TRIBE of

MENTORS
SHORT LIFE ADVICE
FROM THE BEST IN THE WORLD

TIMOTHY FERRISS
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT
BOSTONNEW YORK
2017

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 Self-esteem is just the
reputation that you have
with yourself. Youll always
know.

NAVAL RAVIKANT
TW: @naval
startupboy.com

NAVAL RAVIKANT is the CEO and co-founder of AngelList. He previ-

ously co-founded Vast.com and Epinions.com, which went public as part of
Shopping.com. He is an active angel investor and has invested in more than 100
companies, including many unicorn mega-successes. His deals include Twit-
ter, Uber, Yammer, Postmates, Wish, Thumbtack, and OpenDNS. In recent years,
he is the person I call most for startup-related advice.

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 What is the book (or books) youve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to
three books that have greatly influenced your life?

Total Freedom by Jiddu Krishnamurti. A rationalists guide to the perils

of the human mind. The spiritual book that I keep returning to.

Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (page 554). A history of the human spe-
cies, with observations, frameworks, and mental models that will have
you looking at history and your fellow humans differently.

Everything by Matt Ridley (page 35). Matt is a scientist, optimist, and

forward thinker. Genome, The Red Queen, The Origins of Virtue, The
Rational Optimisttheyre all great.

How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? Do you have a
favorite failure of yours?
Suffering is a moment of clarity, when you can no longer deny the truth of a
situation and are forced into uncomfortable change. Im lucky that I didnt get
everything I wanted in my life, or Id be happy with my first good job, my col-
lege sweetheart, my college town. Being poor when young led to making money
when old. Losing faith in my bosses and elders made me independent and an
adult. Almost getting into the wrong marriage helped me recognize and enter
the right one. Falling sick made me focus on my health. It goes on and on. Inside
suffering is the seed of change.

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say
and why?
Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get
what you want.
Desire is a driver, a motivator. In fact, a sincere and uncompromising desire,
placed above everything else, is nearly always fulfilled. But every judgment,
every preference, every setback spawns its own desire and soon we drown in
them. Each one a problem to be solved, and we suffer until its fulfilled.
Happiness, or at least peace, is the sense that nothing is missing in this mo-

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 ment. No desires running amok. Its okay to have a desire. But pick a big one and
pick it carefully. Drop the small ones.

What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments youve ever made?
Every book I read that wasnt assigned to me or that I didnt read with a pur-
pose in mind.
The genuine love for reading itself, when cultivated, is a superpower. We
live in the age of Alexandria, when every book and every piece of knowledge
ever written down is a fingertip away. The means of learning are abundantits
the desire to learn thats scarce. Cultivate that desire by reading what you want,
not what youre supposed to.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?
Happiness is a choice you make and a skill you develop.
The mind is just as malleable as the body. We spend so much time and effort
trying to change the external world, other people, and our own bodies, all the
while accepting ourselves the way we were programmed in our youths. We ac-
cept the voice that talks to us in our head all the time as the source of all truth.
But all of it is malleable, every day is new, and memory and identity are burdens
from the past that prevent us from living freely in the present.

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the real
world? What advice should they ignore?
Advice: Follow your intellectual curiosity over whatever is hot right now. If
your curiosity ever leads you to a place where society eventually wants to go,
youll get paid extremely well.
Do everything you were going to do, but with less angst, less suffering, less
emotion. Everything takes time.
Ignore: The news. Complainers, angry people, high-conflict people. Anyone
trying to scare you about a danger that isnt clear and present.
Dont do things that you know are morally wrong. Not because someone is
watching, but because you are. Self-esteem is just the reputation that you have
with yourself. Youll always know.
Ignore the unfairnessthere is no fair. Play the hand that youre dealt to

Naval Ravikant 33

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 the best of your ability. People are highly consistent, so you will eventually get
what you deserve and so will they. In the end, everyone gets the same judg-
ment: death.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
Youre too young. Most of history was built by young people. They just got
credit when they were older. The only way to truly learn something is by doing
it. Yes, listen to guidance. But dont wait.

In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to?
I say no to nearly everything. I make a lot fewer short-term compromises. I as-
pire to only work with people who I can work with forever, to invest my time
in activities that are a joy unto themselves, and to focus on the extremely long
term.
So I have no time for short-term things: dinners with people I wont see
again, tedious ceremonies to please tedious people, traveling to places that I
wouldnt go to on vacation.

When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, what do you do?

Memento moriremember that you have to die. All of this will go to nothing.
Remember before you were born? Just like that.

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