October 10, 2018

Naval’s Periscope Session (10/9/18) – Part 2

Watch Here

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
• 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