Less Anger, More Success

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The speaker reflects on their biggest mistake in life and how they recovered. Through the exercise of reflecting on past decades, the speaker discovered a consistent pattern: everything they did should have been done, but with less emotion and especially less anger. They realized that life plays out as it will and interpreting experiences is up to the individual. The speaker wishes they had done the same things, but without the unnecessary anger and emotion. They share an example of starting a company and suing some people involved, which resulted in a good outcome but was accompanied by a lot of angst and anger. They now understand that the anger and emotion were unnecessary. The speaker aims to learn from this and continue doing what they believe is right, but without anger and with a long-term perspective. They believe that taking a long-term perspective and removing emotion from decisions eliminates the concept of mistakes. Ultimately, they embrace the perspective that every experience, both their actions and what was done to them, has brought them to the present moment, which they deem as good.

Naval Ravikant is the CEO and co-founder of AngelList. He’s invested in more than 100 companies, including Uber, Twitter, Yammer, and many others.

It’s difficult to nail down exactly what we discuss in our conversation because I had so many questions to ask him. Naval is an incredibly deep thinker who challenges the status quo on so many things. This is an interview you’ll want to listen to, think a bit, and then listen to again.

Here are just a few of the many things we cover in this episode:

What a “typical day” looks like (not the answer I expected, and not one you’ve likely heard before)
How Naval developed his legendary reading habits and how he finds time to read no matter how busy life gets
How the internet has impacted book reading (both good and bad) and how to make sure you’re getting the best information from the most reliable sources
What popular habit advice Naval thinks is BS and why
Naval’s habit stacking technique that helped him overcome a desire for alcohol and other potentially destructive habits
How Naval’s core values give direction to his life and how those values developed over time
Naval’s thoughts on the current education system and what we can do to facilitate better learning for our children
Naval’s favorite mental models for making critical high-stakes decisions
His brilliant two-factor calendar authentication concept to keep him focused on only the most important projects
Naval’s definition for the meaning of life (buckle up for this one)
His amazing response to the investor who wanted to be just like Steve Jobs

And so, so much more.

Just a heads up, this is the longest podcast I’ve ever done. While it felt like only thirty minutes, our conversation lasted over two hours!

And although it is the longest, it’s also our most downloaded episode on the Knowledge Project, so make sure you have a pen and paper handy. There’s a lot of wisdom up for grabs here.

Enjoy this amazing conversation.

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