn while you sleep." — @naval
"You’re probably not going to create wealth through work. There are many reasons for that, but the most basic is because your inputs are very closely tied to your outputs. You can’t earn non-linearly." — @naval
- Creating something new from scratch
- Predicting that society will want it
- Figuring out how to scale it and get it to everybody in a profitable, self-sustaining way
- You love to do it
- It’s natural and authentic to you
- You know how to do it the best
- Society wants it but doesn’t know how to get it
- Demonstrated judgment
- High accountability
- Leverage
- Long timescale
"The combination of the three should be your overwhelming goal. The most important thing for any entrepreneur is to find founder-product-market fit." — @naval
"Impatience with actions, patience with results. I think that’s a good philosophy for life." — @naval
All the benefits & returns in life come from compounding:
- Wealth
- Relationships
- Love
- Health
- Habits
- Learning
- Reading
- Knowledge
- Creating
More from Life
Interact with smart people here on Twitter who have different world-views than you do.
And let them change your mind on something.
Here are the 30 people you should follow (along with my favorite tweet from each)👇👇
Twitter can be terrible if you follow negative people.
It can also be more valuable than a college degree if you follow (and network with) the right people.
You get to look right into their brain and read a daily narrative of HOW they think.
Ok lets go:
#1: @ShaanVP
You know he's all about venture capital based entrepreneurship. I'm about small (non-sexy) business. We disagree on a lot of stuff.
But he's done it and he's won. Bonus follow: @theSamParr (@myfirstmilpod podcast
10 years ago, Netflix spent $0 on original content.
— Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) January 14, 2021
This year:
Netflix: $11B
Apple: $6B
Disney: $1B
+ amazon, hulu HBO etc.
=
$20B+
Here's a crazy startup idea to take a swing at this $20B+ content pi\xf1ata. \U0001f447 Here's a quick business plan \U0001f914
#2: @fortworthchris
He is where I want to be in 15 years. Has built a massive real estate private equity firm from the ground up. Super grounded with what the way he does business and his podcast @theFORTpodcast is top
When buying a deal, every day that goes by, the potential for tunnel vision grows.
— Chris Powers (@fortworthchris) January 7, 2021
Obsessing over executing detailed Due Diligence early and efficiently is paramount to limiting this.
#3: @Julian
I'm a scattered thinker and procrastinator.
Julian is a master of clear thinking and simple but effective writing. A world class example of content marketing and
THREAD: 10 significant lies you're told about the world.
— Julian Shapiro (@Julian) January 9, 2021
On startups, writing, and your career:
You May Also Like
A thread 👇
https://t.co/xj4js6shhy
Entrepreneur\u2019s mind.
— James Clear (@JamesClear) August 22, 2020
Athlete\u2019s body.
Artist\u2019s soul.
https://t.co/b81zoW6u1d
When you choose who to follow on Twitter, you are choosing your future thoughts.
— James Clear (@JamesClear) October 3, 2020
https://t.co/1147it02zs
Working on a problem reduces the fear of it.
— James Clear (@JamesClear) August 30, 2020
It\u2019s hard to fear a problem when you are making progress on it\u2014even if progress is imperfect and slow.
Action relieves anxiety.
https://t.co/A7XCU5fC2m
We often avoid taking action because we think "I need to learn more," but the best way to learn is often by taking action.
— James Clear (@JamesClear) September 23, 2020