#184: Share this with a young person.

Hello everyone,

Welcome to my 184th newsletter.

Imagine waking up to a life where work feels like training for a sport—short, powerful bursts of effort followed by rest, reflection, and tweaking what works.

Now add a gig-based world where you choose projects from people you already trust, set your own schedule, and live anywhere you want.

Naval Ravikant, tech thinker and co-founder of AngelList, believes this is the future.

And for young people, his ideas flip everything we’ve been taught about work, learning, and success. Here’s how you can use them to shape your life.

1. Work Like an Athlete, Not a Machine

Naval dismisses the 9-to-5 grind. “Humans aren’t meant to work like machines,” he says. “Work like an athlete instead: train, rest, reassess, repeat.”

A sprinter doesn’t run all day—they go hard, recover, and improve.
Your work can follow the same rhythm.

Choose a project and attack it with intensity—like building a small app or completing a design sprint in a week.

Then step back, rest, get feedback, and refine.
This isn’t slacking.

It’s how creative humans do their best work—especially in a world where AI handles the repetitive stuff.

2. Gigs, Not Jobs: The New Freedom

Naval predicts a world driven by gigs—short, high-quality projects with people you choose to work with.

“You’ll wake up with five offers from people you’ve worked with before,” he says.

Finish a contract, then meet friends in Bali. Consult from a mountain cabin. Work mornings from a café and take afternoons off.

This way of living already exists—and young people are adapting faster than anyone else.

Your job is simple:
Do great work → build trust → let opportunities come back to you.

3. Learn Like an Autodidact

Naval believes the most creative minds are self-taught.
“All the smart kids I know are autodidacts,” he says. “You can’t force curiosity.”

If something excites you—music, AI, filmmaking—go learn it. Try it. Drop it if it’s not for you. Pick up what sparks your energy again.

The world is overflowing with free knowledge: YouTube, open courses, X threads, Discord communities.

What’s scarce is the inner drive to learn.

Here’s the secret:
You can master almost anything in 6–9 months if you stay curious and follow your energy.

4. Leverage: Your Shortcut to Living Big

Naval’s most powerful idea is leverage.

A single piece of content, a tiny app, a blog post, a tool—create it once, and it can work for you forever.

This shifts you from trading hours for money to building assets that scale.

Start small:
Write. Record. Build. Share.
Each piece adds up.

Naval also reminds us of the emotional side:
“Peace comes from letting go of what you can’t control.”
Play your own game. Tune out the noise.

Your Playbook for a Naval-Style Life

Train Like an Athlete:
Pick one project. Sprint for weeks. Rest. Reassess.

Try Gigs:
Freelance, consult, design, code—test remote work and build your crew.

Feed Curiosity:
Follow what excites you. Learn freely online. Drop what doesn’t fit.

Build Leverage:
Create things that outlast your time—posts, tools, products, communities.

Own Your Flow:
Work from anywhere, with people you like, on your terms.