How To Get Rich According to Naval Ravikant

There are a million ways to make a million dollars, and this is the sound of all. Ravi Khan does it. For those of you who don't know, Naval Ravikant is a philosopher and entrepreneur whose insights on happiness, wealth creation, and personal growth have gained a dedicated following. As the CEO and co-founder of AngelList, he's a respected figure in the startup world, with an estimated net worth of 60 million US dollars. His reflections, often shared via podcasts and social media, are a blend of wisdom drawing from both Eastern philosophy and Western entrepreneurship.

Welcome to Alux.com. This is how to get rich according to Naval Ravikant, a series by Alux.com.

First up, seek wealth, not money or status. Naval defines wealth as the ability to live life on your own terms, something shared amongst most individuals on our list. For him, it's not just accumulating money or seeking status; it's about gaining the freedom to spend your time as you wish. Wealth, in this context, is a means to a long, healthy, and happy life. Ravikant encourages people to aim for financial independence—the point where you're no longer trading your time for money—which allows you to pursue what genuinely interests and excites you. His definition of wealth encourages a mindset shift from short-term gains to long-term sustainable freedom and happiness. Even more, he believes everyone in the world should be rich, and you have a duty to do so.

Happiness is a skill. According to Naval, happiness is not something that's bestowed upon you based on external circumstances but rather a skill that can be developed. He often discusses the concepts of meditation and mindfulness as tools for understanding and training your own mind. For Ravikant, happiness comes from within and is a state of being that can be achieved through practice and self-awareness, rather than being tied to external achievements or possessions. He likes to differentiate between the happiness within and the comfort that money brings. By this definition, you should try to achieve happiness at the same time as achieving wealth and not expect that money will ultimately make you happy because it won't.

This approach makes a lot of sense. When you're in the right state of mind and all your thoughts are in order, it's easier to focus on building wealth and achieving financial freedom.

Play long-term games with long-term people. This is by far one of the things that most people struggle with. Naval often speaks about the importance of engaging in long-term games—endeavors where the people involved have repeated interactions and the benefits compound over time. In business, this means creating and nurturing relationships where both parties help each other, resulting in mutual trust and respect. For Ravikant, success and wealth are byproducts of such games where your reputation is your most valuable asset.

He argues that when you've got a long-lasting and healthy relationship with your business partner—a client, a distributor, a manufacturer, you name it—you will ultimately help each other with better deals. You are more likely to pay a premium price for a service from a long-lasting partner and give them a great deal when you know they're going to do the same for you on the other end. For Naval, this is how long-term games should be played.

Embrace radical honesty. Naval places a high value on being honest—not just with others but also with ourselves. He believes that radical honesty fosters trust, reduces complexity in life, and creates a strong personal and business relationship. It simplifies decision-making and creates a straightforward path in life. There's no room for half-assed executions or indecisions; you either get it, or you don't. You need to be honest with yourself and others in both cases.

Now granted, this approach might place you on the wrong side of some people, but he believes radical honesty is much more valuable than beating around the bush for the sake of it. At the same time, this creates reputation and trust for yourself. When people know that you're the type to put your money where your mouth is, they're more likely to work with you.

Specific knowledge is key in Naval Ravikant's worldview. Specific knowledge is a critical concept. Specific knowledge refers to a unique set of skills or understanding that an individual has developed. It's not something you can be trained for in a traditional educational setting; rather, it's knowledge that is earned through intense curiosity and extensive experience in a particular domain.

This knowledge is often tied to an individual's unique passions or interests and is not easily outsourced or automated. Specific knowledge is deeply personal and unique to each individual. For example, a master woodworker doesn't just know how to build furniture; they understand the subtleties of different wood types, the character of various grains, and have honed their technique to an art form. This kind of knowledge is often pretty hard to explain or teach; it's a deep understanding that comes from years of practice and passion.

In the modern world, where information is abundant and basic skills can quickly be commoditized, specific knowledge is more valuable than ever. Someone who built four failed businesses and one winning one, which they sold for millions, has more specific knowledge than all of the MBA graduates combined.

Leverage technology for scale. Naval is big on technology. Ravikant emphasizes this point relentlessly. Mastering the tools and platforms of the digital era isn't just helpful; it's essential. For him, technology provides the means to multiply one's skills and reach, transforming individual efforts into widespread impact and value.

For example, consider the difference between a skilled artisan crafting bespoke items in a workshop and a digital designer creating a software tool. While both are applying unique skills, the digital designer can distribute their work to millions with nearly zero additional effort or cost thanks to the internet. The artisan, on the other hand, faces significant challenges in scaling their work, as each new piece requires roughly the same amount of time and resources to produce.

Furthermore, leveraging technology for scale isn't confined to software or digital products; it applies to any tool or system that allows individuals to exponentially amplify their reach and impact. For instance, social media can turn a local influencer into a global one, and automation tools can enable a small team to manage operations that previously required an army of employees. For Naval, understanding and embracing this leverage is key. He advises aspiring entrepreneurs to become literate in the languages of the modern economy: coding, writing, digital marketing, etc.—not just for the sake of those skills themselves but for the leverage they can provide. In a world where scale is often the difference between irrelevance and impact, and between stagnation and wealth, technology is the fulcrum on which individuals and small teams can move the world.

Develop deep work habits. This is something that we talked about in a dedicated video a while ago, and it's something that we practice to this day and will continue to do so because, as far as we're concerned, this is the only way to get anything done. Now deep work is the term coined by professor and author Cal Newport. Deep work refers to the practice of engaging in cognitively demanding activities in a state of distraction-free concentration, allowing you to push your cognitive capabilities to your limit.

In other words, when you've got something important to do that's mentally demanding, you need to make yourself unavailable. There's only you and the work, and nobody else should have access to disrupt you because once they do, it's really difficult to get back to the task at hand and with the same level of focus and concentration. Ravikant argues that it's in this state of deep focused effort that our most valuable and meaningful work is produced.

In a world where shallow reactive work dominates—responding to emails, attending unproductive meetings, scrolling through social media—cultivating the ability to work is a deeply competitive advantage. It enables you to learn complex things really quickly and produce at an elite level, both of which are crucial in today's knowledge economy. For Ravikant, deep work is not just about professional productivity; it's a pathway toward a fulfilling and meaningful life. In this state of deep work, one can find a sense of flow and intrinsic satisfaction that is increasingly rare in our distracted age.

Practice rational optimism. This is something both he and Richard Branson, who we've covered in a past video, have in common. They both believe that in order to succeed, you need to believe it can actually be achieved. Rational optimism, as championed by Naval Ravikant, is the practice of adopting a generally positive and hopeful perspective toward life while also being attuned to reality.

Unlike blind optimism, which overlooks problems and assumes everything will always turn out perfectly well, rational optimism recognizes the existence of challenges and difficulties but remains focused on actionable solutions and the potential for positive outcomes. Ravikant suggests that our mental state is largely a choice that we exercise often subconsciously, and by becoming aware of this choice, we can decide to interpret events in a way that is both grounded in reality and skewed toward the positive.

For him, rational optimism is not about denying the negative aspects of life; it's about focusing on the opportunities that challenges present and believing in your ability to create positive change. This philosophy is deeply rooted in the belief that our perception of the world significantly impacts our reality. If you expect good things to happen and work toward those good outcomes with a rational approach, well, you're more likely to spot opportunities than others might miss and to persist in the face of setbacks.

Detach from outcomes. Naval believes that in order to be rich and happy, you must first detach yourself from the outcome of your efforts. Your focus, energy, and passion should be placed in the process itself and let the outcome be the outcome without conditioning your happiness on it. For example, if you start a business and your only purpose is to sell it, and you tie your idea of success to the day that someone is willing to buy your company, well, there's a high likelihood your company will fail.

That's because you don't care about the process, or what makes the business great, and how everything ties together. That makes it really hard to create something people actually find valuable. You can't sell bread if you hate being in the bakery.

And finally, learn to sell and learn to build. Naval thinks that if you can do one of these, you'll be successful. If you can do them both, you'll be unstoppable. Having a product or service is one thing, but being able to market it and sell it is equally as important. At the heart of these two skills, you've got two distinct traits: creation and persuasion, and they're invaluable in the modern economy.

Now, here's our advice on how to put this into practice: build something, no matter how small it might be, and sell it to at least one person you don't know. And lastly, of course, we've got a bonus for you. Naval is a big believer that you should be the best in the world at what you do. But you see, very few people think that far.

Just indulge yourself in this mind exercise for a moment, at least for your own curiosity. Search for who is the best in the world at the thing that you are doing, or at least someone who's at the very top. See how they're doing things; you might just learn a thing or two.

And if you liked this video, you'll probably like the one we did on Tim Ferriss, which you can check out here or by clicking the link in the description. We'll see you next time. Alux, take care.