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

LEVERAGE
1X
1,000X
10,000X
FIND A POSITION OF LEVERAGE
We live in an age of infinite leverage, and the economic rewards 
for genuine intellectual curiosity have never been higher. [11] 
Following your genuine intellectual curiosity is a better foun-
dation for a career than following whatever is making money 
right now. [11]
Knowledge only you know or only a small set of people knows 
is going to come out of your passions and your hobbies, oddly 

---

56 · T H E A L M A N A C K O F N A V A L R A V I K A N T
enough. If you have hobbies around your intellectual curiosity, 
you’re more likely to develop these passions. [1]
If it entertains you now but will bore you someday, it’s a 
distraction. Keep looking.
I only really want to do things for their own sake. That is one 
definition of art. Whether it’s business, exercise, romance, 
friendship, whatever, I think the meaning of life is to do things 
for their own sake. Ironically, when you do things for their own 
sake, you create your best work. Even if you’re just trying to 
make money, you will actually be the most successful.
The year I generated the most wealth for myself was actually 
the year I worked the least hard and cared the least about the 
future. I was mostly doing things for the sheer fun of it. I was 
basically telling people, “I’m retired, I’m not working.” Then, 
I had the time for whatever was my highest valued project in 
front of me. By doing things for their own sake, I did them at 
their best. [74]
The less you want something, the less you’re thinking about it, 
the less you’re obsessing over it, the more you’re going to do 
it in a natural way. The more you’re going to do it for yourself. 
You’re going to do it in a way you’re good at, and you’re going 
to stick with it. The people around you will see the quality of 
your work is higher. [1]
Follow your intellectual curiosity more than whatever is “hot” 
right now. If your curiosity ever leads you to a place where soci-
ety eventually wants to go, you’ll get paid extremely well. [3]

---

B U I L D I N G W E A L T H · 57
You’re more likely to have skills society does not yet know how 
to train other people to do. If someone can train other people 
how to do something, then they can replace you. If they can 
replace you, then they don’t have to pay you a lot. You want to 
know how to do something other people don’t know how to do 
at the time period when those skills are in demand. [1]
If they can train you to do it, then eventually they will train a 
computer to do it.
You get rewarded by society for giving it what it wants and 
doesn’t know how to get elsewhere. A lot of people think you 
can go to school and study for how to make money, but the 
reality is, there’s no skill called “business.” [1]
Think about what product or service society wants but does 
not yet know how to get. You want to become the person who 
delivers it and delivers it at scale. That is really the challenge 
of how to make money.
Now, the problem is becoming good at whatever “it” is. It 
moves around from generation to generation, but a lot of it 
happens to be in technology.
You are waiting for your moment when something emerges in 
the world, they need a skill set, and you’re uniquely qualified. 
You build your brand in the meantime on Twitter, on YouTube, 
and by giving away free work. You make a name for yourself, 
and you take some risk in the process. When it is time to move 

---

58 · T H E A L M A N A C K O F N A V A L R A V I K A N T
on the opportunity, you can do so with leverage—the maxi-
mum leverage possible. [1]
There are three broad classes of leverage: