Eric-Jorgenson The-Almanack-of-Naval-Ravikant indd

What is the most important thing to do for younger people 
starting out?
Spend more time making the big decisions. There are basically 
three really big decisions you make in your early life: where 
you live, who you’re with, and what you do.
We spend very little time deciding which relationship to get 
into. We spend so much time in a job, but we spend so little 

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time deciding which job to get into. Choosing what city to live in 
can almost completely determine the trajectory of your life, but 
we spend so little time trying to figure out what city to live in.
Advice to a young engineer considering moving to San 
Francisco: “Do you want to leave your friends behind? Or be 
the one left behind?”
If you’re going to live in a city for ten years, if you’re going to 
be in a job for five years, if you’re in a relationship for a decade, 
you should be spending one to two years deciding these things. 
These are highly dominating decisions. Those three decisions 
really matter.
You have to say no to everything and free up your time so you 
can solve the important problems. Those three are probably 
the three biggest ones. [1]
What are one or two steps you’d take to surround yourself 
with successful people?
Figure out what you’re good at, and start helping other people 
with it. Give it away. Pay it forward. Karma works because 
people are consistent. On a long enough timescale, you will 
attract what you project. But don’t measure—your patience 
will run out if you count. [7]
An old boss once warned: “You’ll never be rich since you’re 
obviously smart, and someone will always offer you a job 
that’s just good enough.”

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