Thread by @SivaCArunagiri

🧵 Sharing snippets and my reflections from the [[Book/The Almanack of Naval Ravikant]] by [[Author/Eric Jorgenson]].
🎬 Start Date: [[December 26th, 2021]]
🏁 Finish Date: [[December 27th, 2021]]
📚 Genre: #NonFiction #Wealth #Happiness #Accountability #Priorities

1/To be taken seriously in today’ world we will have to question everything, we have to think from first principles, test things well, and be good at not fooling yourself.

2/If you have nothing in your life, but you have at least one person that loves you unconditionally, it will do wonders for your self-esteem.

3/Making money is not a thing you do—it’s a skill you learn. Getting rich is about knowing what to do, who to do it with, and when to do it. Yes, hard work matters, and you can’t skimp on it. But it has to be directed in the right way.

4/You should not grind a lot of hard work until you figure out what you should be working on. If you don’t know yet what you should work on, the most important thing is to figure it out.

5/Seek wealth, not money or status.

6/Pick people with integrity if you want your business to succeed.

7/Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.

8/If you can’t code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts.

9/Important fields to learn about: #Microeconomics #GameTheory #psychology #persuasion #ethics #mathematics #computers

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

11/The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn.

12/If you go to the library and there is a book you cannot understand, you have to dig down and say, “What is the foundation required for me to learn this?” Foundations are super important.

13/Knowing how to be persuasive when speaking is far more important than being an expert digital marketer or click optimiser. Foundations are key.

14/All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships or knowledge, come from compound interest.

15/Compound interest also happens in your reputation. If you have a sterling reputation and you keep building it for decades upon decades, people will notice.

16/Intentions don’t matter. Actions do. That is why being ethical is hard.

17/When you find the right thing to do, when you find the right people to work with, invest deeply. Sticking with it for decades is really how you make the big returns in your relationships and in your money. So, compound interest is very important.

18/You might have studied a branch of mathematics you completely forgot. Of course, this is a learning experience. You did learn. You learned the value of hard work; you might have learned something that went deep into your psyche and became a piece of what you’re doing now.

19/When it comes to the goal-oriented life, only about 1 percent of the efforts you make pay off.

20/Clear accountability is important. Without accountability, you don’t have incentives. Without accountability, you can’t build credibility.

21/If you don’t own a piece of a business, you don’t have a path towards financial freedom.

22/If it entertains you now but will bore you someday, it’s a distraction. Keep looking.

23/Follow your intellectual curiosity more than whatever is “hot” right now. If your curiosity ever leads you to a place where society eventually wants to go, you will get paid extremely well.

24/If they can train you to do it, then eventually they will train a computer to do it.

25/Products with no marginal cost of replication: eg — books, media, movies, and code.

26/Code is probably the most powerful form of permissionless leverage. All you need is a computer—you don’t need anyone’ permission.

27/Forty hour work weeks are a relic of the Industrial Age. Knowledge workers function like athletes—train and sprint, then rest and reassess.

28/We waste our time with short-term thinking and busywork. Warren Buffett spends a year deciding and a day acting. That act lasts decades.

29/Value your time at an hourly rate, and ruthlessly spend to save time at that rate. You will never be worth more than you think you are worth.

30/If you can outsource something or not do something for less than your hourly rate, outsource it or don’t do it. If you can hire someone to do it for less than your hourly rate, hire them.

31/Set a very high hourly aspirational rate for yourself and stick to it. It should seem and feel absurdly high. If it doesn’t, it is not high enough.

32/Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for an imaginary tomorrow. When today is complete, in and of itself, you are retired.

33/Lusting for money is bad for us because it is a bottomless pit. It will always occupy your mind. I think the best way to stay away from this constant love of money is to not upgrade your lifestyle as you make money.

34/Hustle until you stumble into luck. Become the best at what you do. Refine what you do until this is true. Opportunity will seek you out. Luck becomes your destiny.

35/Your character and your reputation are things you can build, which will let you take advantage of opportunities other people may characterise as lucky, but you know it wasn’t luck.

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

37/It is really important to have empty space. If you don’t have a day or two every week in your calendar where you are not always in meetings, and your are not always busy, then you are not going to be able to think. You are not going to be able to have good ideas.

38/If you have a criticism of someone, then don’t criticise the person—criticise the general approach or criticise the class of activities. If you have to praise somebody, then always try and find the person who is the best example of what you are praising and praise the person.

39/“If you want it done, then go. And if not, then send.” —[[Julius Caesar]].

40/If you are faced with a difficult choice and if you cannot decide, then the answer is no. The reason is, modern society is full of options.

41/Reading a book isn’t a race—the better the book, the more slowly it should be absorbed. Read what you love until you love to read.

42/When you’re reading a book and you’re confused, that confusion is similar to the pain you get in the gym when you’re working out. But you’re building mental muscles instead of physical muscles. Learn how to learn and read the books.

43/The three big ones in life are wealth, health, and happiness. We pursue them in that order, but their importance is reverse.

44/Don’t take yourself so seriously. You are just a monkey with a plan.

45/A rational person can find peace by cultivating indifference to things outside of their control.

46/Enlightenment is the space between your thoughts. It means enlightenment isn’t something you achieve after 30 yrs sitting on a mountaintop. It’s something you can achieve moment to moment, and you can be enlightened to a certain percent every single day.

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

48/There is a fundamental delusion in people’ mind: There is something out there that will make me happy and fulfilled forever.

49/“All of man’ trouble arise because he cannot sit in a room quietly by himself.” —[[Author/Blaise Pascal]]

50/Insight meditation—working towards a specific purpose on it, which is to try and understand how my mind works.

51/First, you know it. Then, you understand it. Then, you can explain it. Then, you can feel it. Finally, you are it.

52/You are going to die one day, and none of this is going to matter. So enjoy yourself. Do something positive. Project some love. Make someone happy. Laugh a little bit. Appreciate the moment. And do your work.

53/Your goal in life is to find the people, business, project, or art that needs you the most. What you don’t want to do is build checklists and decision frameworks built on what other people are doing. You’re never going to be them. You’ll never be good at being somebody else.

54/Have walking meetings: brain works better, exercise & sunlight, shorter, less pleasantries, more dialogue, less monologue, no slides, end easily by walking back.

55/If you make the easy choices right now, your overall life will be a lot harder.

56/Meditation is turning off society and listening to yourself. It only works when done for its own sake. Journaling is writing meditation. Showering is accidental meditation. Sitting quietly is direct meditation.

57/The greatest superpower is the ability to change yourself.

58/If there is something you want to do later, do it now. There is no “later”.

59/Courage isn’t charging into a machine gun nest. Courage is not caring what other people think.