3-6 months of beginner hell (making close to zero progress and questioning whether it's worth it) is a natures way of filtering out people who weren't serious in the first place.

If you're inexperienced, don't try to pretend you're not. It will fool no one and make you look ridiculous. Instead just be openly curious. This will seem natural instead of awkward, and you'll learn a lot more.

The real economy is not money, it is goods & services. Money is simply an abstract representation of real things.

The first rule of learning is to admit you don’t know. The second rule is to never stop asking why.

It was the best of times (rapid progress in technology), it was the worst of times (boneheaded tariffs).

AI makes everyone a tech CEO, crypto makes everyone a venture capitalist.

Overheard “I have made more money being brave than being brilliant”

12 yo asked when poverty first became a problem. I told him it was the default — that most animal species are hungry.

In an office environment, you can easily spot the difference between those doing something out of a sense of duty, and those just seeking credit. As I keep saying, virtue is what you do when nobody is looking.

"The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your thoughts." – Marcus Aurelius

Do hard things. Because life is hard. And when you take on voluntary struggle, you’re better prepared for the involuntary struggle that inevitably enters your world. Embrace the suck.

Life is going so fast because you're not injecting enough silence into your days. Spend an hour reading or writing or walking in silence and watch how your day seems to double in duration

The secret to success in almost all fields is large, uninterrupted blocks of focused time.

When you get down to it, a CEO only has three responsibilities: 1. Set the direction of the company. 2. Don't run out of money. 3. Build a great team.

Someone asked me if now is a good time to start a startup, with all the uncertainty in the world. The answer is yes, because the dominant factor in the outcome of a startup is whether the founders can discover a great product, not the political or economic environment.

A lesson I wish I learned earlier: Regret ages you, but so does risk. The difference is that risk leaves the marks of meaningful struggle, while regret leaves the marks of unlived potential. Choose wisely.

"Solve via iteration. Then get paid via repetition." Naval

"If you don't own a piece of a business, you don't have a path towards financial freedom." Naval

"Management is the oldest, and most over-rated form of leverage. Capital, Media, and Code are the modern forms." Naval

Every breakthrough began as a pattern the world ignored.