How To Be Wealthy
5 timeless lessons from Naval Ravikant (and how I'm applying them to my life)
On May 31st, 2018, Naval Ravikant1 blew up the internet.
He published a Twitter thread that generated over 230,000 likes and over 130,000 bookmarks.
It’s a thread about how to get rich without getting lucky. And even 6 years since it was posted, the lessons still remain relevant.
I’ve been reading it everyday for the past week, hoping to absorb even just a fraction of the wisdom coming from Naval himself. Each tweet would probably take years to fully understand, but I find it helpful to think about them as early as now.
Here are 5 of the most important lessons I found from one of the world’s smartest minds (and how I plan to apply them in my life).
1/ Seek wealth, not money or status.
“Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy.”
The distinction between wealth, money, and status is important.
Wealth refers to assets that earn you money even while you’re sleeping. It could be a computer program that serves customers 24/7, money you have in the bank that’s being invested for long periods, or a house that you’re renting out to others.
Wealth creates money, but money is not wealth.
Money simply refers to social credits you earn for doing something useful for society. For instance, you earn a salary for doing valuable work for your employer. In turn, the money you earn acts as social credits you can use to pay for bills, goods, or other resources you need.
Naval points out that if you want to be wealthy, you shouldn’t chase money. Because chasing money means you focus on trading your time and energy to earn an income. But contrary to what we’re often told, building wealth is not about hard work (although it does play an important role).
To create wealth, you need to find high-leverage opportunities and direct your energy and attention there. Your judgment here matters more than how hard you work. Consequently, money or status should not be the main focus.
Status is your place in the social hierarchy. It could be the distinctions you receive in school, your position in a company, or the title you receive after being voted by society.
Personally, I find it important to resist playing the status game. Seeking status is a zero-sum game, meaning someone needs to lose for someone else to win.
I often find myself in a better place when I’m working with people instead of trying to compete against them. Not that competition is a bad thing, but I believe having the support of people I like helps me do better work. I also find more opportunities that way and it feels good to support other people.
2/ Get paid for your judgment instead of your time.
“One can’t be rich through employment (although there are some exceptions). One needs to be creative and own a piece of a business.”
In my current career, I’m still renting out my time.
I get paid a fixed amount every month for the time I put into my work. Our company offers flexible work arrangements, but if I don’t find time to work on my projects, I’ll be fired and won’t earn a salary.
Being in this setup is not necessarily bad. I’m actually okay with renting out my time because it provides me with enough security to receive a stable income on a regular basis.
However, I don’t consider this to be my end goal.
I’m constantly looking for opportunities to shift from being paid for my time to being paid for my judgment. This means creating value by making high-leverage decisions instead of trading my time and energy to accomplish an output.
The day I get paid for my judgment is the day I own a piece of equity in a business. It could be in someone else’s company or something of my own. It could also be when I’m capable of investing in other businesses to get a share of ownership.
No matter what path that may be, I know that I need to do something remarkable to make it happen—or, perhaps, I need to be remarkable myself.
3/ Create your own career.
“The Internet has massively broadened the possible space of careers. Most people haven't figured this out yet.”
You become wealthy by giving people something they want but don't yet know how to get, and doing it at scale. This is incredibly difficult to do, but it's very much achievable.
In the past three months, I’ve been talking to more than 10 people to figure out what problems they’re facing. I discovered that there’s a misalignment between what we say we want and what we’re actually doing. So now, my plan is to come up with a solution that people would find useful. Then, I intend to use the internet to provide the solution at scale.
This is my current way of building wealth. It’s a work in progress and it might not be the path that makes me wealthy, but I know it’s going to lead me there if I keep going.
It's also my way of creating my own career. One thing I discovered is that we’re no longer limited to doing work defined in a job posting.
Don’t be afraid to do something that doesn’t have a name yet. About two decades ago, people didn’t know about podcasts (or at least, they’re not called that way at the time). The people who were listening simply treated it like “radio with some type of interview.” But now, podcasting is already projected to be a $4 billion industry by the end of the year. And we see more and more podcasters as time goes on, with the early podcasters getting the most advantaged due to the head start.
The barrier for entry has also lowered significantly. Almost anyone can start their own podcast these days. We no longer have to rely on other people to give us a career.
Some are also realizing that there are careers that fit them better than the traditional ones. I see people like Ali Abdaal who quit medicine to go full-time on YouTube. He was teaching productivity, business, and health through the platform—which he considered fulfilling work—and for that, he earned over $400,000 just a year after he quit his job as a doctor. Now, he is already a multi-millionaire doing work that he enjoys.
What I’m seeing today is that the internet is going to make creative work more profitable, especially in the age of AI. People are searching for something that could move them emotionally. They’re looking for ways to be entertained outside of the conventional and generic. They’re looking for a unique point of view. Even better if they get something useful out of it. So the ones who are able to take advantage of that opportunity can expect to see great benefits.
My suggestion is to follow people who are already playing the internet game, particularly startup founders and budding creators. If you follow them long enough, you start to notice patterns and trends. Then, you start to see those patterns on your own, and then you can act on them.
4/ Do something with what you’re learning.
“Reading is faster than listening. Doing is faster than watching.”
Back in college, I was never the kind of student who enjoyed reading textbooks. The reason I enjoyed mathematics was that it involved a lot more doing (solving) than reading. I often found it easier to learn by diving directly into the exercises than by watching lecture videos or studying my notes.
Today, I realize the same is true no matter what I’m trying to learn.
I enjoy podcasts because they’re easier to consume, but I find it harder to retain information this way compared to reading. And while watching people do great work helps me figure out how to do it, I find that I understand things more deeply when I start doing things myself.
This matters a lot in wealth building. I realized months ago that the only reason I’m not yet wealthy is that I haven’t yet learned the things that will make me wealthy. Earning money is a skill, just like writing and solving problems are.
When I was reading Noah Kagan’s book, Million Dollar Weekend, last February, I remember stopping at about 50% progress. I was enjoying the read, but I figured I needed to do the challenges that Noah outlined in his book.
I promise you, doing this for three months helped me understand entrepreneurship a lot better than reading any kind of business book—including Noah’s own book.
5/ Become the best in the world at what you do. Keep redefining what you do until this is true.
“Don’t be the best. Be the only.” —Kevin Kelly
For a very long time, I aspired to be the best mathematician in the Philippines.
I realized early in my college years that this goal is incredibly difficult to achieve. It was tough to accept at the start, but then I started asking, “Is this really the goal that I want to strive for?”
There is nobody in the world who can compete with me at being me. The same is true for you and everybody else.
I learned that instead of trying to be #1 in an overcrowded space like mathematics, it’s much easier (and more fulfilling) to become the best at something only I could do.
It’s hard to be the best mathematician. It’s easier to be the best writer-slash-marketer with a math background.
You also become more valuable by turning all your unique skills and qualities into something other people cannot replicate. This requires surrendering to your nature, the very essence of who you are.
Once you figure out what your nature is, you become capable of providing value to people in a way that only you can. And I find that there’s no better way to build wealth than by doing something only you could do.
💙 What are your unique traits?
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we could find the traits and qualities that truly define who we are.
I figured a good way to figure this out is by talking to people. If you’re curious about the topic, I’d love to have a chat about it. You can schedule a call with me through the link below.
Not yet ready to talk 1:1? We can still chat without hopping on a call. Feel free to send me a reply to this email or message me on Substack.
To get the conversation going: Let me know what you enjoyed doing as a kid, before the world shoved you in the face with harsh realities and strong opinions.
💭 Quote I’m Thinking About
Writer Isabel on how to succeed in life:
"Figure out what you're good at without trying, then try."
❓ Question I’m Asking
What feels like play to me, but work to others?
📝 Which do you prefer?
If you don’t know Naval, he is the co-founder and chairman of AngelList, a platform that helps new companies find investors. He is also an angel investor who placed his trust in companies like Twitter, Uber, and Notion even before they became massively popular.
Omg I just checked out the tweets and these are life-changing tweets indeed (without any irony!)
I also appreciate the bit about doing instead of reading, which might be my problem with reading self-help books (the recommended action never catches with to the pace I’m reading). Thanks for sharing Linart!
So many great lessons and reminders here. Thanks for sharing this wisdom, Linart.