How to Get Rich Without Getting Lucky

Seek Wealth, Not Money or Status

Money, wealth, and status are often conflated, but they are distinct concepts. Wealth is the most desirable of the three as it signifies assets that earn while you sleep. It includes factories, robots, computer programs, and investments that generate passive income.

Money, on the other hand, is just a medium of exchange—a social IOU that society gives you for creating value. It can lose value over time and be manipulated.

Status is a zero-sum game based on social hierarchy, where for someone to gain status, someone else must lose it. Chasing status often leads to conflict and is not a sustainable way to achieve freedom.

Wealth buys you freedom, allowing you to live life on your own terms. It's the key to avoiding the nine-to-five grind and the ultimate path to financial independence. Wealth creation focuses on building valuable assets and systems that earn profits without constant effort.

Cultivating wealth leads to long-term prosperity and autonomy.

Make Abundance for the World

Creating value for society is the cornerstone of wealth creation. When you focus on making abundant resources available, wealth naturally follows. Here's why:

• Technology and Innovation: Innovations like the internet and smartphones created immense wealth by providing new value. Steve Jobs and his team, for example, revolutionized personal computing and communication.

• Scalable Solutions: Businesses that scale, such as software companies, can serve millions of customers at low costs. This mass accessibility leads to exponential growth and wealth.

• Positive-Sum Game: Wealth creation, unlike status, is not a zero-sum game. By generating new resources and solutions, everyone benefits.

By focusing on abundance and innovation, you contribute to societal growth and pave your path to wealth.

Embrace Accountability to Get Leverage

Taking accountability is crucial for gaining leverage and equity in business.

When you are responsible for outcomes, you build credibility and trust. As Naval states, "accountability is a double-edged thing. It allows you to take credit when things go well and to bear the brunt of the failure when things go badly."

Sticking your neck out and owning your results demonstrates confidence and leadership. "Even if a business fails and your name's on it, that's not as bad as if it turns out to be an integrity issue," Naval adds.

Being accountable turns you into a principal rather than an agent, aligning your interests with the business's success. In turn, this leads to more opportunities for leverage—be it through gaining more autonomy, decision-making power, or equity in the company.

Accountability maximizes your potential to create and capture value, steering you closer to financial freedom.

Learn to Sell, Learn to Build

Both selling and building skills are crucial for success. Here's why and how you can develop them:

1. Understand Their Importance: Building skills help you create valuable products. Selling skills allow you to communicate their value effectively. Elon Musk and Steve Jobs excelled because they mastered both.

2. Focus on Building First: If you're starting, prioritize learning to build. This could be coding, designing, or product management. Excellent builders create products people need.

3. Develop Selling Skills: Learn how to persuade and communicate. Practice public speaking, negotiation, and storytelling. These skills will help you sell your product and vision.

4. Combine Both for Unstoppable Success: Mastery in both domains gives you superpowers. It allows you to build products that people want and sell them effectively, maximizing your impact and wealth potential.

Develop these skills to become unstoppable in your journey to success.

Read What You Love Until You Love to Read

Developing a love for reading is fundamental for continuous learning and personal growth.

Start with topics that genuinely interest you:

• Science Fiction: Dive into imaginative worlds that spark creativity.
• Biographies: Learn from the lives of inspiring figures.
• Comics: Enjoy visual storytelling and clever narratives.

Reading offers numerous benefits:

• Enhances Knowledge: Gain insights across various subjects.
• Improves Focus: Helps in building concentration and attention to detail.
• Boosts Creativity: Stimulates imagination and new ideas.

When you read what you love, reading becomes a habit. This habit is the foundation for long-term success and personal development.

Play Long-term Games With Long-term People

Long-term games are endeavors lasting years or even decades. They allow for the compounding of relationships, knowledge, and wealth.

The key benefits of long-term games include trust, stability, and high rewards. Trust emerges naturally as people commit to ongoing collaboration.

Playing long-term games requires choosing the right people. Look for those with high intelligence, energy, and integrity. Working with such individuals fosters collaborative success.

In these extended engagements, you build a robust network. This network provides support, shared knowledge, and mutual growth. Essentially, everyone is making each other rich.

In summary, long-term games with the right people lead to lasting, compounded success.

Set an Aspirational Hourly Rate

Setting a high personal hourly rate is crucial for valuing your time effectively. Here’s how:

• Determine Your Worth: Decide on an aspirational hourly rate that feels absurdly high. This pushes you to prioritize high-impact activities.

• Outsource Low-Value Tasks: If a task can be outsourced for less than your hourly rate, delegate it. This includes mundane chores or activities that consume your time.

• Stick to Your Rate: Be mindful of your commitments. Decline low-value meetings and avoid distractions that don't align with your high-value goals.

• Prioritize Impact: Focus on tasks that generate significant value, whether in personal growth or financial returns.

Ensure you are constantly aligning activities with your set hourly rate to maximize efficiency and productivity.

Escape Competition Through Authenticity

Being authentic helps you avoid unnecessary competition and stand out uniquely.

When you are true to your values and skills, you play to your strengths, making it hard for others to replicate what you do.

For instance, Joe Rogan became successful by being himself on his podcast.

Unreplicable authenticity made him a unique voice.

Another example is Elon Musk, who follows his passion for space exploration and electric cars.

By remaining authentic, he has created SpaceX and Tesla, companies that have minimal competition.

Authenticity drives your unique success, setting you apart from those merely imitating others.

Instead of copying trends, focus on what makes you unique.

This approach not only differentiates you but also attracts people who resonate with your true self.

In the long run, authenticity leads to unparalleled success and less stress from competing over the same market space.