Are some people simply born happy? Or, is happiness something you create? Is it the same with riches and wealth? Eric Jorgenson seeks to unveil the answers in his curated collection of the thoughts of Naval Ravikant, an Indian-born American entrepreneur and investor.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a fascinating revelation of how happiness and wealth are skills we can all learn, not birthrights to a lucky few. It is not so much a continuous narrative, but more of a distilled guidebook for modern wisdom.
Jorgenson’s book is a beautiful mosaic of Naval’s insights, tweets, interviews and essays – all united by the two ultimate goals of wealth and happiness. Whilst some readers may find this disjointed, the bite-sized wisdom nuggets offer an ideal framework for reflection. You are not simply following along with Naval’s thinking. Rather, you are handed a treasure trove of deep insights that you can apply uniquely to your own life path.
“All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest”
A key theme of Naval’s publications is that money does not equal wealth. Rather, the latter is mostly about freedom. This gets to the idea of leverage – assets that can work whilst you sleep, and which scale without you constantly needing to be involved. Think of the Pareto Principle (also known as the 80:20 Rule), but applied to systems, products and relationships.
However, Naval is not simply concerned with finances. Happiness is the other half of the story. Here, Jorgenson does a great job of stressing that this is not an “end goal” to be attained, but rather a skill to be continuously cultivated over a lifetime. Many practices can be used to help with this, such as self-inquiry, meditation and letting go of desire.
The book might feel unconventional in that it is not neatly divided into chapters, but rather into two main sections based on these two themes. However, there is a beautiful organisation to the almanack with its abundance of quotable lines and sharp, tweet-sized truths. In short, it’s a book you can dip into repeatedly, finding new relevance as your own circumstances evolve.
Perhaps you are in the early stages of your career, reassessing your trajectory or wondering how to get the most out of retirement life. Regardless, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant acts as a wonderful mentor-in-a-book. We highly recommend it to you.
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