Reading Notes of:

How to Get Rich (podcast)
By Naval Ravikant

Wealth = what you really want.  It’s the machine cranking out the cars.  The computer running the program that makes money.   Even a house can be – because you can rent it out (though it’s a low use of capital).  Makes money while you sleep.   Buys you freedom.   Makes you your own sovereign individual.

• Uses ideas and innovation to make sure it’s not a zero sum game.

We all play 2 games:  The Money Game and The Status Game.   People will actually attack people with money to win the Status Game.   Always a subtle battle going on – often in the press.

The Status Game is a zero sum game.  Doesn’t create anything.   Generally requires putting someone else down.  Though is kinda rooted in hunter gatherer times.

Everybody can be Wealthy.

Capitalism is innate to the human animal.   We can work together to create a better world because of it.  We are the only animals who will cooperate across genetic divides.   And we do that because the is some intrinsic way of keeping score – debits and credits.   I helped you.  If you don’t help me back, you aren’t part of our thing, so you are excluded from further cooperation.    That is Capitalism.

Getting wealthy isn’t about luck – it’s about creating skills that make money.

There are 4 kinds of luck

• Blind Luck – out of your control
• Persistence Luck – you do a lot of stuff so things get created in the dust of your activity and hustle.  Fortune favors the bold.
  • Networking.  Building a network.  Getting to know people.
  • Can be important early in your career.  Not as good as the ones below.
• Spotting Luck – you get particularly skilled in a field, so you get good at spotting lucky opportunities.  Chance favors the prepared mind.
• Unique Luck – you create a unique mindset where luck finds you.
  • You could spend your whole life being the best deep sea diver probably won’t create wealth, until someone needs to pull up a treasure.
  • You shape your character – then your character shapes your destiny.  Helps you take advantage of opportunities that others would think is ‘luck’

Money is just an IOU from society for doing something good in the past.   Now we owe you something in the future.

• Society will always want new things.
• Society will pay you lot of IOU’s for creating something that people need – just don’t know how to get at scale yet.

You can’t be normal and expect abnormal rewards.

for a full transcript + podcast (worth the listen!!) =  https://nav.al/rich