Navalism: A Journey to Happiness, Wealth, and Fulfillment
How twenty simple truths turned one restless soul into a wholehearted creator—and how they can do the same for you.
A Restless Mind in a Restless Age
Alex was the sort of person you meet at a networking breakfast who smiles politely while checking the time on his phone. His résumé was gilded, his schedule full, but the hum beneath his ribs was anything but content. Promotions passed through his life like train cars in a station—impressive for a moment, then distant, then gone. He collected achievements the way some people hoard souvenirs: hoping the sheer volume would one day feel like meaning.
Then, while doom-scrolling past midnight, Alex stumbled on a thread of short, diamond-bright aphorisms by Naval Ravikant. “Happiness is a choice you make and a skill you develop.” The line slowed his thumb. The next one stopped it. Within an hour he had listened to the three-hour “How to Get Rich (without getting lucky)” podcast, copied quotes into a digital notebook, and felt the first flicker of something that had eluded him for years: a practical hope.
This essay tells the story of what happened next. It is, of course, Alex’s story—names changed, circumstances condensed—but it is also a mirror. Naval’s wisdom is a toolkit anyone can shoulder. If you are tired of borrowed dreams and brittle definitions of success, follow along. Twenty ideas may sound small. They are not. They are hinges on which an entire life can quietly turn.
1. Happiness Is an Inner Game
For as long as Alex could remember, joy felt conditional. If the bonus came through, if the scale hit a certain number, if a particular someone said “yes,” then bliss might bloom—temporarily. Naval offered a different map:
“Happiness is a choice you make and a skill you develop.”
“Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.”
“Peace is happiness at rest, and happiness is peace in motion.”
“The most important trick to being happy is to realize happiness is a skill you develop and a choice you make.”
Alex began small. Each dawn he jotted three gratitudes: a neighbor’s jasmine, the crackle of fresh bread, the absurdity of his dog sneezing. At night he listed desires that had ruled the day—new headphones, more Instagram likes—and labeled them contracts of unhappiness. Naming the pull loosened it. A ten-minute meditation, awkward at first, taught him to watch thoughts drift by like parade floats instead of hitching a ride. Within weeks the background hum in his chest softened. Nothing outside had changed. Everything inside had.
2. Wealth: Building, Not Renting
“Hustle culture” had convinced Alex that twelve-hour days and perpetual anxiety were badges of honor. Naval’s counter—“Seek wealth, not money or status”—landed like a splash of cold water. Money could be traded for time, status addicted you to other people’s opinions, but wealth was ownership of assets that earned while you slept.
“You will get rich by giving society what it wants but does not yet know how to get. At scale.”
“Play long-term games with long-term people.”
“Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.”
“You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity—a piece of a business—to gain your financial freedom.”
Instead of chasing another title, Alex mapped his curiosities and noticed a recurring frustration among colleagues: the chaotic way small teams tracked feedback on prototypes. He sketched a lightweight SaaS tool, recruited a code-savvy friend, and negotiated equity splits that rewarded persistence over quick exits. They launched to two dozen beta users—hardly a moon-shot, yet the feedback was electric. Month by month, subscriptions grew. The product got better because Alex learned to code the basics and to pitch the benefit in the same breath. Revenue that trickled in at first became a stream, then a small river. More importantly, the project detached his well-being from the next salary review. He was building a machine, not renting his brain by the hour.
3. The Forever Student
School had taught Alex to memorize for exams, not to fall in love with questions. Naval reversed the order:
“Read what you love until you love to read.”
“The best way to become an expert is to learn the basics really well.”
“The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner.”
“Embrace accountability and take business risks under your own name. Society will reward you with responsibility, equity, and leverage.”
Alex gave himself permission to follow delight instead of prestige. A book on behavioral economics led to essays on habit-forming technology, which sparked improvements in his own app. He posted lessons learned under his real name on X and LinkedIn, inviting critique. Accountability sharpened his research; transparency earned trust. When a larger firm considered integrating his tool, they cited his public threads as proof of both competence and character. Learning, he discovered, compounds faster than capital. The mind that keeps expanding eventually outgrows problems that once felt like walls.
4. Relationships That Compound
A networking spreadsheet is not a circle of trust. Naval framed relationships as the original high-yield asset:
“All the benefits in life come from compound interest—money, relationships, habits.”
“Pick business partners with high intelligence, energy, and integrity.”
“If you can’t see yourself working with someone for life, don’t work with them for a day.”
“The enemy of peace of mind is expectations drilled into you by society and other people.”
Alex reviewed his calendar and realized he spent ninety percent of his week with people he would not invite to celebrate a triumph or mourn a loss. He began saying no gracefully but firmly, freeing evenings for unhurried dinners with the handful who nourished him. In business he chose slowness over skepticism: a smaller pool of collaborators, each vetted for integrity as rigorously as for skill. Deals took longer to close; they also generated fewer late-night emergencies. Friendship, he noticed, deepened when freed from the tyranny of mutual expectation. Love grew in the oxygen of authenticity.
5. Health, the Silent Multiplier
Burnout had become a badge Alex wore beneath his shirt. Naval tore it off with a sentence:
“A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought—they must be earned.”
“Your health is an investment, not an expense.”
“Meditation is the art of doing nothing.”
“A calm mind is the ultimate weapon.”
He hired a trainer twice a week—not to sculpt vanity muscles but to safeguard future freedom. He swapped the nightly phone scroll for an evening walk, often calling his mother just to listen. Meditation, once a grudging chore, became non-negotiable: the clarifying silence in which priorities sorted themselves like iron filings around a magnet. Mornings began with sweat, stillness, and a breakfast he cooked instead of grabbed. Within months the fog in his thoughts cleared, energy spiked, and the people who loved him began to use the word present when they described him.
6. The Compounding Effect
By Alex’s thirty-fifth birthday the external checklist looked merely good: a profitable niche company, a modest apartment painted by sunsets, a core of friends who spoke the truth even when it stung. Internally, the change was seismic. He no longer saw life as a ladder to climb but as a landscape to cultivate. Each Naval principle had acted like a seed; together they formed a garden whose yield fed every domain of his days.
Happiness practices kept ego desires in check, freeing attention for creative flow.
Wealth systems freed time, which flowed into study, which refined the product, which multiplied wealth.
Continuous learning attracted sharp collaborators who became friends, whose shared ventures amplified both impact and laughter.
Health routines extended stamina so every other pursuit could stretch toward its potential.
The magic was not in any single habit but in their synergy, the way interest compounds unnoticed until it becomes unmistakable. Naval had warned that the greatest returns arrive on the far side of boredom. Alex understood now: greatness is built in the unglamorous discipline of showing up after the novelty fades.
7. Obstacles, Reframed
None of this happened without storms. A crucial hire quit. Funding dried up just as server costs spiked. A romantic relationship ended with an aftershock of doubt. Naval’s voice became a lighthouse:
On setbacks: “The world just reflects your own feelings back at you.”
On envy: “The enemy of happiness is envy.”
On self-forgiveness: “No one is coming to save you—nobody is going to cut you a check. Stop waiting.”
Alex treated obstacles as tuition. When the hire left, he documented processes to ensure no future single point of failure. When investment vanished, he shifted to a lean subscription model that aligned incentives with users. Heartbreak forced him to articulate non-negotiables in love, just as he had in business partners. Pain became data; data, when met with curiosity instead of self-pity, became direction.
8. From Me to We
A curious transformation trailed Alex’s personal gains: a widening circle of influence. Friends asked for book lists; colleagues requested mentorship; strangers messaged to say his weekly newsletter had nudged them toward a gentler discipline. Naval had predicted this spillover: “Escape competition through authenticity.” By baring both successes and stumbles, Alex attracted not just customers but kindred spirits. The venture grew into a learning community, the app into a platform where early-stage creators swapped feedback and equity opportunities. Wealth had seeded wealth, but also meaning.
9. Navalism, Whispered Truths
Naval often says the deepest truths cannot be shouted; they must be “discovered, whispered, and perhaps read.” If this essay has done its work, you have heard such whispers. They are not complicated:
Happiness is an internal skill, trainable like breath.
Wealth is ownership of value that scales beyond your hours.
Reading and relentless curiosity unlock leverage no algorithm can cap.
Relationships and habits compound like interest—nurture them or pay the price.
Health undergirds every other pursuit; neglect it and all gains collapse.
These statements may look obvious when written. They are revolutionary when lived.
Epilogue: Your First Step
The story ends where yours begins. Choose one principle—just one—and treat it as Alex treated gratitude on day one. Write three lines each morning and night. Or block thirty minutes this weekend to map a problem you can solve at scale. Or delete the social app that fuels quiet envy. Progress, Naval reminds us, is the real prize. You might be shocked by how fast a life pivots when it stops outsourcing responsibility for joy.
Alex has not “arrived.” Arrival is an illusion; there is only the next iteration. He still wakes some mornings with doubt fogging the edges of resolve. But now he has tools—twenty of them, sturdy as steel and light enough to carry anywhere. If you pocket even one today, your compass shifts. Compound that drift for months, years, decades, and you may look up to find yourself living in a landscape you once doubted was possible.
Navalism is not a sermon from a mountaintop. It is a quiet invitation: Come and see. Pick up the hammer of choice, the chisel of discipline, the blueprint of long-term games with long-term people. Carve your cathedral—not for applause, but because building it will teach you who you are and what you can give.
The door is open. The tools are waiting. The next move is yours
.Afshine Ash Emrani, M.D., F.A.C.C.
Assistant Clinical Professor, UCLA
David Geffen School of Medicine
Castle-Connolly Nationwide Top Doctor (Since 2008)
Los Angeles Magazine Super Doctor (Since 2010)
LA Style Magazine Top 100 Doctors in America (2024)
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