The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson

These are my notes from The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson. Each one contains a core idea from the book that stood out. The goal of writing my notes this way is that each could be it's own independent idea with the need for the specific context within the book.

The 4 Kinds of Luck

Naval talks about the 4 different kinds of luck. He says "in 1,000 parallel universes, you want to be wealthy in 999 of them." There's blind luck — like winning the lottery. Luck through hustle. You're spending a lot of energy to stir things up until luck finds you. Another form of luck is noticing luck. You notice the things others often miss because you're in the field. In a way, you're more sensitive to luck. The last form is when you become a bug light, attracting luck. A unique element of yourself causes luck to find you (character, hard mindset, etc.). To get consistently lucky it requires being deterministic. You want to build things that allow you to naturally have opportunities others would characterize as blind luck.

A Silicon Valley Success

Investors have the most success in Silicon Valley. They're diversified and control the life line of startups (money). Outside the investors is another type of successful individual — The Company Catalyst. When Zuckerberg panicked as he started scaling Facebook, he hired Sheryl Sandberg from Google with the help of Jim Breyer, saying she was the "perfect fit." Company Catalysts are really good at identifying companies that just hit product/market fit. They have the right background, expertise, and references to help those companies scale to the next level. Naval Ravikant says these people tend to do the best risk-adjusted over long periods of time.

Your Pain Portfolio

The interesting things about your life come from your portfolio of pain. The suffering or sacrifices are what you remember. They become engrained in your hero's journey. The hard things you've overcome are what you are most proud of. They're what people relate to. Humility is a by-product of having a large portfolio. Stories and parables are born out of a collection of painful moments. Naval has said "your real resume is just a catalog of all your suffering." These are more than the achievement — as Mike Tyson would say, "everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face." The hard things give us meaning. These things in the portfolio of pain can also be viewed as moments of truth or periods of wisdom.

What Is Specific Knowledge?

Specific knowledge is not the same as specialized knowledge. A dermatologist has specialized knowledge. Specific knowledge is unique to you. Often it's not even considered a valuable skill. But the people around you take notice because it's a part of your personality. It's created from your DNA. When you find out what specific knowledge you possess, no one can compete with you. You can hone that skill. All of your value comes from combining your specific knowledge with what needs it the most. It transforms work into play (most people started developing it as a child). It’s often at the edge of knowledge. Only revealed by pursuing your most curiosities.

All-In on Vehicles That Compound

99% of your life is wasted. All investors will tell you the same thing: the most powerful force in the universe is compounding interest. When you find the vehicles that compound, go all-in. Stop wasting your time. Instead, let your time work for you. In your relationships, work, learning, and creative efforts, put all your energy into the vehicles that compound. As you continue to get exponential returns, your quality of life will grow with them. Anything that cannot be a vehicle that compounds is a distraction. Disconnected from the energy and discipline of your future self.

Consistently Create Wealth

The idea that you’ll come up with something and, in 6 months, will be rich is BS. Wealth is a slow and steady struggle. You consistently build wealth by creating businesses, opportunities, and investments. It’s a long process. Patiently waiting to be able to act on ideas that come to you while avoiding being wiped out in the process. Over time, the surface area of opportunity expands to allow you to build the wealth more consistently and at higher and higher scales. It stacks up a few steps at a time.

Redesigning Your Identity

To reinvent who you are, it all begins with a desire. It comes from the seed of an idea with a vision for yourself carrying that out. Pick one thing and plan a sustainable path to reach it. Identify your needs, triggers, and substitutes to build up the habits to consistently take action each day. Tell your friends to create social pressure for yourself. Track your progress meticulously. Build up the fire for your self-discipline. It’s the bridge to your new self-image.

Your Idea of Successes

The people you believe are successful are the ones that won the game you're currently playing. They’re usually creators and commercializers. The real people that succeed don’t even play the games. They rise above them entirely. It requires a different type of internal focus, reference point, self-control, and self-awareness. There is no comparison for these people. They’re completely at peace and engaged in their work because they want to be.