Naval's Insights For Life (With Joe Rogan)

Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, investor, and an exciting thinker. This memo shares Naval’s insights on life, happiness, and success from his conversation with Joe Rogan. Let’s dive in.

Life is a paradox. No answers exist for paradoxes. However, the act of pursuing the answers makes them meaningful. The understanding of life must be personal for it to be authentic.

Agrippa’s trilemma. Questions that start with why often fall into a philosophical conundrum called the Agrippa’s trilemma. It will end in one of three dead ends. One, infinite regress, one why leading to another. It keeps going on forever.

Two, a circular loop, A leads to B & B leads to A. Three, an axiom - a dogmatic statement that rests on nothing but faith. This shows the tricky nature of finding the “truth.”

Symbiotic relationships. No two humans share the same experiences. However, no person can be defined without referring to the entire human race. The shared existence is what connects each one of us.

Ancient stages of life were well-structured. In Rome, after schooling, students joined the army. Then did a business years later, social service after that, artistic professions later. Humans need to dabble in different pursuits to express their different facets.

What’s your hourly rate? Naval suggests people set an aspirational hourly rate, and not do things that don’t match what their time is worth. Don’t attend worthless meetings, don’t return parcels, and don’t run errands. To become wealthy, first value your time.

Mediation is akin to reaching inbox zero. A cluttered inbox can’t be cleaned in a day - neither can a cluttered mind. However, daily meditation chips away at past mental litter, and ultimately one reaches mental inbox zero.

Everything is a choice. Making the right choices is an art. Hence, everything is art. Learning is an art and so is loving someone. Explore your art forms and enjoy. No one can compete with you when you’re enjoying your work. 

Bottom line: Truth is tricky to attain and life can be paradoxical. But valuing our time and clearing our mind of clutter can help us navigate stormy waters. Building symbiotic relationships and exploring our different facets can add great value to life.