Almanack of Naval Ravikant Summary and Review by Rusty Bishop

Buy It – Hard Cover | Paperback | E-book | Raw Book Notes

Getting rich is about knowing what to do, who to do it with, and when to do it.

Naval Ravikant, How to get Rich Without Getting Lucky

Ultimately, this led me to Naval’s Tweet Storm on building wealth and his accompanying podcast (I’m linking here to the entire summary podcast, but you an listen to it in snippets if you like).

The book is organized into several sections covering topics such as wealth, happiness, productivity, and decision-making.

NOTE – The author of the book, Eric Jorgenson, acknowledges that everything presented is taken out of context and that any mistakes in interpretation might be his. He also does a good job of distinguishing between Naval’s quotes and his own original content developed from Naval’s quotes.

Below, I’ll give you my personal favorite takeaways from the book, my full notes are at the bottom of the post.

Part 1: Generating Wealth

Jorgenson starts by introducing the book’s inspiration, Naval Ravikant, and his “Navalmanack” – a collection of publicly shared transcripts, tweets, and talks. Ravikant’s philosophy is centered around knowing what to do, who to do it with, and when to do it.

This chapter has a full-text version of Naval’s Tweetstorm with accompanying comments. Solid Gold.

The key takeaway from this section is that getting rich is about knowing what to work on before grinding hard work and that the most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner.

Naval also stresses the importance of creating money-generating assets that work like software, media, and equity that works for you while you sleep.

I especially love his ideas and the need to “productize yourself”, that is the combination of specific knowledge and your uniqueness.

Part 2: Building Wealth

The author then further develops Naval’s concept of wealth building, arguing that making money is not a thing you do – it’s a skill you learn.

Naval stresses the importance of understanding how wealth is created, owning equity instead of renting out your time, and leveraging business with capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication.

There are 3 basic types of leverage you can use to create wealth

• Labor
• Money
• Products with no marginal cost of replication

Probably my favorite part of this chapter is setting an aspirational hourly rate for yourself. Naval set his at $5000/hr! That’s 10s of millions annually!

Find work that feels like play. 

Naval Ravikant

Part 3: There’s No Shortcut to Smart

Naval/Jorgenson encourages readers to realize that they won’t get rich by spending their time to save money, but instead by saving their time to make money.

He stresses the importance of dealing with reality when making decisions and focusing on the problem instead of memory and identity.

The author also argues that one’s beliefs should be reevaluated and that there are no permanent solutions in a dynamic system.

Part 4: Learning Happiness

Jorgenson then shifts his focus towards Naval’s philosophy and quotes around learning happiness, stating that it’s a skill that one must develop and choose to work on.

The most important trick to being happy is realizing happiness is a skill and treating life like a fun game.

He argues that most of our suffering comes from avoidance and that the key to breaking the habit of uncontrolled thinking is to cultivate indifference to things outside our control.

One of my favorite takeaways from this part is – Learning the skill of decision-making with links to Farnum St which is now required reading for me. Seriously, go read it now.

The Chapter also has some deep thoughts around mental models aka Charlie Munger and interesting ideas on perhaps not finishing every book you start.

The book encourages readers to prioritize their health over everything else, arguing that health problems turn up the dial on prioritizing things in life.

Naval also emphasizes the value of time and how it’s all we have, so we should avoid spending our time making other people happy.

The chapter concludes with the idea that we should break the habit of “uncontrolled thinking”. With one of my favorite Naval quotes of all time:

You know that song you can’t get out of your head? All thoughts work that way. Careful what you read! 

Naval Ravikant

Part 5: Philosophy

The final part of the book explores the philosophy of compound interest and the importance of working on things with long-term payouts.

The author summarizes Naval’s thoughts on rational Buddhism, which means understanding the internal work Buddhism espouses to make yourself happier, better off, more present, and in control of your emotions.

He encourages readers to try everything, test it for themselves, be skeptical, and keep what’s useful while discarding what’s not. This really speaks to my inner Ph.D.!

Conclusion

This book is scary good and is a compendium of quotes from a true philosopher and is an every-week, remind yourself of how to act and think type of read. Many, many thanks to Eric Jorgenson for compiling this amazing resource!

Raw book notes on the Almanac of Naval Ravikant

Part 1- Intro

This writer collected this “Navalmanack” from transcripts, tweets, and talks Naval has shared publicly. Does this mean anything presented publicly is fair game?

By Definition, everything in this book is taken out of context.

All brilliance in this book is Naval’s; all mistakes are mine.

The author does a good job of qualifying what is a quote e.g., a tweet and what is his interpretation/original content.

The book is effectively Wealth and Happiness

From Tim Ferriss Intro to the book

I take Naval seriously because he:

• Questions nearly everything
• Can think from first principles
• Tests things well
• Is good at not fooling himself
• Changes his mind regularly
• Laughs a lot
• Thinks holistically
• Thinks long-term
• And…doesn’t take himself too goddamn seriously.

“Because at the end of the day, I can’t quite teach anything. I can only inspire you and maybe give you a few hooks so you can remember.”

Tweet Storm (TS) – How to get rich without being lucky

Part 2 – Building Wealth

TS – Making money is not a thing you do – it’s a skill you learn

Understand How Wealth is Created

“Getting rich is about knowing what to do, who to do it with, and when to do it.”

“​​You should not grind at a lot of hard work until you figure out what you should be working”

TS- Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep”

TS- You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity.

TS- Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication (code and media)

Because at the end of the day, I can’t quite teach anything. I can only inspire you and maybe give you a few hooks so you can remember.

Part 3 – Wealth

Big Takeaways – how to get rich without getting lucky

Notes – Getting rich is about knowing what to do, who to do it with, and when to do it

Don’t grind a lot of hard work until you know what you should be working on

You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep. If you can’t code write books and blogs, record videos, and podcasts.

Productize Yourself.

“Wealth is assets that earn while you sleep.”

“Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true.”

“I love to read, and I love technology. I learn quickly, and I get bored fast.”

Specific knowledge is at the edge of knowledge AND this is where PhDs thrive, it’s the stuff that is really hard to figure out.

Don’t copy, be authentic. In this way, you stand out as unique. For me specifically, this means approaching things from the perspective of a Ph.D., a CEO, and a CMO. So this may need to come into all articles I put out. How do I express those 3 things into something unique?

The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner.

Play long-term games with long-term people. Compound interest is everything, not just money. – link to Atomic Habits quote here from Ferriss podcast.

You are looking for a thing that you can go all in on to earn compound interest.

In modern society the downside risk is not that large. There’s not really that much to fear in terms of failure so people should take on a lot more accountability than they do.

You don’t get rich by renting out your time even lawyers and doctors don’t get the kind of money that gives them Financial Freedom you got to own a piece of something. This is because your outputs are closely tied to your inputs and the salary you can’t get there you need ownership. You need to be able to earn non-linearly.

“Following your genuine intellectual curiosity is a better foundation for a career than following whatever is making money right now”.

“The year I generated the most wealth was actually the year I worked the least hard and Care the least about the future. I was mostly doing things for the sheer fun of it. I was basically telling people I’m retired I’m not working. then I had the time for what it was my highest value project in front of me. by doing things for their own sake I did them at their best. reference 74

You want to know how to do something other people don’t know how to do at the time period when those skills are in demand. you get rewarded by Society for giving it what it wants and doesn’t know how to get elsewhere.

3 basic types of leverage- Labor, Money, and products with no marginal cost of replication.

“you’re never going to get rich running out your time in the quote”

If you have independence you’re accountable for output, as opposed to your input. You want a job where you are tracked on your outputs.

Knowledge workers should function like athletes, train, and sprint — then rest and reassess.

Don’t gamble on one go, take optimistic bets with big upsides.

Get paid for your judgment.

We waste our time with short-term thinking and busy work. Warren Buffet spends a year deciding and a day acting. That act last decades.

Set an extremely high hourly rate. Fast forward to your wealthy self and pick some aspirational hourly rate. $5000/hr.

Avoid Zero-sum games like Status and politics.

Spend more time making big decisions. Say no to everything while making big decisions.

Find work that feels like play.

Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow

Make creating business a game, make it fun because I’m good at it.

It looks like work to others but it feels like play to me and that’s why no one can compete with me. I’m just playing 16 hrs a day.

4 kinds of luck – blind luck, persistence, become good at spotting luck, unique and luck finds you. Luck finds you depends on being unique and best at what you do. The story about gold diver is a good anecdote.

Part 4 – Building Judgment

There’s no shortcut to smart

You don’t get rich by spending your time to save money. You get rich by saving your time to make money.

knowing the long-term consequences of your actions and then making the right decision to capitalize on that.

“Clear thinker” is a better compliment than “smart”

Need to check out Richard Feyman Six Easy Pieces lecture- explains mathematics in 3 pages. https://www.amazon.com/Six-Easy-Pieces-Essentials-Explained-ebook/dp/B004OVEYNU

Part of making effective decisions boils down to dealing with reality. How do you make sure you’re dealing with reality when you’re making decisions? – And you need good explanations of the data to make good decisions, go back to first principles. – https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/11/the-cook-and-the-chef-musks-secret-sauce.html

The good news is, the moment of suffering—when you’re in pain—is a moment of truth. It is a moment where you’re forced to embrace reality the way it actually is. Then, you can make meaningful changes and progress.

What you feel tells you nothing about the facts—it merely tells you something about your estimate of the facts.

Make empty space in your calendar (link to Deep Work)

A contrarian isn’t one who always objects—that’s a conformist of a different sort. A contrarian reasons independently from the ground up and resists pressure to conform. Optimistic contrarians are the rarest breed.

Any belief you took in a package (democrat, etc) should be reevaluated.

There are no permanent solutions in a dynamic System

Learn the skill of decision making – link to Farnum St

For important decisions, discard memory and identity, and focus on the problem.

The moment you tell somebody something dishonest, you’ve lied to yourself. Then you’ll start believing your own lie, which will disconnect you from reality and take you down the wrong road. – I love this concept and see it all the time in business, especially when it comes to bad data

I would combine radical honesty with an old rule Warren Buffett has, which is to praise specifically, and criticize generally.

Decision-making is everything. In fact, someone who makes decisions right 80 percent of the time instead of 70 percent of the time will be valued and compensated in the market hundreds of times more.

Collecting mental models – a la Charlie Munger – link to that book here https://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Munger-Complete-Investor-Publishing-ebook/dp/B010EB3EUM/ref=sr_1_3?crid=20E2WRLJX2QIC&keywords=charlie+munger&qid=1683040312&s=digital-text&sprefix=charlie+munger%2Cdigital-text%2C180&sr=1-3least understood, but the most important principle for anyone claiming “science” on their side—falsifiability.

If you cannot decide, the answer is no. (link to Sivers Hell yeah or No)

Naval’s thoughts on reading echo, basically read a lot. Here a few gems from this end of the chapter about reading.

The most effective way to build mental models is to read a lot! Just read a lot, LOL

The reality is, I don’t actually read much compared to what people think. I probably read one to two hours a day. That puts me in the top .00001 percent.

“As long as I have a book in my hand, I don’t feel like I’m wasting time.”—Charlie Munger

The number of books completed is a vanity metric. As you know more, you leave more books unfinished. Focus on new concepts with predictive power.

You know that song you can’t get out of your head? All thoughts work that way. Careful what you read!

Part 5 Learning Happiness

I’ve also come to believe in the complete and utter insignificance of the self, and I think that helps a lot.

One can be very happy as long as one isn’t too caught up in their own head.

How to cultivate indifference to things outside my control

• I have lowered my identity.
• I have lowered the chattering of my mind.
• I don’t care about things that don’t really matter.
• I don’t get involved in politics.
• I don’t hang around unhappy people.
• I really value my time on this earth.
• I read philosophy.
• I meditate.
• I hang around with happy people.
• And it works.

I think a lot of us have this low-level pervasive feeling of anxiety.

Because as long as I have my thoughts, I can’t have my peace.

Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.

By the time people realize they have enough money, they’ve lost their time and their health. – Link to Die with Zero – review here.

In my case, there was definitely hedonic adaptation: I’d very quickly get used to anything.

The reality is life is a single-player game. You’re born alone. You’re going to die alone. All of your interpretations are alone. All your memories are alone. – This was kind of a gut check for me and a little depressing for some reason.

All the real scorecards are internal.

Part 6 Happiness Is Built by Habits

When it comes to medicines for the mind, the placebo effect is 100 percent effective.

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. It’s just like building muscles.

You decide it’s important to you. You prioritize it above everything else. You read everything on the topic.

Fundamentally, it boils down to one big hack: embracing death. Link to 4000 Days review here.

Treat life like a fun game. Project love, laugh a little appreciate the moment.

Part 7 Saving Yourself

The best workout for you is one you’re excited enough to do every day. [4]

most of our suffering comes from avoidance.

Then, I caught myself. I put my brain in debug mode and just watched every little instruction go by. I said, “Why am I fantasy-future planning? Why can’t I just stand here and brush my teeth?” It’s the awareness my brain was running off in the future and planning some fantasy scenario out of ego. I was like, “Well, do I really care if I embarrass myself? Who cares? I’m going to die anyway. This is all going to go to zero, and I won’t remember anything, so this is pointless.”

As Nivi said, inspiration is perishable. When you have inspiration, act on it right then and there. [78]

Now, the freedom I’m looking for is internal freedom. It’s “freedom from.” Freedom from reaction. Freedom from feeling angry. Freedom from being sad. Freedom from being forced to do things. I’m looking for “freedom from,” internally and externally, whereas before I was looking for “freedom to.” [4]

I want to break the habit of uncontrolled thinking, which is hard.

Health problems turn up the dial on prioritizing things in life.

We are not meant to walk in shoes, lol

Number 1 priority in life is health, over family, money etc.

Value your time it’s all you have. Don’t spend your time make other people happy – BUT making your spouse happy is not a terrible idea and makes you feel good to boot.

Part 8 Philosophy

All benefits in life come from compound interest. As a corollary work on things with long-term payouts. Again compound interest is the lever we all need to learn how to utilize.

Rational Buddhism, to me, means understanding the internal work Buddhism espouses to make yourself happier, better off, more present, and in control of your emotions—being a better human being.

= Possible favorite quote here – Try everything, test it for yourself, be skeptical, keep what’s useful, and discard what’s not.

How do you define wisdom? Understanding the long-term consequences of your actions.

Inspiration is perishable act immediately – Link to Atomic Habits.

Naval’s Recommended Reading

The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World by David Deutsch

Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher by Richard Feynman

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant

The Book of Life by Jiddu Krishnamurti

Siddhartha – Herman Hesse

The Great Challenge: Exploring the World Within by Osho

Meditations: Marcus Aurelius

Love Yourself, Like It Depends On It

Tao of Seneca

How to Change Your Mind by Micheal Pollan

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor E. Frankl

Fiction

 

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

The Last Question – Issac Asimov – link

God’s Debris – Scott Adams

Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu