Reading Notes of:

How to Get Rich (podcast)
By Naval Ravikant

Pick people to work with who have high energy, high integrity, and high intelligence.   Cannot compromise on these 3.

Reading signals is very important.  Signals are what people do in spite of what they say.

• If someone aligned with you has a tendency to be vindictive toward many people from their past, it’s highly likely they will eventually turn on you.
• If they treat waiters bad, they are probably bad people.
• People are oddly consistent – and you can see it everything they can do.
• Generally, the more someone says they are moral and ethical – the less likely they actually are.
• Don’t partner with cynics and pessimists.  Their beliefs tend to be self-fulfilling.    You want to be a rational optimist.   Make rationally optimistic bets with huge upsides.
  • Don’t wan to lead, follow, OR get out of the way.   They want some mythical 4th option.

Arm yourself with specific knowledge, accountability, and leverage.   To make money, you have to get paid at scale.   You = accountability.   At Scale = leverage.  Specific knowledge is that makes the You and the Leverage work.

• Not everything can be taught.   Everything can be learned.  Often required blending many specific skills with ‘soft skills’ learned by working with people – and pattern matching.
  • Can somewhat learn through close apprenticeship.
• You can’t be trained for Specific Knowledge.   Which is why specific knowledge is valuable.   Someone can’t be easily be trained to replicate you.
  • For example, a sales person with psychology degree could be very valuable.   Unless they were a natural introvert who is trying to learn psychology to be able to sell.   Not the same thing as a good salesperson who learns psychology.
• Actually generally found from observation.  By looking back on your life and successes.
• Is highly specific to the situation, to the individual, to the problem – and can only be built as part of a larger obsession or time spent in the domain.

Scott Adams:  Get into the top 25 percentile at 3 or more things.   You will probably be amongst the best in the world at that combined thing.

• It’s actually easier to be #1 at 3-4 things than being the best in the world at any 1.   If there are 10,000 useful skills in the world, there are 10,000 people who are the best at that.  Takes a ton of specialized work to be THE BEST at any 1.   However, if you pick 4 and get in the top 25%, there probably isn’t anyone else who has chosen those 4 and gotten good at them.
  • Will be way easier if you have a natural love at these things.
• Learning to sell is a force multiplier.   Recruiting and marketing are sales too.   Sometimes nowadays, writing skills are sales skills.   Being seen as an expert is sales.
  • Long-Term – people who can understand the underlying product and how to build it – and can sell it – are catnip to investors.  They can break down all of the walls, if they have enough energy.
  • Have to be able to show that you can build first.  To satisfy that you are not just a hustler.

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