Naval's Natural Business Instinct

Shaan shares a story about Naval Ravikant discovering his true calling through his mother's observation.

"Naval, who's one of my favorite people to learn from, has a great story. When he was a kid, he wanted to be a physicist. He thought physicists were the apex of awesome people - physicists, scientists, inventors were on top. That's what he was going to be, and he was telling everybody.

But his mom was like, 'No, you're going to be a business person.'

He was like, 'What are you talking about? Business is cool, but I want to be a physicist.'

She said, 'No, you're naturally a business guy.'

He's like, 'What? I never talk about business. I never told you that. What do you mean?'

And she goes, 'Well, you're always talking about it. You just never say "I want to be a business guy," but you're always thinking about business. When we used to walk by that restaurant, you would always point out things that they're doing that they should be doing to make more revenue or be more profitable, or how they should change their menu. You're always doing that. You're always trying to figure out how to fix a business or how to improve a business. It comes very naturally to you.'

Then she asked, 'Does physics come naturally to you?'

And he's like, 'No. It's brutal. I want it because I think they're so cool, but I wasn't naturally as inclined.'

So he realized that and leaned into business more."