May 20, 2019

The Naval Podcast – Reject Most Advice

Check out Naval’s Episode Page & Show Notes

This podcast clip is part of a conversation between Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi. Unless otherwise noted, quotes are from Naval. For reference, check out Naval’s famous How to Get Rich tweet storm.

Key Takeaways

• “Avoid people who got rich quickly, they’re just giving you their winning lottery ticket numbers”
• “The best founders I know listen to and read EVERYONE, but then they ignore everyone and make up their own mind”
  • They have their OWN internal model of how to apply things to their situation and don’t hesitate to discard information if necessary
  • Remember – “If you survey enough people, all the advice will cancel to 0”
• When you hear a piece of advice/information, ask yourself:
  • “Is this true?”
  • “Is this true outside of the context of what that person applied it in?”
  • “Is it true in my context?”
  • “Do I want to apply it?”
• Reject most advice, but remember you have to listen to/read enough of it to know what to reject and what to accept
• Here’s how Naval views the purpose of advice:
  • “I view it as helping me have anecdotes and maxims that I can then later recall when I have my own direct experience and say, ‘Ah, that’s what that person meant.'”
• “90% of my tweets are just maxims that I carve for myself that are then mental hooks to remind me when I’m in that situation again”
  • Like Naval’s tweet – “If you can’t see yourself looking with someone for life, then don’t work with them for a day”
  • “I use my tweets and other people’s tweets as maxims that help compress my own learnings and be able to recall them”
• All pieces of advice are really just compact ways for you to recall your own knowledge
  • If you don’t have the direct experience, advice just reads like an inspirational quote