Naval rejects mediocrity as the default path. “You have one life, don’t settle for mediocrity”. This is about choosing freedom over comfort.
Mediocrity comes from following the crowd. “The returns in life are being out of the herd”. Compound returns require non-average inputs. But most people want social approval over building wealth. “Social approval is inside the herd. If you want social approval, definitely go read what the herd is reading”. This destroys your reputation as an independent thinker.
“If you really wanted to be successful, happy, blah, blah, blah, all those external metrics, you’re looking for a non-average outcome. You can’t be reading the average things”. Average inputs create average outputs. Maximum leverage comes from unique inputs. People consume “whatever is number one at the airport best seller or whatever our friends are reading”.
Naval connects intelligence to sound judgment. “The only true test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life”. Two parts matter: getting what you want and wanting the right things. The second part requires knowing your authentic desires, not mimetic ones.
This is why specific knowledge matters. The masses can’t build it. Mediocrity spreads through evolutionary programming. “When you’re competing with people it’s because you’re copying them”. People follow societal algorithms: law school, med school, business school.
Schools program this mediocrity. “Schools and our educational system, and even our way of raising children replaces curiosity with compliance. Credentials reward conformity”. This kills intellectual freedom. You get “an obedient factory worker, but you no longer get a creative thinker.” Factory workers have no ownership or leverage.
The escape requires contrarian judgment. “It takes a level of contrarianism in saying, ‘Nope. I’m just going to do my own thing, regardless of the social outcome’“. Like physics, truth often contradicts conventional wisdom. “No one can compete with you on being you” means building equity in yourself.