Naval Ravikant's 14 Best Ideas

I've read The Almanack of Naval Ravikant 4 times and I've watched all of Naval's interviews. The following are the 14 best ideas I've gotten from him.

Idea 1 of 14

Relationships compound:

• Do things and spend money to make the lives of the people around you better.
• Over time, they will realize how helpful you are.
• They will reciprocate and do things to make your life better.

The good relationships, favors, and business deals you can get from this are your compounded return. Make sure you only invest into people worth investing in. Don't invest in people who don't appreciate it or don't reciprocate.

Idea 2 of 14

Most of life is trying to find the one thing you can go all-in on for success. Try everything. Read every book. Talk to everyone.

Don't try to do what will make others happy. If you love writing, for instance, but your parents want you to be a doctor, don't become a doctor. You will hate your life when you're 40 and wish you started writing when you were younger.

Idea 3 of 14

Make books, blogs, podcasts, videos, Tweets, and learn to code. Try each of them to see which is the most fun for you.

Idea 4 of 14

You become irreplaceable by continually learning and following your genuine curiosity. Post what you learn on a video, blog, Tweet, etc.

Idea 5 of 14

'Traditional leverage' is taking out a loan to buy an investment (capital) or hiring employees to do work (labor).

'New leverage' is computer code (software) or digital media (digital books, blogs, podcasts, videos, social media).

Leverage requires good decision making skills. Leverage amplifies decision making. If your decision making is poor, leverage will ruin you.

Idea 6 of 14

Studying finance is essential. Finance, business, and investing are all the same thing. Many CEO jobs (especially non-tech CEO jobs) are actually finance jobs.

Idea 7 of 14

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

Idea 8 of 14

Accountability: Put yourself 'out there' using your real name. Have a direct relationship with your clients.

Start a business. All business owners have to be accountable – if they don't make money, they'll starve.

Idea 9 of 14

“I would love to be paid purely for my judgment, not for any work. I want a robot, capital, or computer to do the work, but I want to be paid for my judgment.”

This is full leverage. You choose what to invest in, or tell people what software to code.

Idea 10 of 14

The 4 biggest problems in life are health, knowledge, relationships, and wealth.

The 3 big questions: Where you live, who you're with, and what you do. Spend 1-2 years deciding this because they determine your path for the next decade.

Idea 11 of 14

The point of reading is to develop better decision making skills.

Idea 12 of 14

“The closer you want to get to me, the better your values have to be.”

Stay away from unhappy people. Unhappy people are people without good health, knowledge, and relationships.

Idea 13 of 14

“The advanced concepts in a field are less proven. You must learn the basics at a fundamental level."

Study mental models. An excellent place to start is this blog.

Idea 14 of 14

Never lie. Every lie you tell takes you further into delusion. Always telling the truth leads to better decision making.

"I believe deep down we all know who we are. You cannot hide anything from yourself. Your own failures are written within your psyche, and they are obvious to you. If you have too many shortcomings, you will not respect yourself. The worst outcome in this world is not having self-esteem."