From Naval’s Periscope Session on April 29, 2018:

INTRO

“I don’t want anything from anyone, so boredom is the only thing that drives me to do anything” * Naval recommends Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb * Rick and Morty is the only TV show he watches “Reality is really interesting for the most part” “TV’s just a slow method of consuming nonfiction. Reading is a lot faster.”

Why are so many people leaving SF?

• A combination of the taxes, it’s not the cleanest city, and there’s a huge homeless problem
• It’s a chosen home for the tech industry, and it’s not going to disappear anytime soon
• With companies where everyone is working remotely, it’s hard to do creative work where everyone needs to synchronize

India

• They have a lot of corruption, bureaucracy, and high taxes making it hard to build things there
• It should be doing a lot better than it is with the large amount of STEM graduates
• “The only way you can sell something, is if you yourself believe in it”
• This is what Elon Musk does all day long
• “If you truly believe in what you’re selling, no one can compete with you on that scale”

EDUCATION

• The education system is very industrialized
• It was developed. and still is this way to some degree, to breed obedient factory workers
• Educating people is very hard – especially when you need to do it cheaply, and all at the same time
• Teachers are teaching a curriculum that’s been negotiated over decades and decided upon by politicians, courts, parents, and unions – this doesn’t make it efficient
• Maybe it’s time we provide students with free tablets, that educate students about what THEY actually want to learn
• We have the technology now, where the software can figure out you’re intellectual levels in different subjects (math, science, etc.)
• Naval doesn’t manage his own crypto, he goes through funds > “Self conflict is a complete waste of time”
• All judging, and arguing with yourself is pointless
• Guilt is society’s voice speaking in your head
• How do you put your brain in debug mode?
• You won’t stop having thoughts, and you can’t control your thoughts, but you can stop them from running away like a freight train

ANGER

• “We didn’t evolve to be angry all the time”
• Anger hurts YOU first and foremost
• “Anger is a hot coal that you hold in your hand while you wait to throw it at somebody else”
• Notice every time your angry, how much it hurts you
• When you don’t want an emotion, it doesn’t arrive with the same intensity
• To deal with procrastination, ask yourself – “Am I going to have to do this at one point or another?”
• If the answer is yes, do it anyway
• Another tip is to work on the second most important thing you’re doing

• Ask why you’re procrastinating, really get to the bottom of it

  OSHO

• A philosophical mystic that Naval has enjoyed reading

• He’s a great thinker on enlightenment, peace, truth, and self examination

• Check out the book The Sun Rises in the Evening

How did Naval meet Kapil Gupta

• Kapil tweeted at him
• Vegan food technology companies
• It’s only a matter of time before we can either 3D print meat or create food that tastes enough like meat that causes society to slowly shift away from eating meat
• When this happens, people in the future will probably judge us for killing so many animals for food

The Bay Area

• A positive – Has the highest concentration of brilliant people, and also the natural beauty
• A negative – the amount of the monoculture/ group think , the lack of independent thinkers
• What makes someone smart?
• Genetics is the biggest component
• Intellectual curiosity is an important trait to cultivate
• “If you’re just curious as to how things work, and are more concerned with figuring it out correctly than being right, then you put yourself in a very powerful position”

Kanye for president?

• He has a very good shot at winning
• Social media has really changed who can run for president
• “We’re going to see celebrity presidents a lot more”
• Presidents within decades will be wearing cameras, and we’ll be able to tune into the president’s channel to see what he’s up to
• Naval has noticed the “blue check marks” on Twitter are the least interesting people > “Your mind isn’t unfocused. It’s just focused on something that another part of your mind wan’ts it to be focused on. This creates self-conflict.” > “Your mind is doing exactly what you want it to do at all times”

What would Naval tell his 23 year old self?

• Do everything you’re going to do, but with less emotion and less angst

Longevity

• We’re the first generation with smart phones/the internet, but we’re probably the last generation before they figure out, or “crack”, longevity
• “If there’s one thing that does kill you early, it’s stress. So chill out.”

Incarciration

• “It’s basically one monkey putting another monkey in a cage.”
• Maybe we can create another solution – perhaps we have an exile society where we can put prisoners

Tips for public speaking

• Record and watch yourself to catch your flaws
• Know your subject cold, and don’t feel the need to rehearse
• If you know your subject, just talk

Tips for marriage

• Marriage is not dead – it’s the institution you enter into to have children. If you’re not going to have children, you should really think twice about marriage.
• Get married based on compatibilty of values

Random

• Naval is not doing any public speaking this year
• He only wants to speak on platforms he can control

Self confidence vs. IQ vs. Emotional Intelligence

• IQ can be traded for Emotional Intelligence – if you’re really smart you can figure out your emotions > “An intelligent person, over time, will end up confident”

• How does Naval deal with failure?

  • These days, he tries not to have too many goals
  • “If you don’t have goals, you can’t fail to meet them”

• You don’t have to deal with anyone you don’t want to – just walk away

• “The trick to doing anything, is first cultivating a desire for it”

• Mathmatics is the language of nature

  • It’s human beings reverse engineering things encoded into nature

• Humans have no overarching responsibility or purpose for living

  • We all can create and follow our own meaning

• “I’m not trying to do anything important. I’m just doing what I feel like. If I like it, I’ll be good at it.”

• Yoga and reading – “If you want to find me, I’m usually on my yoga mat with a book”

• Naval doesn’t watch movies

  • At some point you realize your life is limited, do you want to waste it watching a movie?
  • “Your emotions may get taken for a ride, but once your emotions get taken for a ride a bunch of times… you know the feeling already”

• Can only one cryptocurrency survive in the end?

  • There will be many survivors, but the economic value will be concentrated at the top
  • The most valuable cryptocurrency will be more valuable than all the others
  • The second most valuable cryptocurrency will be more valuable than third through the last put together

• Intelligence and hard work will get you very far

• Stop thinking in terms of “careers”

  • Develop skills, and do what you want to do at that time to get paid
  • The idea of a having a lifelong career is going away

• If you want money – “Give the world something it wants that it does not yet know how to get”

  • You have to like what you’re doing though – if you don’t like it, someone who does will out compete you

• Everyone should know how to sell

  • You can probably tell who’s going to be a good sales person when they’re 10 years old

• Reading Jiddu Krishnamurti has made Naval realize how little he knows about himself

  • Naval has recommended Total Freedom in the past
  • Naval recommends The Power of Now
  • Check out the book Siddhartha
  • Naval is really enjoying The Sun Rises in the Evening by Osho

• How to have a good relationship

  • Be totally selfish
  • If you can’t keep doing it 50 years from now – don’t do it today to impress someone

• Blockchain Technology is the most inetresting thing right now

• Happiness is something we can learn

• You shouldn’t count on life after death

  • You’ll probably be happier in this life if you don’t expect it

• It’s worth the investment to have a good “proposal story” with your girlfriend

• In a sense, life is indistinguishable from a dream – everything eventually disappears

  • This reality will one day be gone

• Are we living in a simulation?

  • It doesn’t matter and it wouldn’t change your life

• Naval really loves his Airpods

  • Some people think they might somehow cause brain tumors, but Naval thinks it’s unlikely
  • There’s no scientific evidence

How do you find your life partner?

• Be worthy of a worthy mate – work on yourself

• The data shows the life of the average person throughout the world is getting better

• A lot of unhappiness comes from comparing current events to past events

• Intermittent fasting has worked very well for Naval

  • He doesn’t think he does it often enough, but when he does, he’ll only eat dinner
  • The benefits really start after 16 hours of fasting

• Best way to learn how to learn?

  • Read a lot and read things you like

Miscelli

• Naval does the happy body routine for his workouts
• Check out Stories of Your life and Others
• Naval sleeps about 5 hours a night