Choosing to Grow Yourself
Choosing to Grow Yourself
I don’t believe in specific goals. Scott Adams famously said, “Set up systems, not goals.” Use your judgment to figure out what kinds of environments you can thrive in, and then create an environment around you so you’re statistically likely to succeed.
The current environment programs the brain, but the clever brain can choose its upcoming environment.
I’m not going to be the most successful person on the planet, nor do I want to be. I just want to be the most successful version of myself while working the least hard possible. I want to live in a way that if my life played out 1,000 times, Naval is successful 999 times. He’s not a billionaire, but he does pretty well each time. He may not have nailed life in every regard, but he sets up systems so he’s failed in very few places. [4]
Remember I started as a poor kid in India, right? If I can make it, anybody can, in that sense. Obviously, I had all my limbs, my mental faculties, and I did have an education. There are some prerequisites you can’t get past. But if you’re reading this book, you probably have the requisite means at your disposal, which is a functioning body and a functioning mind. [78]
If there’s something you want to do later, do it now. There is no “later.”
How do you personally learn about new subjects?
Mostly, I just stay on the basics. Even when I learn physics or science, I stick to the basics. I read concepts for fun. I’m more likely to do something that has arithmetic in it than calculus. I won’t be a great physicist at this point. Maybe in the next lifetime or my kid will do it, but it’s too late for me. I have to stick to what I enjoy.
Science is, to me, the study of truth. It is the only true discipline because it makes falsifiable predictions. It actually changes the world. Applied science becomes technology, and technology is what separates us from the animals and allows us to have things like cell phones, houses, cars, heat, and electricity.
Science, to me, is the study of truth and mathematics is the language of science and nature.
I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual. To me, that is the most devotional thing that I could do, to study the laws of the Universe. The same kick that someone might get out of being in Mecca or Medina and bowing to the prophet, I get the same feeling of awe and small sense of self when I study science. For me, it’s unparalleled and I’d rather stay at the basics. This is the beauty of reading. [4]
Do you agree with the idea “If you read what everybody else is reading, you’re going to think what everyone else is thinking”?
I think almost everything that people read these days is designed for social approval. [4]
I know people who have read one hundred regurgitated books on evolution and they’ve never read Darwin. Think of the number of macroeconomists out there. I think most of them have read tons of treatises in economics but haven’t read any Adam Smith.
At some level, you’re doing it for social approval. You’re doing it to fit in with the other monkeys. You’re fitting in to get along with the herd. That’s not where the returns are in life. The returns in life are being out of the herd.
Social approval is inside the herd. If you want social approval, definitely go read what the herd is reading. It takes a level of contrarianism to say, “Nope. I’m just going to do my own thing. Regardless of the social outcome, I will learn anything I think is interesting.”
Do you think there’s some loss aversion there? Because once you diverge, you’re not sure if you’re diverging toward a positive outcome or a negative outcome?
Absolutely. I think that’s why the smartest and the most successful people I know started out as losers. If you view yourself as a loser, as someone who was cast out by society and has no role in normal society, then you will do your own thing and you’re much more likely to find a winning path. It helps to start out by saying, “I’m never going to be popular. I’m never going to be accepted. I’m already a loser. I’m not going to get what all the other kids have. I’ve just got to be happy being me.”
For self-improvement without self-discipline, update your self-image.
Everyone’s motivated at something. It just depends on the thing. Even the people that we say are unmotivated are suddenly really motivated when they’re playing video games. I think motivation is relative, so you just have to find the thing you’re into. [1]
Grind and sweat, toil and bleed, face the abyss. It’s all part of becoming an overnight success.
If you had to pass down to your kids one or two principles, what would they be?
Number one: read. Read everything you can. And not just the stuff that society tells you is good or even books that I tell you to read. Just read for its own sake. Develop a love for it. Even if you have to read romance novels or paperbacks or comic books. There’s no such thing as junk. Just read it all. Eventually, you’ll guide yourself to the things that you should and want to be reading.
Related to the skill of reading are the skills of mathematics and persuasion. Both skills help you to navigate through the real world.
Having the skill of persuasion is important because if you can influence your fellow human beings, you can get a lot done. I think persuasion is an actual skill. So you can learn it, and it’s not that hard to do so.
Mathematics helps with all the complex and difficult things in life. If you want to make money, if you want to do science, if you want to understand game theory or politics or economics or investments or computers, all of these things have mathematics at the core. It’s a foundational language of nature.
Nature speaks in mathematics. Mathematics is us reverse engineering the language of nature, and we have only scratched the surface. The good news is you don’t have to know a lot of math. You just have to know basic statistics, arithmetic, etc. You should know statistics and probability forwards and backwards and inside out. [8]
选择成长自己
我不相信具体的目标。斯科特·亚当斯曾说过一句著名的话：“建立系统，而非目标。” 你应该用自己的判断力来找出什么样的环境能让你茁壮成长，然后围绕自己创造这样的环境，使你在统计上更有可能成功。
当前的环境会塑造大脑，但聪明的大脑可以选择未来的环境。
我不会成为这个星球上最成功的人，我也不想成为。我只想在尽可能少努力的情况下，成为最成功的自己。我想过一种生活，如果我的人生重来1000次，Naval能在999次里成功。他不是亿万富翁，但每次都过得不错。他可能没有在各个方面都达到完美，但他建立的系统让他很少在某些地方失败。[4]
记住，我是从印度的一个贫困家庭起步的，对吧？如果我能成功，任何人都可以，从这个意义上讲。当然，我有四肢健全，思维正常，我也受过教育。这些都是无法绕过的前提条件。但如果你在读这本书，你很可能也具备了所需的条件，那就是一个健康的身体和健全的心智。[78]
如果有你以后想做的事，那就现在去做吧。没有“以后”这种东西。
你个人是如何学习新课题的？
大多数情况下，我只停留在基础上。即使是在学习物理或科学时，我也只关注基础知识。我是为了乐趣而读概念的。我更倾向于做一些涉及算术的东西，而不是微积分的东西。我不会成为一个伟大的物理学家，也许下辈子或者我的孩子会去做，但对我来说现在已经太晚了。我必须坚持做我喜欢的事情。
科学对我来说是对真理的研究。它是唯一真正的学科，因为它能够提出可证伪的预测，并且它实际上改变了世界。应用科学变成了技术，而技术是使我们与动物区别开来的东西，让我们拥有手机、房子、汽车、供暖和电力等事物。
科学对我来说是对真理的研究，而数学是科学和自然的语言。
我不是一个宗教信徒，但我有精神信仰。对我来说，研究宇宙的法则是我能做的最虔诚的事情。有人可能会在麦加或麦地那跪拜先知时得到那种敬畏的感觉和自我渺小的感觉，我在学习科学时也有同样的感觉。对我来说，这种感觉是无与伦比的，所以我更愿意停留在基础上。这就是阅读的美妙之处。[4]
你同意“如果你读的都是别人读的东西，你就会想和别人一样的想法”这个观点吗？
我认为人们现在读的大部分东西都是为了社会认可而设计的。[4]
我认识一些人，他们读了一百本关于进化的二手书，但他们从来没读过达尔文。想想有多少宏观经济学家，我想大多数人都读过无数的经济学专著，但从没读过亚当·斯密的书。
在某种程度上，你是为了社会认可而读书。你是在为了和其他猴子一样融入群体而读书。而这并不是生活中最有价值的地方。生活中最有价值的是脱离群体。
社会认可在群体内。如果你想要社会认可，绝对去读群体在读的东西。需要一种逆向思维的勇气来说：“不，我只做我自己的事情。不管社会结果如何，我会学习我认为有趣的东西。”
你认为这里面有一些损失规避的心理吗？因为一旦你偏离大众，你不确定是走向了积极的结果还是消极的结果？
绝对是这样。我认为我所认识的最聪明、最成功的人一开始都被视为失败者。如果你把自己视为失败者，被社会抛弃，没有正常社会的角色，那你就会做自己的事，你更有可能找到成功的道路。最好从一开始就说：“我永远不会受欢迎。我永远不会被接受。我已经是一个失败者了。我不会得到其他孩子拥有的东西。我只需要快乐地做我自己。”
对于不靠自律的自我提升，更新自我形象。
每个人在某些方面都是有动力的，只是取决于事情而已。即便是我们所说的那些缺乏动力的人，一旦他们在玩电子游戏时，他们也会突然变得非常有动力。我认为动力是相对的，所以你只需要找到你感兴趣的事情。[1]
拼搏、流汗、辛苦、流血，直面深渊。这一切都是成为一夜成名的成功人士的一部分。
如果你必须传给孩子一两条原则，那会是什么？
第一：阅读。尽可能多地阅读。不仅是社会告诉你好的东西，甚至也包括我告诉你去读的书。就是为了阅读本身而去阅读。培养对阅读的热爱。即使你必须阅读浪漫小说、通俗读物或漫画书。没有所谓的垃圾书。只管读下去。最终，你会引导自己去阅读那些你应该读、想读的东西。
与阅读技能相关的是数学和说服力的技能。两者都有助于你在真实世界中导航。
说服力的技能很重要，因为如果你能影响你的同类，你就能完成很多事情。我认为说服力是一项实际的技能。因此你可以学会它，而且并不难学会。
数学有助于生活中所有复杂和困难的事情。如果你想赚钱，如果你想做科学研究，如果你想理解博弈论、政治、经济学、投资或计算机，所有这些事物的核心都是数学。它是自然的基础语言。
自然以数学的方式说话。数学是我们对自然语言的逆向工程，而我们只不过刚刚触及了皮毛。好消息是你不需要掌握很多数学。你只需掌握基本的统计、算术等。你应该对统计学和概率学了如指掌，正反面、里里外外地掌握。[8]