October 10, 2018
Naval’s Periscope Session (10/9/18) – Part 2
Check out the Part 1 Notes
- No one can really hurt you psychologically, you hurt yourself
- You decide to get upset at a ruined expectation
- Instead of saying “X hurt me”, ask “Why did I hurt myself over how this person behaved?”
- Most likely – it’s because you had a certain expectation, and that expectation is the problem
- Minimalism
- Modern society is rich when you think about it – we have iPhones, Periscope, TVs, big houses etc.
- Minimalism is no longer required – what’s required is that your expectations just have to be below your means
- “People who live below their expectations, enjoy a freedom people who are busy upgrading their lifestyles can’t afford”
- Don’t keep upgrading your lifestyle every time you make more money – try to live a notch below what you’re earning
- How can you not care about what other people think of you?
- “The way to forget the insults is to not take in the compliments in the first place”
- For an insult to affect you, it has to hit on your self image, and that self image is created through compliments
- For an insult to really hurt you, it has to have some level of truth to it
- How can you prevent yourself from copying others desires?
- Meditate and spend time alone
- Get out of your peer group – take retreats/trips, and drop yourself into new environments
- What qualities does Naval look for in a friend?
- Integrity
- The person should also be happy
- Naval values intellectual curiosity most
- The best thing that has happened to Naval in the past year, is picking up a serious meditation practice
- Retirement
- Retirement just means not doing things you don’t want to do
- In that way, Naval is already retired
- “I don’t sacrifice today, for an imagined tomorrow”
- Advice – Get into a job you like, where you are tracked on your outputs, rather than your inputs – this will allow you to control your time much better
- Retirement just means not doing things you don’t want to do
- Yuval Noah Harari
- Sapiens was one of Naval’s favorite books, but to him, Homo Deus and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century weren’t as good
- “The money is in sequels, but the quality isn’t”
- Yuval had his whole life to come up with the insights for Sapiens
- The world then wanted him to come up with equally good insights in just a few years for sequels
- But in 1-2 years isn’t enough time – this resulted in books that weren’t as good (for Naval at least)
- Psychedelics
- Do your own homework, and make up your own mind
- “Everything you get out of psychedelics, you can also get out of meditation” – Psychedelics are just the fast route
- “Anytime you can trade money for time, you should, because time is the thing you’ll run out of first”
- More on meditation
- “Whatever works for you, is the right answer”
- Transcendental Meditation is good for beginners, but Naval recommends to move past it after a while – “It’s just white noise for your brain”
- Public Speaking
- It’s about confidence
- “If you’re indifferent to what people think, you can be confident, and if you’re confident, you can speak well”
- There were some good ideas in Principles by Ray Dalio, but man oh man would Naval hate to work at that place
- Global Warming
- Everyone has their mind made up – “Global warming is no longer a scientific discussion, it’s a politicized discussion”
- It turns into a name calling battle – it’s unfortunate but science is about open discussions, and the freedom to speak whatever you want
- “Freedom of speech, which is really the freedom of thought, is the highest virtue”
- “It’s turned into a highly politicized topic, it’s impossible to have a rational discussion about”
- Physical privacy is almost dead
- There are cameras almost everywhere
- “The only remaining privacy we’re going to have is digital privacy, which is why encryption is so important”
- Read Skin in the Game
