Eric Jorgenson, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

Notes from the book.

Part I: Wealth

How to get rich without getting lucky.

Building Wealth

The importance of figuring out what you should be working on. Play long-term games with long-term people. Learn to sell and learn to build. Build specific knowledge by following your genuine curiosity rather than whatever is hot right now.

Embrace accountability, and take business risks under your own name. Society will reward you with responsibility, equity, and leverage.

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

Compound interest. Going all-in with the 1 percent that is right in the long-term goal sense. Permissionless leverage.

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

Nivi: "In a long-term game, it seems that everybody is making each other rich. And in a short-term game, it seems like everybody is making themselves rich." Patience.

Building Judgment

Understand the basics at a very fundamental level. Have time to think.

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.

Cynicism is easy. Mimicry is easy.
Optimistic contrarians are the rarest breed.

Tension is who you think you should be.
Relaxation is who you are.

—Buddhist saying

Praise specifically, criticize generally. Mental models of Charlie Munger, Nassim Taleb, Benjamin Franklin. Inversion: eliminate what's not going to work. Understand microeconomics. Principal-agent problem. Falsifiability. If you can't decide, the answer is no. Run Uphill.

Simple heuristic: If you're evenly split on a difficult decision, take the path more painful in the short term.

Read.

Part II: Happiness

Learning Happiness

Don't take yourself so seriously. You're just a monkey with a plan.

Happiness to me is mainly not suffering, not desiring, not thinking too much about the future or the past, really embracing the present moment and the reality of what is, and the way it is.

Insignificance of the self. All the real scorecards internal.

One day, I realized with all these people I was jealous of, I couldn’t just choose little aspects of their life. I couldn’t say I want his body, I want her money, I want his personality. You have to be that person. Do you want to actually be that person with all of their reactions, their desires, their family, their happiness level, their outlook on life, their self-image? If you’re not willing to do a wholesale, 24/7, 100 percent swap with who that person is, then there is no point in being jealous.

If you can’t see yourself working with someone for life, don’t work with them for a day.

Insight meditation with the purpose of understanding how your mind works.

You’re 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.

Saving Yourself

Doctors won't make you healthy.
Nutritionists won't make you slim.
Teachers won't make you smart.
Gurus won't make you calm.
Mentors won't make you rich.
Trainers won't make you fit.

Ultimately, you have to take responsibility.

Save yourself.

Be yourself, with passionate intensity. Health. Morning workout. Internal state of revolution (Krishnamurti). Be exactly who you are.

The modern struggle:

Lone individuals summoning inhuman willpower, fasting, meditating, and exercising...

Up against armies of scientists and statisticians weaponizing abundant food, screens, and medicine into junk food, clickbait news, infinite porn, endless games, and addictive drugs.

Philosophy

Live by your values. Honesty. Long-term thinking. Peer relationships. Charlie Munger: "To find a worthy mate, be worthy of a worthy mate."

Richard Hamming, You and Your Research