A&B #8

Hey friends,

I'm writing to all 2,640 of you today (up from 2,436 readers last week)!A couple of cool updates:

1) I'm working on creating some A&B t-shirts. The designer is finishing up the logo and I hope to have it up for sale within a week or two. A&B shirts would be a great way to support the A&B mission and show the world you're a reader at the same time.

• Here are a few slogans I'm thinking of putting on the shirts. If you have an idea for a slogan, I'd love to hear it.

2) I've been on Twitter for almost 4 years and written about 4,000 tweets. I decided to filter through them and make a list of my top 10 most liked tweets. You can

Alright, let's dive in!

Podcast Update:

I had the pleasure of interviewing Eric Jorgenson, the author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness. This book is a collection of Naval's wisdom and experience shared as a curation of his most insightful interviews, essays, and podcasts. In our conversation, Eric shares Naval's advice on:

• How to get rich (without getting lucky)

• How to develop the skill of happiness

• The benefits of meditation

• How Naval developed a love for reading

And much more. You can learn more about the podcast and listen to it here.  

Book Lessons:

There's a TON of incredible lessons in The Almanack of Naval Ravikant. Here's three, for now, perhaps I'll share more next week.PS: You can get a free copy of the ebook here.1) If You Want To Get Rich, Own Equity If you want to be rich, you have to own some form of equity. Equity is any form of ownership in an asset. Here are two common examples: buying shares of a public company or investing in a startup. The great thing about equity is that it works even when you're sleeping or on vacation.Usually, you're only earning money when you trade it for time. A lawyer may make $250,000 a year, but they'd make $0 if they billed zero hours that year (and probably get fired). But with equity, it can make you money without your help. For instance, if you invested $10,000 into Amazon during their IPO in May 1997, that equity would now be worth more than $12 million. If you think that's a lot, Eduardo Saverin invested $15,000 into Facebook and his equity is now worth about $13 billion (yes that's billion with a B).2) Use Leverage To Build WealthAccording to Naval, there are 3 main forms of leverage: Labor, capital, and products with zero marginal cost. Using labor means hiring other people while capital means multiplying a decision with money (as mentioned in the lesson above). But the last one, Naval writes, is the most interesting.Products with zero marginal costs to replicate include books, courses, apps, movies, and other similar products. Once you build it, you can sell it to the whole world. The hard part is creating the product, but once that's done, it costs you the same to sell it to 100 people as it does to 100,000 people.  3) Happiness Is A Skill Most people see happiness as an emotion that randomly comes and goes, but Naval disagrees. He views it as a skill–something that can be learned and improved. If you want to be happier, here are a few tips: Stop drinking alcohol, don't eat sugar, consume less caffeine, spend less time on social media, and spend more time meditating.Some more words of wisdom: Realize envy is the enemy of happiness and that desire is a contract to be unhappy until you get what you want. And my favorite tip: "When working, surround yourself with people more successful than you. When playing, surround yourself with people happier than you." Actionable Advice:

• Explore ways to start earning more equity in life:

  • Look into investing in stocks, real estate, etc.

  • Look into the option of your company paying you in shares

• Think of a product you can create with zero marginal costs:

  • Write that book you've thought about for years

  • Create an app that solves a problem you and your friends have

• To be happier consume less alcohol, sugar, caffeine, and social media

• Spend more time meditating and surrounding yourself with happy individuals

Reading Tip:When reading a book, don't highlight every single line.Instead, look for these 3 things:• Insights • Quotes• Actionable Advice Learn more here.

Weekly Quote:"Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want."–Naval Ravikant

Photo of the Week:

Tim Ferriss recently had Matthew McConaughey on his

podcast

. During their conversation, Matthew talked about how the book,

The Great Salesman In The World

by Og Mandino, changed his life.

I summarized their conversation into a Twitter thread that you can

.

Thank you for your support everyone, I'll see you next week!Read on,Alex W.PS: If you enjoy my newsletter, consider checking out my friend Dickie Bush (@dickiebush) and his newsletter The Digest. It's a weekly newsletter with curated thoughts and links on how people, businesses, and systems grow. You can learn more & read it here.