There are a million ways to make a million dollars and get rich, and this is how Naval Ravikant does it.
For those of you who don’t know, Naval Ravikant is a philosopher-entrepreneur whose insights on happiness, wealth creation, and personal growth have gained a dedicated following.
As the CEO and co-founder of AngelList, he’s a respected figure in the startup world.
With an estimated net worth of 60 million USD, his reflections, often shared via podcasts and social media, are a blend of wisdom drawing from both Eastern philosophy and Western entrepreneurship.
This is how to get rich, according to Naval Ravikant.
Don’t worry if you don’t feel like reading, you can enjoy the video below or watch it on YouTube:
1
Seek wealth, not money or status
Naval defines wealth as the ability to live life on your own terms, something shared by many individuals on our list.
For him, it’s not just about accumulating money or seeking status, it’s about gaining the freedom to spend your time as you wish.
In this context, wealth is a means to a long, healthy, and happy life.
Moreover, Naval encourages people to aim for financial independence. The point where you’re no longer trading your time for money, which allows you to pursue what genuinely interests and excites you.
His definition of wealth encourages a mindset shift from short-term gains to long-term, sustainable freedom and happiness.
Even more, he believes that everyone in the world should be rich, and you have a duty to do so.
2
Happiness is a skill
According to Naval, happiness is not something that is bestowed upon you based on external circumstances but rather a skill that can be developed.
He often discusses the concepts of meditation and mindfulness as tools for understanding and training your own mind.
For Ravikant, happiness comes from within and is a state of being that can be achieved through practice and self-awareness, rather than being tied to external achievements or possessions.
He likes to differentiate between happiness from within and the comfort that money brings.
By this definition, you should try to achieve happiness at the same time as achieving wealth, and not expect that money will ultimately make you happy.
And this approach makes a lot of sense because when you are in the right state of mind, and all your thoughts are in order, it’s easier to focus on building wealth and achieving financial freedom.
3
Play long-term games with long-term people
This is by far one of the things most people struggle with.
Naval often speaks about the importance of engaging in long-term games to get rich. Enterprises where the people involved have repeated interactions, and the benefits compound over time.
In business, this means creating and nurturing relationships where both parties help each other, resulting in mutual trust and respect.
For Ravikant, success and wealth are byproducts of such games, where your reputation is your most valuable asset.
When you have a long-lasting, healthy relationship with your business partner, a client, a distributor, a manufacturer, you name it, you will ultimately help each other with better deals.
You are more likely to pay a premium price for a service from a long-lasting partner. Furthermore, give him a great deal when you know they are doing the same for you on other ends.
For Naval, this is how long-term games should be played.
4
Embrace radical honesty
When it comes to getting rich, Naval Ravikant places a high value on being honest. Not just with others, but also with oneself.
He believes that radical honesty fosters trust, reduces complexity in life, and creates strong personal and business relationships.
It simplifies decision-making and creates a straightforward path in life.
There’s no room for bullshit, half-assed executions, or indecision.
You either get it or you don’t, and you need to be honest with yourself and with others, in both cases.
Granted, this approach might place you on the wrong side of people, but he believes radical honesty is much more valuable than beating around the bush for the sake of it.
At the same time, this creates a reputation and trust for yourself.
Moreover, when people know you put your work where your mouth is, they are more likely to work with you.
5
Specific Knowledge is key
In Naval Ravikant’s worldview, “Specific Knowledge” is a critical concept in order to get rich.
Specific knowledge refers to a unique set of skills or understanding that an individual has developed.
It is not something you can be trained for in a traditional educational setting. Rather, it is knowledge that is earned through intense curiosity and extensive experience in a particular domain.
This knowledge is often tied to an individual’s unique passions or interests and is not easily outsourced or automated.
Specific knowledge is deeply personal and unique to each individual.
For example, a master woodworker doesn’t just know how to build furniture. They understand the subtleties of different woods and the character of various grains and have honed their technique into an art form.
In fact, this kind of knowledge is often hard to explain or teach. It’s a deep understanding that comes from years of practice and passion.
In the modern world, information is abundant, and basic skills can be quickly commoditized.
That’s why specific knowledge is more valuable than ever when you think about it.
Someone who built four failed businesses and one winning one, which he sold for millions, has more specific knowledge than all the MBA graduates combined.
6
Leverage technology for scale
Naval is big on technology and he used it extensively to get rich.
Naval Ravikant emphasizes this point relentlessly: mastering the tools and platforms of the digital era isn’t just helpful; it’s essential.
For him, technology provides the means to multiply one’s skills and reach, transforming individual efforts into widespread impact and value.
For example, consider the difference between a skilled artisan and a digital designer. Both are applying unique skills, however:
- The digital designer can distribute their work to millions with nearly zero additional effort or cost, thanks to the Internet.
- The artisan, on the other hand, faces significant challenges in scaling their work, as each new piece requires roughly the same amount of time and resources to produce.
Furthermore, leveraging technology for scale isn’t confined to software or digital products.
It applies to any tool or system that allows individuals to exponentially amplify their reach and impact.
For instance, social media can turn a local influencer into a global one, and automation tools can enable a small team to manage operations that previously required an army of employees.
In fact, for Naval, understanding and embracing this leverage is key.
He advises aspiring entrepreneurs to become literate in the languages of the modern economy—coding, writing, digital marketing, etc.—not just for the sake of those skills themselves but for the leverage they provide.
In a world where scale is often the difference between irrelevance and impact, between stagnation and wealth, technology is the fulcrum on which individuals and small teams can move the world.
7
Develop deep work habits
This is something we practice to this day, and we’ll continue to do so. Because as far as we are concerned, this is the only way to get anything done.
Deep work is a term coined by professor and author Cal Newport.
Deep work refers to the practice of engaging in cognitively demanding activities in a state of distraction-free concentration. This allows you to push your cognitive capabilities to their limits.
In other words, when you have important stuff to do that’s mentally demanding, you need to make yourself unavailable.
There’s only you and the work, and nobody should have access to means to disrupt you.
Because once they do, it’s really difficult to get back to the task at hand with the same level of focus and concentration.
Ravikant argues that it is in this state of deep, focused effort that our most valuable work is produced.
In a world where shallow, reactive work dominates—responding to emails, attending unproductive meetings, scrolling through social media—cultivating the ability to work deeply is a competitive advantage.
It enables you to learn complex things quickly and produce at an elite level, both of which are crucial in today’s knowledge economy.
For Naval Ravikant, deep work is not just about professional productivity and getting rich. It is a pathway toward a fulfilling and meaningful life.
In the state of deep work, one can find a sense of flow and intrinsic satisfaction that is increasingly rare in our distracted age.
8
Practice Rational Optimism
This is something both he and Richard Branson, whom we covered in a past article, have in common.
They both believe that in order to succeed, you must believe that it can actually be achieved.
Rational optimism, as championed by Naval Ravikant, is the practice of adopting a generally positive and hopeful perspective toward life while also being attuned to reality.
- Blind optimism overlooks problems and assumes everything will always turn out perfectly.
- Rational optimism recognizes the existence of challenges and difficulties but remains focused on actionable solutions and the potential for positive outcomes.
Naval suggests that our mental state is largely a choice that we make, often subconsciously.
By becoming aware of this choice, we can decide to interpret events in a way that is both grounded in reality and skewed toward the positive.
For him, rational optimism is not about denying the negative aspects of life. It’s about focusing on the opportunities that challenges present and believing in your ability to create positive change.
This philosophy is deeply rooted in the belief that our perception of the world significantly impacts our reality.
If you expect good things to happen and work towards those good outcomes with a rational approach, you are more likely to spot opportunities.
9
Detach from outcomes
Naval Ravikant believes that in order to be rich and happy, you must detach yourself from the outcome of your efforts.
Your focus, energy, and passion should be placed in the process itself. Let the outcome be the outcome without conditioning your happiness on it.
For example, if you start a business and your only purpose is to sell it, there’s a high likelihood that your company will fail.
In fact, that’s because you don’t care about the process, about what makes the business great, or about how everything ties together.
And that makes it really hard to create something people actually find valuable.
You can’t sell bread if you hate being in the bakery.
10
Learn to sell and learn to build
Naval thinks that if you can do one of these, you’ll be successful.
And if you can do both, you’ll be unstoppable.
Having a product or a service is one thing, but being able to market and sell it is equally important.
And at the heart of these two skills are two distinct traits.
Creation and persuasion They are invaluable in the modern economy.
In fact, here’s our advice on how to put this into practice: Build something, no matter how small it must be, and sell it to at least one person you don’t know.
If you enjoyed this article, you’ll love the one we did on Seth Godin, in the same series.
These are 10 of the most important lessons to take away from Naval Ravikant on how to get rich. See you next time!
