The Goal of This Post

This post distills timeless lessons on character from The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, by Eric Jorgenson—insights on clarity, judgment patience and freedom of mind.

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Key Takeaways from Naval Ravikant on Saving Yourself

• Be yourself—nobody can outcompete you at being you.
• Care for your body first: food, exercise, and priorities shape peace of mind.
• Meditation is fasting for the mind—quiet unlocks clarity.
• True power lies in changing yourself.
• Growth requires acting now, not “later”.
• Freedom means knowing what you want and valuing your time.
• Anger and expectations are self‑inflicted contracts of suffering.

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Choose to Be Yourself

• You don’t need to do anything. All you should do is what you want to do.
• No one in the world is going to beat you at being you.

Your goal in life is to find the people, business, project, or art that needs you the most. There is something out there just for you.

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Choose to Care for Yourself

• We evolved for scarcity but live in abundance.
• When it comes to medicine and nutrition, subtract before you add.
• The more processed the food, the less one should consume.
• The harder the workout, the easier the day.
• To stay flexible is to stay young.
• The best workout for you is one you’re excited enough to do every day.

“I don’t have time” is just another way of saying “It’s not a priority.” What you really have to do is say whether it is a priority or not. If something is your number one priority, then you will do it. That’s just the way life works.

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Meditation + Mental Strength

• Relaxed breathing tells your body you’re safe.
• Most of our suffering comes from avoidance.
• Meditation is intermittent fasting for the mind.
• Too many distractions lead to a heavy mind.
• Insight meditation lets you run your brain in debug mode.

When your mind quiets, you stop taking everything around you for granted. You start to notice the details… You can unpack your own mind, your emotions, thoughts, and reactions. Then you can start reconfiguring. You can start rewriting this program to what you want.

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Choose to Build Yourself

• The greatest superpower is the ability to change yourself.
• Anger and emotions are a huge, completely unnecessary consequence.
• Take a very long-term point of view and take the emotion out of it.
• To have peace of mind, you have to have peace of body first.
• You should always be internally ready for a complete change.
• When you really want to change, you just change.
• Anything you have to do, just get it done.

Impatience with actions, patience with results.

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Choose to Grow Yourself

• Use your judgment to figure out what kinds of environments you can thrive in.
• If there’s something you want to do later, do it now. There is no “later”.
• For self-improvement without self-discipline, update your self-image.
• Motivation is relative. You just have to find the thing you’re into.

Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.

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Choose Freedom from Expectations

• There are no “adults”. Everyone makes it up as they go along.
• You have to find your own path. Figure it out yourself, and do it.
• Internal freedom is “Freedom From”.
• Value your time. Your time is all you have. Do not waste your time.

The hardest thing is not doing what you want—it’s knowing what you want.

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Choose Freedom from Anger

• Anger is a way to signal as strongly as you can to the other party you’re capable of violence.
• Anger is a loss of control over the situation.

Anger is a contract you make with yourself to be in physical and emotional turmoil until reality changes.

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All content credit goes to the author(s). I’ve shared the bits I’ve enjoyed the most and found most useful.

Cheers ’til next time! Saludos!
Alberto