66: Making the Navalmanack: Interview with Eric Jorgenson
Made You Think
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“Even today, what to study and how to study it are more important than where to study it and for how long. The best teachers are on the Internet. The best books are on the Internet. The best peers are on the Internet. The tools for learning are abundant. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce.” - Naval Ravikant
In this episode of Made You Think, Nat and Neil are joined by Eric Jorgenson. Eric is a writer, product strategist, and author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant.
We cover a wide range of topics including:
- How Eric came to the idea of writing The Almanack
- What Eric's biggest lessons and takeaways were from authoring this book
- What topics didn't end up making the final cut
- The future of education and online courses
- The idea of leverage and how it can be used
And much more. If you haven't already, make sure to check out our last episode where we talked in great depth about The Almanack and discussed our key takeaways from the book. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a tweet to Nat, Neil, and Eric!
Links from the Episode
Mentioned in the show
- Previous MYT Episode (0:35)
- Naval on Shane Parrish's podcast (2:27)
- Readwise (10:30)
- Bonus Section: Education (27:07)
- Building a Second Brain (32:22)
- Lambda School (32:55)
- How To Think Like Elon Musk - Made You Think Episode (44:37)
- SpaceX (45:40)
Books Mentioned
- The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
- Debt: The First 5000 Years (11:23)
- Infinite Jest (13:58) (Nat's Book Notes) (Book Episode pt. 1) (Book Episode pt. 2)
- Vagabonding (52:02) (Nat's Book Notes)
People Mentioned
- Naval Ravikant
- Trevor McKendrick (7:38)
- Elon Musk (41:41)
- Tim Ferriss (50:40)
Show Notes:
0:52 - Eric Jorgenson, author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, shares how his idea of writing the book came to be.
5:35 - From the start, Eric knew he didn’t want it to just be a summary book. How he was able to hone in on the writing style of the book to capture the interest of his readers all the way through.
9:20 - Highlight density. Using highlight data to estimate book quality. Skipping chapters and not finishing books.
14:14 - Eric’s key takeaways from the book and what knowledge he has carried away from writing it. The importance of equity, accountability and leverage. We have the tendency to want to do everything ourselves rather than to create systems and put the pieces together.
19:04 - How Twitter and other social media usage affects mindset and energy. Discussions of Naval’s Twitter usage and utilizing it as an outlet for his unfiltered thoughts and ideas.
21:56 - What were the communication patterns between Naval and Eric during the creation of The Almanack?
24:05 - The variety and depth of Naval’s ideas. Eric allowed himself to take time to dive in and explore these topics to let them sink in before writing about it.
26:02 - One topic that didn’t make the final cut was Education. Naval has talked about the flaws within the education system as well as the future of education. If you’re curious to read more, you can find that here!
The rise of online courses and the potential for digital course creators. When you’re learning locally, you have the best person in the area teaching you. When you’re learning on a platform that’s global, you’ll be learning from the best of the best, plus increased accessibility.
32:44 - The future of online learning and career preparation is promising. How will the online course market grow within the upcoming decades? Tiktok education in the format of 60 second videos shot from your phone.
37:45 - English as the language of business and the history of the qwerty keyboard.
40:50 - If Eric could write about another influencer of thought, who would it be?
42:10 - Elon Musk, PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX. Writing a biography about Elon Musk: he has a hefty list of accomplishments but his principles and concepts are timeless.
48:24 - What do we know about Naval’s relationships and family? His ideas and concepts are what he is widely known for, so not much is known about his personal life.
53:53 - Eric’s next steps includes creating a course to help build a framework on this idea of leverage that Naval often speaks about.
57:01 - Leverage can be utilized at a personal, managerial, and company level in many different ways. Productivity of a company is no longer about how many employees there are. People leverage.
1:01:59 - Pick up a copy of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant on Amazon, follow Eric on Twitter, visit navalmanack.com, and follow along with upcoming projects on Eric's website!
If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by leaving a review on iTunes and tell a friend. As always, let us know if you have any book recommendations! Find us on Twitter @TheRealNeilS and @nateliason. The best way to stay up to date on future episodes and show updates is to join our email list at Made You Think Podcast.
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