The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

Lesson 1 - What is wealth? How to generate it?

When you think about wealth and money, you cannot resist making a connection between the two. While both terms signify two separate things, their implications and essence are forgotten easily. As a result, they are used as synonyms but there lies a stark difference between the two. While money can be inherited, wealth can be acquired at any point in your life. Unlike money, wealth is not a matter of fate or chance.  You can be born into a rich family but wealth doesn't make such differentiation. Creating wealth is a skill that can be learned. Money lends itself as a tool associated with the exchange, simply debit and credit. It correlates to capital. Wealth, on the other hand, is something more. It signifies accumulating and investing in assets that earn without you lifting a finger. 

A code you create, a podcast you record, or a blog you write can generate income while you are not actively contributing anything. Even renting out your property can become your asset. Wealth corresponds to these assets. It associates itself with the generation of skills. Unique skills, skills that are valued by society. These skills that society doesn't know how to harness yet. This will make you irreplaceable.

Thus creating wealth essentially is prioritizing smart work over hard work. You can put in hours and hours of work but it will amount to nothing if you fail to build passive income. And why is passive income so important? Nobody wants to work till they are sixty. No one wants to remain stuck in the same old job, the same old routine. Everyone aspires to retire early. Who doesn't like reaping more benefits while putting in considerably less amount of work?

Building assets and passive income help you in the long run. It provides you with the opportunity to unwind and work on yourself. Thus, your priority should be collecting and investing in assets that will help you in the longer run.

Lesson 2 - Specific knowledge 

Establishing yourself as unique and irreplaceable will always work in your favor. Standing out from the crowd is what you should strive for. Giving people what they want when they have no idea how to create it, translates into your profit. Consider the case of iPhones. The iPhone became a well-sought commodity when only a few could afford it. Even now revising and launching its new models creates an increased demand for the time being. Why? The reason lies in it being unique for a particular period.

The rise of the internet has made our