Desire Is a Contract You Make With Yourself to Be Unhappy Until You Get What You Want

In this conversation, we explore:

• Eric's approach to writing a book entirely made up of Naval's words
• philosophy around wealth + happiness
• eastern vs western approaches
• permissionless leverage + ownership
• why desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy
• freedom to vs freedom from

Watch the full episode on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/J7j-5sgDkxQ

Timestamps:

• 0:00:00 - Snippet
• 0:01:50 - Intro + Figuring Out Transitions
• 0:08:54 - Who Is Naval Ravikant?
• 0:15:08 - Unique Approach To Writing This Book
• 0:21:08 - Process Of Writing A Book
• 0:30:17 - Not Letting The Tools Get In The Way
• 0:33:12 - 80/20 Of Naval’s Philosophy on Wealth + Happiness
• 0:39:36 - The Older The Problem, The Older The Solution
• 0:41:10 - Eastern + Sufi Philosophy, Imam Ali + Nahj al-Balagha
• 0:45:06 - Western vs Eastern Philosophy - Meditation Example
• 0:46:49 - Seek Wealth, Not Money or Status
• 0:51:59 - Ownership, Wage Work + “Do not fear work that has no end”
• 0:55:51 - Types of Leverage
• 1:00:17 - Sponsor Break - Nord VPN
• 1:01:20 - Permissionless Leverage, Gatekeepers + DeFi
• 1:12:33 - Creative Work For Its Own Sake
• 1:14:33 - A Year To Decide, And A Day of Acting
• 1:18:58 - Antigoals + Sacrificing Today For An Imaginary Tomorrow
• 1:25:49 - Background on Creator Lab
• 1:27:48 - Buddha Was A Prince
• 1:32:56 - FIRE Community + Knowing How Much Is Enough?
• 1:40:43 - Direction vs Speed
• 1:44:10 - Happiness = Not Suffering
• 1:49:19 - Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy
• 1:56:38 - Losing Motivation + Hunger
• 1:59:47 - Happiness is peace in motion, and peace is happiness at rest
• 2:03:07 - Healing Old Wounds
• 2:05:38 - Freedom To vs Freedom From

Thank you to my sponsors:

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