This podcast consists of a conversation between Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi going over Naval’s famous How to Get Rich tweetstorm.
Key Takeaways
Wealth buys you freedom
EVERYONE can be rich
Aim to become so good at something, that luck eventually finds you
Over time, it isn’t luck – it’s destiny
You’re not going to get rich renting out your time
Aim to have a job, career, or profession where your inputs don’t match your outputs
People who are living far below their means enjoy a freedom that people busy upgrading their lifestyle just can’t fathom
Get rich by giving society what it doesn’t yet know how to get – at scale
The internet has massively broadened the space of possible careers
Whatever nice obsession you have, the internet allows you to scale it
Escape competition through authenticity
All the benefits in life come from compound interest
Whether it’s in relationships, life, your career, health, or learning
Pick people to work with who have high intelligence, high energy, and high integrity – you CANNOT compromise on this
Really successful people have an action bias
Arm yourself with specific knowledge
Specific knowledge is the stuff that feels like play to you but looks like work to others. It’s found by pursuing your innate talents, your genuine curiosity, and your passion.
Learning to build AND sell products is a superpower
Read what you love until you love to read
The 5 most important skills are reading, writing, arithmetic, persuasion, and computer programming
The number of iterations drives the learning curve
Get comfortable with frequent, small failures
If you’re willing to bleed a little bit every day, but in exchange, you win big later, you’ll be better off
Embrace accountability and take business risks under your own name. Society will reward you with responsibility, equity, and leverage
Product leverage is how fortunes will be made in the digital age – using things like code or media
Product and media leverage are permisionless – they don’t require someone else’s permission for you to use them or succeed
Wisdom is knowing the long-term consequences of your actions
Judgment is wisdom on a personal domain (wisdom applied to external problems)
The people with the best judgment are actually among the least emotional
Set and enforce an aspirational hourly rate
If you can outsource something for less than your hourly rate, outsource it
The hierarchy of importance:
What you work on
Picking the right people to work with
How hard you work
A busy calendar and a busy mind will destroy your ability to do great things in this world
Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true.
Reject most advice, but remember you have to listen to/read enough of it to know what to reject and what to accept
Your physical health, your mental health, and your relationships will most likely bring you more peace and happiness than any amount of money ever will
Productize yourself
Create a product out of whatever it is you do naturally and uniquely well
Being honest leaves you with a clear mind
“A lot of wisdom is just realizing the long-term consequences of your actions. The longer-term you’re willing to look, the wiser you’re going to seem to everybody around you.” – Naval Ravikant
Negotiations are won by whoever cares less
Books Mentioned
Warren Buffet once went to Benjamin Graham, author of The Intelligent Investor, and offered to work for him for free so he could learn about investing
It’s important that you read foundational things (the original books in a given field which are scientific in nature)
Instead of reading a random business book, read The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
Instead of reading a recent book on biology or evolution, read Darwin’s On The Origin of Species
Instead of reading a recent biotech book, read The Eighth Day of Creation
Another recommendation – Richard Feynman’s Six Easy Pieces
Naval highly recommends Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb
When Naval was younger, one of his favorite books was How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis
To learn more about randomness, check out the highly recommended book – Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Taleb
Seek Wealth, Not Money or Status (Listen) | Episode 1
Having wealth means having assets that earn while you sleep
“The reason you want wealth is because it buys you freedom, so you don’t have to wear a tie like a collar around your neck, so you don’t have to wake up at 7 AM and rush to work in traffic, so you don’t have to waste away your entire life grinding all your productive hours away to a soulless job that doesn’t fulfill you.” – Naval Ravikant
Money is how we transfer wealth
“Money won’t solve all your problems, but it will solve all your money problems” – Naval Ravikant
Wealth is a positive-sum game and status is a zero-sum game
Ethical Wealth Creation Makes Abundance for the World (Listen) | Episode 2
“What I am basically focused on is true wealth creation. It’s not about taking money. It’s not about taking something from somebody else. But it’s from creating abundance.” – Naval Ravikant
Basically all of the wealth society has today was created – we’re not still sitting around in caves figuring out how to divide pieces of firewood
“Everyone can be rich” – Naval Ravikant
In the First World, everyone is basically richer than almost anyone who was alive 200 years ago
Furthermore, it’s better to be poor today than it was to be the richest man 200 years ago
Here’s a thought experiment…
Imagine if every human had the knowledge of a good software engineer – just think what society would look like 20 years from now
We’d ALL be living in massive abundance
Free Markets Are Intrinsic to the Human Species (Listen) | Episode 3
Capitalism is innate to the human species in every exchange we have
When two people are talking – there’s an information exchange
“The notion of exchange and keeping track of credits and debits – this is built into us as flexible social animals” – Naval Ravikant
Humans are the only animals in the animal kingdom that cooperate across genetic boundaries
Most animals don’t even cooperate – those that do cooperate only in packs or when they have some shared interest
What lets humans cooperate?
Keeping track of credits and debts – that’s free-market capitalism
“Everybody can be wealthy, everybody can be retired, everybody can be successful” – Naval Ravikant
It just comes down to education and desire
“If you get too many takers and not enough makers, society falls apart” – Naval Ravikant
This results in a communist country
Ex. – Venezuela
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