Naval Ravikanth's Work and Life Lessons (quotes)

Lately, I'm following Naval Ravikanth (@naval), founder of AngelList -that helps startups, angel investors, and job-seekers looking to work at startups. His podcasts have achieved a great fan following. His messages are simple, yet profound. I'm presenting a few that resonated me very much (mostly from his tweets):

• The 5 most important skills are reading, writing, arithmetic, persuasion (talking) & computer programming. If you are good with computers, basic mathematics, writing, speaking and you like reading you are set for life
• A rational person can find peace by cultivating indifference to things outside of their control.
• The problem happens when we have multiple desires. When we have fuzzy desires. When we want to do ten different things and we’re not clear about which is the one we care about.
• All the benefits in life come from compound interest — money, relationships, habits — anything of importance
• A personal metric: how much of the day is spent doing things out of obligation rather than out of interest?
• Don’t 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
• This is such a short and precious life that it’s really important that you don’t spend it being unhappy.”
• You make your own luck if you stay at it long enough.
• The power to make and break habits and learning how to do that is really important.
• Happiness is a choice and a skill and you can dedicate yourself to learning that skill and making that choice.
• The people who succeed are irrationally passionate about something
• If it entertains you now but will bore you someday, it’s a distraction. Keep looking
• Clear thinkers appeal to their own authority
• You can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it. What is not a good option is to sit around wishing you would change it but not changing it, wishing you would leave it but not leaving it, and not accepting it. It’s that struggle, that aversion, that is responsible for most of our misery. The phrase that I use the most to myself in my head is one word: accept.”
• I don’t have time is just saying it’s not a priority.
• Technology is applied science. Science is the study of nature. Mathematics is the language of nature. Philosophy is the root of mathematics. All tightly interrelated
• The first rule of handling conflict is don’t hang around people who are constantly engaging in conflict.
• People who try to look smart by pointing out obvious exceptions actually signal the opposite.
• You’re never going to get rich renting out your time.
• People spend too much time doing and not enough time thinking about what they should be doing.
• Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Gurus won’t make you calm. Mentors won’t make you rich. Trainers won’t make you fit. Ultimately, you have to take responsibility. Save yourself
• A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought — they must be earned
• The secret to public speaking is to speak as if you were alone
• Work becomes flow at the limits of ability. The flavor of life is on the edge
• The fundamental delusion — there is something out there that will make me happy and fulfilled forever.
• Success is the enemy of learning. It can deprive you of the time and the incentive to start over. Beginner’s mind also needs beginner’s time