Naval is an early investor in companies like Twitter, Uber & Post-mates, often dubbed “the most interesting person in the world” by his cult following, this book is his guide to health, wealth, happiness & philosophy.

The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant Summary

Naval Ravikant shares his thoughts and beliefs on building wealth, better judgement, learning happiness & philosophy. Broken down into 2 parts, Part 1 – Building wealth and building better judgement. Part 2 – Learning happiness, saving yourself and philosophy. A bonus section that includes Naval’s recommended reading list, Naval credits all his success to reading 1-2 hours per day so he’s very well-read.

Side note – Naval is so smart and put things so simply that most of this article is quotes from his book that I cannot expand upon without adding something that hasn’t already been said in a simpler more effective way by Naval.

Top Takeaways From The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant

Become the best in the world at what you do.

Naval says

• “This is hard, this is why I say it takes decades, I’m not saying it takes decades to execute, but the better part of a decade may be figuring out what you can uniquely provide”
• “Specific knowledge is sort of this weird combination of unique traits in your DNA, your unique upbringing and your response to it, it almost bakes into your personality and your identity, then you can hone it”
• “No one can compete with you in being you, most of life is a search for who and what needs you the most. You find specific knowledge by pursuing your innate talents, your genuine curiosity & your passion”
• “I’ve never met my mentor, I wanted so much to be just like him, but his message was the opposite: Be yourself with passionate intensity”
• “If you have specific knowledge & accountability then you have leverage, they have to pay you what your worth”
• “When you can’t win by being better, you can win by being different. By combining your skills, you reduce the level of competition, which makes it easier to stand out”

Example – Finding my own unique selling point

I’m an ex-drug addict that grew up on the “worst street in the UK” I’ve seen innocent people doused with petrol and set alight in broad daylight, books changed my life, I spent years reading everything I could, taking 20 library books home at a time, I sacrificed income for years so I had time to learn about myself, what I enjoyed & what I wanted to do with my life. If I was a one-trick pony my music, art and content could easily be copied.

But good look to anyone that wants to imitate me, my upbringing, the 500+ books I devoured, my mindset, the experience that I’ve developed from a lifetime of trial and error and the sacrifices I’ve made to find the things that give me a rush on a daily basis.

Reading, writing, music and art are the areas where I find flow & lose all track of time so these are the areas I chose to build a career around, if one day I don’t feel like getting in the studio I can spend the morning reading, writing or drawing, there’s no stress of “oh I didn’t work on my passion project today I feel guilty” because I took the time to find more than one thing I love to do.

And to reiterate my point, onto Naval’s next point.

Find Work That Feels Like Play

• “The way to avoid the trap of competition is to find the thing you know how to do better than anybody else. You know how to do it better because you love it & nobody can compete with that”
• “I’m always “working” but what looks like work to others, feels like play to me & that’s how I know no one can compete with me on it because I’m just playing for sixteen hours a day if others want to compete with me they’re going to work, and they’re going to lose because they’re not doing it for sixteen hours a day, 7 days a week”

Naval is a strong believer in doing the kind of work you love to do, if you don’t know what that is you have to take the time to learn, make sacrifices now to find what truly makes you happy so you can pursue that, you don’t have to go all-in. Naval believes to find your passions in life it can take around 10 years till you truly understand yourself.

That’s a long time, where are you gonna get those extra hours?

Find out below.

Cut The Baggage

• “When you’re dating, the instant you know this relationship is not going to be the one that leads to marriage, you should probably move on. When your studying something, like geography or history in class, and you realise you are never going to use the information, drop the class, its a waste of time, its a waste of your brain energy”

Rather than only focusing on only money as a resource, start to look at the value of your time also. Don’t waste your time on the wrong people, a bad relationship is a liability they take your time & your energy. If you’re on a career path or in college studying something you’re certain you won’t be doing in the future, then it’s time to get out and move on.

Tai Lopez talks about calculating decisions mathematically, for example.

Take 2 career choices, work out your chance of happiness in that career & times that by the chance that this will turn out the way you want.

Career choice 1
Chance of happiness – 90% (It’s your dream job)
Chance of success – 50% (You’re uncertain if things will work out)
90 x 50 = 4500

Career choice 2
Chance of happiness – 20% (Your current job that you’ll stay at till you retire)
Chance of success – 80% (You already have the job)
20 x 80 = 1600

You can add other elements into the mix too, like personal fulfilment, family life, and spare time.
Score everything out of 100 and times them together, comparing your decisions using numbers.

I did this one time in a relationship, I was upset I couldn’t give this person 100% of me because I was so stretched by my career goals, music production and books I wanted to read, I knew it wasn’t fair to expect 100% of that person, based on that the chance of success that the relationship would work out long term would have been very slim even wasted time, whereas I knew any time spent on my goals would have been invaluable 5 years later.

Seek Wealth, Not Money Or Status.

• “Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep, money is how we transfer wealth & status is your place in the hierarchy”
• “The focus should be on ownership, either owning equity of someone else’s business via purchasing stocks or you could gain ownership by starting your own business instead”
• “without ownership when you’re sleeping you’re not earning when you’re retired you’re not earning when you’re on vacation your not earning”
• “All returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships or knowledge, come from compound interest”
• “Everybody who really makes money at some point, owns a piece of a product, a business or some IP (Intellectual property)”

Warren Buffet says “You’ll never get rich unless you learn how to make money while you sleep”
Instead of focusing on saving money that loses value via inflation, Naval recommends you own equity in a business, either starting that business yourself or purchasing equity in a business via stocks/shares/crypto.

You can purchase stocks in companies that pay dividends which is weekly, monthly, and quarterly interest paid to you for owning a piece of a company, this can be re-invested so you can gain the benefits of compound interest over time.

Another option is online real estate, a song that earns royalties, an ebook on amazon, advertisements on your website etc. The idea behind online real estate is to have something on the internet that can be sold while you’re asleep. You do the work one time and that product has the opportunity to generate income as long as the internet is around.

Top Quotes From The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant

Every quote from Naval is awesome, here are just a few more I found to save me repeating everything I’ve already quoted above.

• “The three big ones in life are wealth, health and happiness. We pursue them in that order, but their importance is reverse”
• “The truth is, I don’t read for self-improvement. I read out of curiosity and interest. The best book is the one you’ll devour”
• “You can literally destroy your happiness if you spend all of your time living in delusions of the future”
• “Don’t take yourself so seriously. Your just a monkey with a plan”
• “We crave experiences that will make us be present, but the cravings themselves take us from the present moment”

Actionable Advice From The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant

• Getting To Retirement – one way is to have so much money saved that your passive income covers your burn rate (expenses + liabilities), the other option is to lower your burn rate to zero.
• Take at least 1 day a week, preferably 2 where you have time to think, it’s only after you are bored when you have great ideas. they aren’t going to come when you are stressed, busy, running around or rushed, you have to make the time. – Notice how most of our ideas come in bed, shower etc.
• Get a good understanding of supply, demand, labour versus capital & game theory.
• Lean into things with short term pain, but long term gain. – Sacrifice now for the future.
• Read books that excite you, just like the best workout is the one that excites you every day, never feel obligated to finish any book & the better the book the more time you should take to finish it.
• Caught in a funk – Use meditation, music & exercise to reset your mood, then choose a new path to commit emotional energy for the rest of the day.
• When in bed, meditate, either you will have a deep meditation or you’ll fall asleep – victory either way

My Final Thoughts On The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant

I started and finished this book in February 2022 after seeing it recommended by every book page on Instagram, it took less than a week to finish.

Overall the book was great, I think if I’d not already understood and believed some of the concepts Naval speaks of it would have been one of the books I’d consider a “game-changer” just like Rich Dad Poor Dad changed the trajectory of my career, I believe if I was early in my journey this would have been another book to have had a dramatic impact on my life, whereas instead, it reaffirmed beliefs I’d already learned elsewhere.

Naval is one of the most respected investors of our time, he credits his success to reading 1-2 hours per day as the main reason he’s so successful.  He’s someone that’s worth listening to, It’s a book I very much look forward to re-reading more than once & will be recommending to friends and family.

Bonus – One Liners From The Almanack

A lot of one-liners from Naval can have you sat pondering multiple times a page, I mean just consider a few of his “Life formulas”

• Happiness = Health + Wealth + Good Relationships
• Health = Exercise + Diet + Sleep
• Exercise = High Intensity Resistance Training + Sports + Rest
• Diet = Natural Foods + Intermittent Fasting + Plants
• Sleep = No alarms + 8–9 hours + Circadian rhythms
• Income = Accountability + Leverage + Specific Knowledge
• Accountability = Personal Branding + Personal Platform + Taking Risk?
• Leverage = Capital + People + Intellectual Property
• Specific Knowledge = Knowing how to do something society cannot yet easily train other people to do