Naval Ravikant: Career and Work Advice

If you're going to spend a third of your life working, it may be, outside of the person you marry, the most important decision you make. 

It's not just a decision. It's a massive decision. It's a single choice that determines how you will spend 33% of your life—a third of your brief existence.

That choice shouldn't be a spur-of-the-moment thing. It shouldn't take a couple of days or weeks to figure out. Due to its importance, it should take months or years to determine.

Take it from Naval Ravikant.

Spend more time making the big decisions...We spend so much time in a job, but we spend so little time deciding which job to get into. 

If you're going to dedicate years and decades to a profession, to a craft, to work, maybe you should take months, even years, to make the decision. It shouldn't be a spur-of-the-moment thing because your life is finite, and if that's the case, you want to spend as much of your time working on things you know you want to work on, not what you think you want to work on.

The latter takes one to two days.

The former takes weeks, months, and maybe a year.

Be patient with what you choose to do, and be more patient than you want to be. It's a massive decision and should be given the time it needs.

But when making the decision, what should you look for? What factors should you consider? What variables matter most?

Location?

Money?

Opportunity?

Culture?

People?

Status?

All the above?

Those matter, but there is a single factor that should be put above all else: excitement. 

Are you doing something you love, that you're obsessed with, that gets the juices flowing every day?

A good question to ask yourself: could you see yourself doing this for the rest of your life? Working that job? Working with those people? Doing that thing?

It's a strict criteria, but if something is going to take that much of our life, it's the only criteria.

As Naval says,

If you can’t see yourself working with someone for life, don’t work with them for a day.

That goes for everything. The job. The people. The career. If you can't see yourself doing it forever, move on. 

And you'll know what that work or craft is because your heart will tell you. It will give you goosebumps, excitement, and energy. The juices will be flowing.

You want to spend a third of your life not on what you should do, but what you want to do. Life is too short, too fragile, too valubale, not to. 

So whatever you're after, listen to the heart. 

The head wants money. The heart wants play.

The head wants status. The heart wants excitement.

The head wants safety. The heart wants adventure.

And the beauty about following one's heart is that it leads to great work.

Naval says, 

If you’re not 100 percent into it, somebody else who is 100 percent into it will outperform you. And they won’t just outperform you by a little bit—they’ll outperform you by a lot because now we’re operating the domain of ideas, compound interest really applies and leverage really applies. 

In your work and career, be strict with what you choose to do.

Spend more time considering how you will spend a third of your life.

Follow the heart, not the head.

Pursue what you know you want, not what you think you want. 

Do what you can see yourself doing for the rest of your life.

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