#835 - 2.5M Q&A - Naval Ravikant, Quitting Alcohol & Having Kids

I don't have a 5-year plan ... I don't know where I want to be in 5 years. It's like the ultimate proof that you don't rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your habits, and my habits are that I work pretty hard and I pay attention to stuff.

Ultimately, happiness in life comes down to the discomfort between choosing to become aware of your mental afflictions or the discomfort of becoming ruled by them. You can choose to be aware of your mental afflictions, or you can be ruled by them. And I want to be aware of them.

Most decisions are reversible in one form or another. If any decision is reversible, you can make it pretty much immediately.

We've been offered, like, obscene amounts of money—like really, really high amounts of money—to bring guests on the show ... I've never taken money. If I want to bring someone on the show, it's only because I'm interested in speaking to them. I will never ever charged guests.

I think a lot of my life is driven by fear. A lot of it is uncertainty and vigilance and fear. It's a fear that things are not going to go well, that they're going to fall apart, they're going to mess up, or that somebody's mad at me. And that definitely does curtail my ability to be ambitious.

Anyone that says that a night out can't be made better by being a little bit tipsy hasn't had a sufficiently good night out. And I do stand by that, but the last couple of years, each time I drink, it's been less and less fun.

The goal is not to be articulates; it's just to be precise. You're looking to just say the thing that you mean.

Find a Pursuit which is stronger or bigger than your bad moods.

I got rid of the chip on my shoulder, I think about, what happened to me in school and being an outcast and sort of being bullied and stuff like that. I got rid of that within the last five years or so. And I much prefer not being driven by that stuff.

I have tried to construct my life in such a way so that I never need to wear anything I don't want to wear. I don't need to wear a suit or a tie or pants if I don't want to.