Recently, I finished reading a popular book called "The Naval Ravikant Codex" and I wanted to write an article to record some of the things I learned from the book, in order to leave something behind.
How to Achieve Happiness#
The most effective way to achieve happiness is to let go of the self.
The smaller the desire for something, the fewer worries and obsessions there are, and the more natural it becomes to follow one's inner self.
The main meaning of happiness is to be free from pain, desires, and being consumed by thoughts of the future or the past. It is about embracing the present, embracing the current situation, and embracing everything as it is.
If you see yourself as a bacterium or a shape-shifter, and see all your efforts as writing on water or building sandcastles on the beach, you will not have any expectations of how life "should be". Life is just like this, reality is just like this.
True happiness is simply a byproduct of inner peace, primarily derived from accepting reality rather than trying to change the external environment.
If you are pursuing an inner purpose and doing what you want to do, then you will naturally feel happy. But if your purpose is imposed on you by the outside world, and you are doing things out of necessity, such as "society expects me to do this", "my father is the eldest son of my grandfather, and I am my father's eldest son, so I must do this", "I am in debt and the burden is heavy, so I must work hard", etc., then you will not be happy.
True happiness is simply a byproduct of inner peace, primarily derived from accepting reality rather than trying to change the external environment.
For me, the main meaning of happiness is to be free from pain, desires, and being consumed by thoughts of the future or the past. It is about embracing the present, embracing the current situation, and embracing everything as it is.
How to Get Rich Without Relying on Luck#
You cannot get rich by selling your time, but rather by owning assets (companies, stocks, businesses) or having passive income (code or media). For this, you need to leverage labor and capital, and create products with zero replication costs, ultimately converting wealth into the right to enjoy happiness and freedom.
To gain wealth, you must know what to do, who to do it with, and when to do it. Understanding and thinking are more important than simply working hard. Of course, hard work is important and you should not be stingy with your efforts, but you must choose the right approach.
To gain wealth, you must fully leverage the power of leverage. Business leverage comes from capital, labor, and products with zero replication costs (code and media).
One way to acquire wealth is to provide something that society needs but cannot obtain, and scale it up.
With the internet, as long as you excel in your field and can scale what you offer, even if your interests are niche, you can still thrive.
Choose an industry with long-term development and find people to collaborate with in the long run.
Productize yourself.
Productizing yourself is difficult, so when I say "productize yourself," it takes decades—not in terms of execution, but in terms of spending most of your time thinking: What unique value can I provide?
There are no quick get-rich tutorials in the world. Even if there are, they are only meant to make money from you.
As long as you express yourself uniquely online, you have the opportunity to spread happiness, accumulate wealth, create products, and establish businesses.
The most important skill for getting rich is to become a lifelong learner. Whatever you want to learn, you must find a way and method. The previous money-making model was to study for four years, obtain a degree, and work in a specific field for 30 years. But now, things are different. The development of the times is rapid, and you must master a new profession within nine months, which will become outdated in four years.
About Wealth#
Pursue wealth, not money or status. Wealth refers to assets that can continue to generate income for you even when you are sleeping.
It is impossible to get rich by selling your time. You must have equity (partial ownership of a company) to achieve financial freedom.
Wealth is a computer program that serves customers day and night. Wealth is also money invested in other assets or businesses in the bank.
About Expertise#
Expertise refers to knowledge that cannot be obtained through training.
To have expertise, you need to pursue genuine interests and passions, rather than blindly chasing trends.
The process of accumulating expertise may be effortless for you but challenging for others.
The teaching of expertise needs to be done through the mentor-apprentice relationship, not through formal education.
Expertise often involves high technical or creative skills that cannot be outsourced or automated.
To find the right expertise for yourself, think back to your childhood or teenage years and remember what things you could effortlessly accomplish.
If society can train you, then one day, society can also write code and replace you with a computer.
A person can only excel in one or two things, and these one or two things are usually the things that fascinate you.
In the age of leverage, it is important to excel in your own field.
Time investment is necessary, so I believe that what you need to do is to have expertise, a sense of responsibility, influence, leverage, and a unique combination of skills that makes you stand out in your field.
Everyone has something they are passionate about and can do with great motivation, but these things vary from person to person. Even those who claim to have "no motivation" can suddenly become enthusiastic when playing games.
About Leverage#
Labor leverage is having others work for you. This is the oldest and most fiercely contested form of leverage. Having labor leverage may impress your parents, but don't chase after it excessively.
Capital and labor are levers that require permission to use. Everyone is chasing after capital, but someone has to be willing to invest. Everyone wants to lead others, but someone has to be willing to follow.
Code and media are levers that can be used without permission. These two levers are behind the new wealthy class. You can create software and media that work for you while you sleep.
If you don't know how to code, then write books, blogs, make videos, or record podcasts.
About Judgment#
For leveraged workers, the importance of judgment far outweighs the length of time invested and the effort put into work.
Time investment is necessary, but judgment is more important. In the process of progress, direction is more important than speed, especially after leveraging. Choosing the right direction at each crossroads is far more important than the effort put into moving forward. Life is about choosing the right direction and then striving towards it.
Being Yourself#
Most of life is spent searching for those who need you the most and searching for the things that need you the most.
Regardless of which stage of life you are in, the goal of effort is to constantly improve your independence, rather than seeking promotions and salary increases.
How to Retire#
The first method is to save money. As long as you have enough savings, passive income (without lifting a finger) can cover your expenses.
The second method is to reduce expenses to zero—become a monk.
The third method is to do what you love. Enjoy it completely, whether you have money or not.
How to Get Good Luck#
Hope that good luck comes unexpectedly.
Keep trying until you encounter good luck.
Be mentally prepared and sensitive to opportunities missed by others.
Do what you do to the best of your ability. Strive for excellence until it becomes a reality. Let opportunities find you automatically and let luck become inevitable.
The Meaning of Life#
Anything you gain from this world is just external to you, it doesn't matter in the end. You are born without anything and you will die without anything, it is not important to you. Having a healthy body and a smart brain, these things that come from your parents are what truly belong to you.
Life has no meaning, and there is no purpose in life. Some say, "Life is like a scorpion on water or building a house with sand." The universe has existed for 10 billion years and may continue to exist for another 70 billion years. Compared to the history of the universe, your life is virtually non-existent—it did not exist in the past 10 billion years and will not exist in the future 70 billion years. The universe will eventually reach a state of heat death.
As a life system, everything we do is pushing the universe towards heat death. Creating art, studying mathematics, forming families, inventing computers, creating civilizations, and so on—all these more complex systems are accelerating the universe towards the ultimate state of "everything is one." You are pushing us towards the ultimate state of "everything is one."
In physics, the arrow of time comes from entropy. According to the second law of thermodynamics, entropy only increases with time, it never decreases. This means that the state of disorder in the universe only increases, and concentrated free energy only decreases as time goes on. If we consider humans or any living beings or human civilizations as systems, these systems are decreasing entropy locally. Humans decrease entropy locally because we have agency.
Opinions and Facts#
Feelings and facts are two different things. Feelings are just our partial estimation of the facts.
About Reading#
The confusion you feel when reading is like the muscle soreness you feel when exercising. Reading exercises the muscles of the mind, just as exercise exercises the muscles of the body. Learn how to read books.
About Freedom#
In the past, I always pursued the freedom to "do whatever I want." Now, I pursue the freedom to "not do what I don't want to do," and the freedom to be unrestricted internally and externally.
Liberation from Expectations#
If someone is hurt because they have expectations of you, that is their problem. They will have various expectations of life, and the sooner you break their expectations of you, the better.
About Reputation#
If a person has a good reputation, consistently building and accumulating their reputation for decades, they will definitely receive attention and recognition. In comparison, a person with great talent but who does not utilize the compounding effect of reputation will be valued thousands of times less than someone who values reputation.
A crucial aspect of making money is reputation and trustworthiness. In other words, people need to know you and trust you in order to conduct transactions with you.
Value Priorities#
The first priority in my life is my physical health. The importance of health is higher than happiness, higher than family, and higher than work. My physical health is the starting point for everything, ranking first, followed closely by my mental and spiritual health. Then comes the health and happiness of my family. After ensuring these, I can freely move in this world according to my own will.
About Work#
Essentially, going to work means working for someone else. While business owners take on risks and responsibilities, they also have intellectual property and brand effects. Therefore, the compensation they pay you will always be lower than the value you create. They will provide you with the minimum compensation necessary to make you work. This minimum compensation may be high, but it is still not true wealth because it will be difficult to sustain this income after you retire. So, work hard until you have the ability to own equity in a company.
The best job has nothing to do with appointment or degrees. The best job is the creative expression of a lifelong learner in the free market.
Some Formulas#
Happiness = Health + Wealth + Good Relationships
Health = Exercise + Diet + Sleep
Exercise = High-intensity endurance training + Sports + Rest
Diet = Natural foods + Intermittent fasting + Plants
Sleep = No alarm clock + 8-9 hours + Circadian rhythm
Wealth = Income + Wealth × (Return on Investment)
Income = Responsibility + Leverage + Expertise
Responsibility = Personal brand + Personal platform + Taking risks?
Leverage = Capital + Labor + Intellectual property
Expertise = Knowledge that cannot be obtained through training