Naval Ravikant's gems from his interview at Joe Rogan.

1. Specialization is for insects. You've got only one life, just do whatever you
wanna do.
2. When those things combine which are usually not supposed to, then it becomes
interesting. eg: physics and philosophy
3. Have the capability to start all over(beginners mind). eg: mountain climbing,
Elon Musk
4. Read the best 100 books all over again and again rather than all the books.
5. Social media makes the celebrity of all of us, builds a self image around us and
then we care about that image more than ourselves. Be rich and anonymous not poor
and famous.
6. Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you
want.
7. Happiness is a choice just like nutrition.
8. There are always some underlying desires for unhappiness.
9. If u want to work at full potential, u have to learn to tame your mind just like
u take your body.
10. Just be stress free (Warren Buffet drinks cola 6 times a day even though he
knows it's harming him)
11. We assume the world is linear, but sadly it's not. Output is non linear based
on the quality of the work (Output is not always equal to the amount of hard work)
12. Humans are not meant to work 9 to 5. As an intellectual athlete, we are
supposed to work like a lion- train hard, sprint, rest, reassess...
13. Automation would take care of all the non creative jobs and that's great
because humans would be left with only the creative ones.
14. Socialism comes from heart while capitalism comes from mind.
15. With a small group u're a socialist because trust is.more but with larger group
u are a capitalist.
16. Income unequality(unequal outcomes) comes from the difference in choices people
make. Society should strive for equal opportunity and not equal outcome. Eg
education for all is better than fixed income for all
17. If you want to see who rules over you just see who you are not allowed to
criticize.
18. The modern struggle is against temptations. Since the society is now atomised
more than ever u stand alon to fight them.
19. Social media is now a means of slow motion suicides.
20. Generally technology leads the world left.
21. If you want to test any system, build it and hand it over to your rivals for
some time and see if it works
22. If all your beliefs/opinions are same to any person/political party you are not
a clear thinker
23. Due to 'first past the post system', people can't have nuanced opinions, they
have to take sides to vote
24. To be a clear thinker, be away from politics
25. The modern way to live life is to be like an ascetic, there's too much
abundance everywhere. There's too much society everywhere.
26. Enjoying being alone is a superpower, try to retreat from society(Meditation
can be life saver-its a self therapy)
27. Peace is happiness at rest, happiness is peace in motion. If are peaceful
person everything you do will be happy activity
28. You can't be peaceful by solving external problems (money, land etc) but by
giving up the idea of problems itself
29. It's easier to change yourself than the world
30. If you memorize anything it means you didn't understand it at the first place.
We should be able to derive anything at anytime.(Richard Feynman techniques are
helpful)
31. All the 'why' questions end up at Agrippa's trilemma. There's always one of
these three dead ends. (Infinite regress, Circular reasoning, Axiom)
32. Luckily the meaning of life is 'nothing' otherwise all of us would start
chasing it but the act of pursuing the answer is peaceful.
33. Answers to all the great questions are paradoxes
34. Lack of material possessions can make you very unhappy but material possessions
can't make you happy
35. Once you solve your money problem, you will stop sacrificing today for
something hypothetical waiting for you tomorrow.
36. Just offer the society something which it doesn't know how to get from
elsewhere
37. If you judge others you might feel happy for a moment (that you're superior)
but eventually you separate yourselves and become more lonely. The world reflects
your feelings back at you.
38. Confucius: "A man has two lives, the second ones start when you realise you
have only one."
39. Desire is suffering. Have limited desires.
40. Happy thoughts go away quickly whereas the negative ones remain.
41. Just do things for its sake, then the process is joyous.