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The Habits that Led James Clear to One Million Books Sold

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“The most important thing is also the least sexy one.”

James Clear (Source: James Clear/Flickr CC BY 2.0)

James Clear’s journey has not always been so clear as his name suggests.

I love his book. Others love it too. Atomic Habits has over 20,000 reviews on Audible and was translated into 40 languages. More than a million people subscribed to his newsletter.

I wanted to find out how he became a prolific writer. So I listened to around thirty of his guest interviews. Then, I went all the way down to internet time travel — a site that reveals website content from a decade ago.

His success is no coincidence. These are the habits that led him to write a book bought by one million people. You can steal them to write your own bestseller.

Iterating via Trial and Error

His website ‘jamesclear.com’ has been online for more than a decade. Within a decade, it underwent surprising turns.

In 2010, Clear announced ‘James Clear photography’. He sold his travel photos online and in print.

James Clear’s blog / October 2010 (Source).

Maybe he didn’t get as many sales as he hoped to. Maybe he got bored.

So, Clear started something new. On December 13, 2010, he said:

“I am launching a new site that will become the centerpiece of my effort to build a business that I am proud of. The focus of the site will be on personal finance with an entrepreneurial twist.”

James Clear’s blog / December 2010 (Source).

Three days later, he was done with planning. He announced to focus his self-employment on three main tasks:

  1. Creating mobile applications, including graphic design and user interface.
  2. Building niche websites on a topic he enjoys or a product he believes in.
  3. Selling travel photography.
Fun fact: His own mobile application was called passive panda — an app that teaches people how to earn money / January 2011 (Source).

If you’d asked him in 2011 whether he’s planning to become a bestselling NYT author, his answer probably would’ve been a clear no.

It wasn’t until 2012 that his trajectory finally pointed towards the bestselling author he would later become.

Publishing Articles Twice a Week

In November 2012, James Clear launched a new website. He vowed to publish a new article every Monday and Thursday.

Even though he feared it was too late to start writing online, he kept that pace for the first three years. Reflecting on this first year of writing online, he writes:

“I wrote a new article every Monday and Thursday in 2013. (I only missed one day all year, which happened when I was sick with food poisoning while traveling through Italy).

My first article was published on November 12, 2012. I’m proud to say that since that time I have published 114 articles on JamesClear.com and received 686,937 unique visitors.”

His streak went on in 2014. In his annual review, he says:

“I’m proud to say that I stuck to this schedule without missing a post in 2014. I did take some time off during a planned sabbatical in June.”

2013 was also the first time he wrote about identity-based habits. Three years of writing online would go by until he was offered a book deal.

James Clear (Source: James Clear/Flickr CC BY 2.0)

“The most important thing is also the least sexy one. I wrote two to three articles per week for three years, and I tried my best every time.” — James Clear

Following His Two Most Important Principles

While his business ideas iterated, he realized two core principles. In essence, it’s what still drives his continuous growth.

Discover what your audience wants

Early on in his entrepreneurial journey, he advised people who wanted to build a business.

“I’m about to let you in on an advanced technique that everyone should be using — and it’s really simple. Ask people what they want from you.

It is critical that you get to know the people that spend time on your site. Ask them what they want. Get to know their interests and needs. You will gain valuable insights about what you should be offering.”

He intuitively understood what Pat Flynn would later popularize as ‘Will it fly’ or Tucker Max as the ‘Target book audience’. You can copy his approach to learn more about your audience.

“Also, use open-ended questions that are proven to get responses. For example, a great question would go like this, “With respect to [your topic], what is the number one problem that I can help you with?”

When you start like James Clear — publishing on a blog, within a newsletter, or on Medium, you can build an audience before selling a book. You’re more likely to land a book deal and have an existing audience when you start selling your book.

Writing online before writing a book diminishes your risk. Instead of assuming what people want to read from you, the data shows you what works and what doesn’t. You get to know your audience without any sunk costs.

Writing online helps you discover the value you can bring to your audience before taking any money from them. Clear writes:

“I have readers emailing me each week asking when my book is coming out. I have friends telling me every month that I need to launch a product. Maybe it’s my own fears or mental barriers holding me back, but I haven’t done it yet. I want to do it. I plan to do it.”

Connect with your audience using email marketing

In a podcast interview, he explained that his email list went from 0 to 30,000 subscribers in the first year.

Eight years later, on Jan 5th, 2021, his list hit 1 million subscribers.

What did he do? He focused on connecting with his audience to truly understand their needs and build an email list from day one./media/e424a38d9f3b51c7b55549d26cde4674

Continuous Improvement for High Quality

Clear says it took him about a year to find his voice. He copied the style from various artists he admired. The longer he stuck with a writing habit, the more he developed his voice.

Even when he discovered his niche, he didn’t start writing a book. Instead, he continued improving his website.

He explains that the average article took him 20 hours to write. During his sabbatical, he reflected on how he could improve his writing. He added pictures to his articles and sources below every single one.

It’s this learner’s mindset he fostered all along.

“Picking what to read and making sure I’m reading consistently is a really important part of my writing and idea-generating process.” — James Clear

Final Thoughts

Success isn’t linear. James Clear could have stopped in 2010. He could have quit after his travel photography failed to take off. He could have quit after the demand for his financial freedom app didn’t materialize.

But he didn’t. He searched for his niche, produced consistently, and never stopped learning. And so can you.

Want to feel inspired and improve your learning?

Subscribe free to The Learn Letter. I read a book and 50 articles a week, and each Wednesday, you’ll receive the best in your inbox. This newsletter will make you find tools and resources that help you on your path to health, wealth, and wisdom.

Mastering the Diderot Effect Can Help You Stop Wanting More

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How to get off the consumer escalator

Photo by Victoria Borodinova from Pexels

Have you ever wondered how your life would change if you received $50,000?

Denis Diderot, a French philosopher, had lived his previous 52 years in poverty. But in 1765, when an Empress of Russia wanted to buy Diderot’s books, everything changed.

From one day to another, Diderot got $53,000 plus a monthly income to spare. And so he did what any good philosopher would do — buying a new scarlet robe. And that’s when things started going wrong.

How the Diderot Effect Makes You Buy Things, You Don’t Need

Diderot’s new clothing was beautiful. In fact, it was so beautiful; everything else he owned looked misplaced. In his words: “All is now discordant. No more coordination, no more unity, no more beauty.”

So he bought things that matched his new robe’s beauty: a stunning rug from Syria, unique sculptures, a shiny kitchen table, and a magnificent mirror.

When you have money to spend, you see what Diderot calls “a void disagreeable to the eye. There was a vacant corner next to my window. This corner asked for a writing desk, which it obtained.”

Diderot’s behavior coined what we now know as The Diderot Effect. Buying new things can lead to a spiraling consumption of complementary goods. As a result, you crave for more and more things to feel happy and content.

Photo by Jeff Sheldon on Unsplash

Unlike Diderot, I never lived in poverty, but everything changed when my income quadrupled in 2020.

From one day to another, I had money to spare. While I followed my mentor’s recommendations and invested most of it, I also bought a lot of stuff. I upgraded my desk with a new monitor and noise-canceling headphones.

For the monitor, I also needed a better webcam. And for the webcam, additional cable clips, and sockets, so everything looked clean. I was trapped in a vicious consumer circle.

But even if you don’t get an unexpected sum of money, you likely feel other possessions should match your new possessions:

  • You buy a new suit and have to get a belt to match.
  • You buy a new phone and suddenly need insurance, a protective case, new headphones, or a second charger.
  • You upgrade a part of your home and suddenly need the new decor to match it.

Juliet Schor, a professor for sociology, compares the effect to an escalator:

“When the acquisition of each item on a wish list adds another item, and more, to our “must-have” list, the pressure to upgrade our stock of stuff is relentlessly unidirectional, always ascending.”

How to Get Off the Consumer Escalator

There are a few things you can do to break free from The Diderot Effect.

Awareness. If you realize you’re in the consuming spiral, you reclaim your decision power. Once you understand marketing mechanisms, you’ll likely stop buying luxury brands. Not because you’re wasting your money but because you’ll feel foolish doing so.

Self-imposed restraints. Voluntarily change your environment. Stay away from malls, catalogs, online shops, or shopaholic friends.

Durability. Buy things not because of novelty but in terms of how long they can help you. Once you are emotionally attached, it’s harder to replace them with new stuff.

Additional costs and tradeoffs. Before you buy something new, think about the implications and consequences. Does your current software run on a new computer? What else do you need if you acquire that thing you want?

Downgrading exclusivity. New things don’t reflect prestige but ignorance. As Juliet Schor says: “What if, when we looked at a pair of Air Jordans, we thought, not of a magnificent basketball player, but of the company’s deliberate strategy to hook poor inner-city kids into an expensive fashion cycle?”

Final Thoughts

Buying new things can make you dissatisfied with what you have. You’ll end up in a spiraling consumption pattern that has severe psychological and environmental impacts.

As Denis Diderot once said:

“My friends, keep your old friends. My friends, fear the touch of wealth. Let my example teach you a lesson. Poverty has its freedoms; opulence has its obstacles.”

If you’re serious about breaking the consumer spiral, start with the suggested steps and free yourself from the shackles of ever wanting more stuff you don’t need.

Sign up for the free Learn Letter and receive weekly ideas right into your inbox.

These Money Lessons by Morgan Housel Are Helping to Make Me a Better Investor

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Five mindset shifts to help you reach financial freedom

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Did you know that $81.5 billion of Warren Buffet’s $84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday?

I didn’t until I started reading Morgan Housel’s finance blog.

Morgan earned credibility through his former finance column at The Wall Street Journal. But what’s even better is that Morgan practices what he preaches. He’s transparent about every step he takes and passes along precious advice.

In his new book, he shares timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness. Here are the ones that stuck with me. If applied, they can turn you into a better investor.

1.) Your Behavior Matters More than Your Financial Hard Skills

Until halfway through my economics studies, I avoided personal finance. Yes, I aced through my math-heavy exams. But knowing how to invest your own money?

I thought you’d have to be a genius.

Derivates, hedging, and exchange-traded funds sounded like Chinese. A beautiful language I’d never be able to learn.

As a life-long learner, I hear you sigh. Of course, with the right mindset and tools, you can learn anything in life.

When I picked up my first personal finance books, I started learning that making your money work for you is actually pretty simple. Morgan writes:

“Financial success is not a hard science. It’s a soft skill, where how you behave is more important than what you know.”

Once you understand the basics, like knowing your net worth, building an emergency fund, and the power of compound interest, behavior matters more than hard skills.

Psychological biases, like impulsive purchases, often have a far greater effect on financial success than understanding another portfolio theorem.

2.) Only You Can Determine When You Have Enough

I loved the following anecdote from the book as it shows the difference between being greedy and living in abundance.

At a billionaire’s party, Kurt Vonnegut teases his conversational partner Joseph Heller. He says the host earned more money on a single day than the author had made with his popular book Catch-22. Heller replies: “Yes, but I have something he will never have. Enough.”

How much money do you need to feel you’ve got enough? When can you truly feel satisfied and free from greed?

Abundance is a choice. You’re the one who determines whether you have enough. In Morgan’s words:

“The hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving.”

If you keep chasing more and more, you’ll waste your life. You’ll always feel you’re missing out on something.

When I became self-employed last summer, I defined my monthly minimum ($2K) and dream ($10K) income for a 35-hour workweek. In my fifth month of self-employment, I hit my income goal.

And yet, I moved my goalpost without realizing it. I kept trying to earn even more, put in more hours, said yes to more projects. With every additional working hour, I dropped another healthy habit.

Work and money have a diminishing marginal utility. From a certain point, more isn’t better but worse.

Once I pass the 35-hour threshold, every additional working hour decreases my joie de vivre. I move less, laugh less, and feel less. In the long-run, no additional income is worth this price.

Enoughness is a choice. Only you can get your goalpost to stop moving.

3.) Freedom is the Ultimate Form of Wealth

Why do you want to make a ton of money?

Do you want a specific car or luxurious clothing? Or are you past material status symbols and chasing new experiences, like traveling the world? Maybe you already found contentment in the presence and want to earn more to pay for your kid’s education or your mum’s retirement.

When you keep exploring your reasoning and peel down the outer layers, many people discover a fundamental core underneath.

The key motivation to become wealthy is the ultimate freedom.

Freedom means doing what you want whenever you want. Freedom means surrounding yourself with the people you want for as long as you want. As Morgan put it:

“Controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays. Use money to gain control over your time, because not having control of your time is a powerful and universal drag on happiness.”

You no longer have to say “yes” when you feel like saying “no.” You can pick the projects you truly want without thinking about monetary rewards.

That’s also what Naval Ravikant means when he says that you should optimize for independence rather than pay whenever you can in life.

4.) Shut Up and Wait

$81.5 billion of Warren Buffet’s $84.5 billion net worth came after his 65th birthday. One of the richest people alive used the power of compounding interest to grow his money.

This piece of advice is so powerful yet often neglected. To become a better investor, you don’t need to consume financial news a few hours a day. Instead, it’s about remaining passive and wait it out.

If we look at long time horizons, we see nothing but economic growth. And that’s why the benefits of compounding are available for everyone who manages to stick to the same strategy.

Because all you need to do to benefit from compounding interest is keeping your money invested and wait it out. Good returns sustained over an uninterrupted period of time will ultimately win.

Billionaire Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet’s long-term business partner, sums it up nicely:

“Understanding both the power of compound interest and the difficulty of getting it is the heart and soul of understanding a lot of things.”

5.) Wealth is Income Not Spent

What would you do if you became a millionaire overnight? Most people answer this question by listing all the things they‘d buy. Soon they wouldn’t be millionaires any longer.

The math is simple. If you own a million but spend all of it on consumer goods, nothing will be left to pay the dividends.

Becoming wealthy isn’t solely about how much you make. It’s also about how much you save.

Earning $1200 or $8200 a month won’t increase your net worth if you’re spending all of it on food, clothes, beauty products, cars, furniture, hairdressers, insurances, phones, and travel.

By spending 100%, you will never accumulate wealth unless someone else is saving for you. If you own a million but spend all of it on consumer goods, you’ll soon be broke. Wealthy people remain wealthy because they don’t spend their money, they save it.

Wealth is invisible. It’s income you didn’t spend. As Morgan states:

“Wealth is an option not yet taken to buy something later.”

Bonus Tip: Don’t Trust Mutual Fund Portfolio Managers

Did you know that most wealth managers are salespeople? I didn’t.

That’s why I almost trusted a mutual fund manager when he told me about his investment opportunities. In my uninformed mind, 1% sounded pretty cheap. But it isn’t. Over time a 1% fee can reduce your returns by around 30%.

Morgan Housel likely agrees with Rami Sethi, who writes,

“If you are reading this and you’re paying over 1% in fees, I’m going to kill you. Get smart. You should be paying 0.1 to 0.3%.”

Fund managers and many other financial experts earn money per product they sell. And because they earn commissions, you’ll understand why they likely direct you to expensive mutual funds.

The financial times published an article revealing that half of all U.S. mutual fund portfolio managers do not invest a cent of their own money in their funds. So, better do the maths before investing in an overpriced product.

The Bottom Line

If you just remember one thing from the Psychology of Money, it should be the following: Inspirational lessons on investing and acting according to them aren’t the same thing.

Whenever you read through valuable investing advice, you have two options: Let it pass like a swift moment of inspiration, or ask yourself how to apply that insight in your decision making.

So, if you’re serious about becoming a better investor, pick your favorite lesson and change your behavior. Because ultimately, you are in charge of creating the life you want to live.

Do you want to join our tribe of life-long learners? Sign up here.

The 6 Best Investments I’ve Made In the Past 6 Years

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Spending money (or time) has boosted my health, happiness, and overall well-being.

Eva Keiffenheim on LinkedIn

Most people argue the best investments have the highest return rate.

Looking at my net worth’s development, they’d assume I start this article sharing my crypto portfolio or the compounding benefits of my ETFs.

But the best investment returns aren’t monetary, and I won’t bore you with asset classes. Instead, I’ll show you how the right investments can increase your long-term health, happiness, and well-being.

1) $1500 for Fixing My Eating Habits

It doesn’t matter what you eat but why you eat.

No fitness-tracker, diet, or sports-program will save you if you have underlying beliefs that destroy your plans.

I fought with my body weight since 2011. In 2013, I used will-power to reach my dream weight, and yet, I knew I would eventually fall back to old patterns. I felt my body was working against me, and I wasted hours a day worrying.

What helped me the most were investments in an intuitive eating course, psilocybin therapy, and a psychotherapist.

It took me four years and around $1500. But without these investments, it likely would have taken me a lifetime to uncover my underlying beliefs and change them.

Now, I feel aligned with my body. We’re a team, and it feels easy and natural to make healthy eating choices. Again, I reached my dream weight. But this time, there’s no willpower or fear involved—only trust and gratitude.

2) 10 Days for Joining a Vipassana Course

Here’s the daily schedule of a traditional course, based on Goenka:

The daily schedule at a Vipassana Course: Source: Pali on Dhamma.org

When I first read through this schedule, it seemed crazy. Why would anybody voluntarily meditate for 10 days, 10 hours a day, without speaking, talking, or writing?

By the time I’d been meditating with an app for some hundred sessions. I experienced the benefits that go along with meditation: a clear, focused, calm mind. And so, I leaped and signed up for a Vipassana course in 2019.

Afterward, I absolutely agree with Blaise Pascal, who said:

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

By increasing your awareness, you’ll unleash any stuck emotions. You’ll understand yourself. You might even experience oneness.

The Vipassana technique is a mental tool that helps you deal with life’s hardships. After ten days, you understand the meaning of true happiness.

There’s no fixed fee for the course. Attending the course is donation based. You give what you would like to give. The real investment is ten days of your time. But I promise it’ll be worth it.

3) $250 on Journals for Organizing My Life

In 2017, when I first learned bullet journaling, I almost abandoned the system. I felt Cal Newport was boasting when he wrote, “it will not only help you get more organized but will also help you become a better person.”

I was wrong. And Cal was right.

Around 16 bullet journals in, I know this journaling technique improved my well-being like no other productivity tool did.

The system helped me establish an NGO, host a podcast, become self-employed, read 52 books a year, and so many other things while enjoying my life to the fullest.

Once a year, I sit down and envision the year ahead. Once a month, I translate the yearly goals into the next 30 days. Every week, I’ll break it further down to the next seven days. And every evening, I plan the next day.

$250 for the 16 bulleted journals are among my best investments because every page is a constant reminder of what I care about. Every day is a chance to move further towards my big five for life.

4) $1200 for Writing Courses & Coaching

During the first lockdown last March, I followed my gut feeling and bought access to Sinem Günel’s writing academy.

Before, I hadn’t written anything except for my Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis and around 1350 pages in my bullet journals.

While this investment has also paid monetary rewards, the personal benefits are even bigger.

While writing, my heart opens. While writing, I forget time. While writing, I’m at peace. And without the initial investment in the writing academy, followed by some other online courses, I probably would have quit.

Because the first articles are the hardest. A writing career isn’t linear. You write and write and write, and still don’t see any results.

Learning from people who’ve walked the way helped my trust in my own process. Without a blink, I’d reinvest the $1200 into a writing coach.

5) 7280 Hours for a Fulfilled Relationship

We met in 2014, some months before I’d move to India, then Argentina. And while our long-distance start is rather atypical for romantic relationships, we made it work.

Quantifying my relationship feels odd. In our 7-years together, I never calculated the time we spent with each other. And that’s a good thing.

Here’s a counterexample.

Ali Abdaal, a UK based doctor, YouTuber, instructor, and podcaster, is one of the most productive people on the internet. I admire his reading strategies.

Recently, he shared that in a hypothetic relationship, he’d love to spend 90% by himself and about 10% with his love.

But this thinking is flawed. We can’t, and we shouldn’t quantify our relationships.

Ryan Holiday summarized the phenomenon perfectly, writing in one of his books:

“Many relationships and moments of inner peace were sacrificed on the altar of achievement.”

One of the best investments for personal wellbeing is time spent with my partner. It’s time spent supporting, listening, being supported, loving, laughing, crying, and cuddling.

6) $200 On Turning My Books into Learning Devices

Many people are e-reading enemies until they read their first e-book. I wasn’t a fan until fifteen books in.

You can’t interact with your e-reader as you can with your book. You can’t inhale the smell, dog-ear your favorite pages, or elaborate in the margins.

But you can do something that far exceeds all of the above. You can transform your Kindle into a learning device. Here’s how I made it work for me:

I highlight everything I want to remember. Then, I use the kindle notes page to cut down my highlights to their essentials. Then, I use Readwise to import all highlights to my Notion library.

I spent $150 on a Kindle and $50 a year for Readwise. But the rewards are priceless. The investment in e-reading changed the way I store and access my knowledge.

The Bottom Line

Generalizing investment advice is impossible because every person is different. What might be an incredible investment for me might not resonate with you.

And while these six investments in eating habits, meditation, bullet journalling, writing, relationships, and an e-reader have been great for me, they might be meaningless for you.

Your life, your rules. Whatever you determine as your most valuable investment is up to you.

But in any case, remember: The best investment returns aren’t monetary but the ones that increase your long-term health, happiness, and well-being.

Do you want to connect? Join my E-Mail List.

7 Priceless Gifts That Will Improve Your Money Management

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Time with Naval, automation, books, net worth tracking, and so much more.

Photo by MayoFi from Pexels

Do you ever find yourself dragging your money tasks from month to month without tackling them?

By postponing your investments from month to month, year to year, you’re missing the most important principle for accumulating wealth.

Just like successful investor Naval Ravikant said:

“All the real benefits in life come from compound interest.”

If you don’t know how to tackle your financials, it’s likely because you’ve ignored some of the fundamentals.

Here are seven priceless yet invaluable gifts to give yourself that will improve the way you manage your money.

1) The Best Way to Learn from Successful Investors

You make all financial decisions in life. So, the best way to make better investment decisions is by knowing how the most successful investors play the money game.

That’s what Benjamin Franklin meant when he said: “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

And books are the single best way to learn from the most successful investors. Books are affordable and accessible wherever you are.

Reading gives you access to the smartest money minds. You can pick whatever investor brain you like. By learning the principles that guide top investor’s decisions, you’ll find yourself on the fast track to making better money choices.

So, which books should you read?

I started with the free audio-book of ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ on Spotify. Then, I ordered more fundamentals, like ‘Think and Grow Rich,’ The Intelligent Investor, and ‘The Millionaire Next Door.’

However, if I’d start again, I’d go for entertaining, short, and applicable books first, like ‘I Will Teach You to Be Rich’ by Ramit Sethi.

What you can gift yourself:

Your life, your rules. The books I love might not be the ones you like. Choose the brains you want to borrow and read what fits your lifestyle.

To find a book you want to read, visit your favorite library, bookstore, or browse through popular finance books GoodReads sections.

But whichever book you choose, remember even the best books are worthless unless applied. Summarize your learnings and reflect on them, for example, by sharing your new knowledge with co-workers and friends.

2) Book a Counseling Session with a True Expert

Did you know that most financial consultants are salespeople?

I didn’t. In 2016, I asked my bank advisor for financial advice. He told me to start saving on a building loan contract. And so I made my first uniformed investment decision.

Bank consultants and many other financial experts earn money per product they sell. And because they earn commissions, you’ll understand why they likely direct you to expensive products like loan contracts, bloated funds, life insurance, and so on.

What you can gift yourself:

Don’t ask a bank advisor or an insurance rep for money advice. Instead, get a fee-only adviser who is a fiduciary. He will put your financial interest first.

If you’re living in the states, you can find these advisors on the national association of personal financial advisors; in Germany, it’d be this one. You can find the perfect match if you google for fee-only financial advisors.

In an introduction call, ask questions like: How do you make money? Is it through commission or strictly fee-only? Have you worked with people in similar situations? What’s your working style?

3) Three Hours With Naval Ravikant

Tim Ferriss described Naval best, writing:

Sure, he’s the CEO and a co-founder of AngelList. Sure, he previously co-founded Vast.com and Epinions, which went public as part of Shopping.com. Sure, he’s an angel investor and has invested in many mega successes, including Twitter, Uber, Yammer, and OpenDNS, to name but a few.

That’s all great, of course, and it shows Naval is a world-class operator instead of an armchair philosopher.

But I don’t take his perspectives, maxims, and thoughts seriously because of the business stuff. There are lots of miserable “successful” people out there. Be careful about modeling those, as you will get all the bathwater with the baby.

I take Naval seriously because he:

→ Questions nearly everything 
→ Can think from first principles 
→ Tests things well 
→ Is good at not fooling himself 
→ Changes his mind regularly 
→ Laughs a lot 
→ Thinks holistically 
→ Thinks long-term 
→ And…doesn’t take himself too goddamn seriously.

And Naval’s investment principles reflect his personality.

One of my favorite lessons from Naval is to find a way to detach your income from your time investment. He tweeted, “You’re never going to get rich renting out your time.”

The most profitable income is the one that doesn’t pay you for your time but for your scalable creations, like text, code, voice, video, or sound.

Rich people got wealthy by establishing systems that make money independent from time. Just like Warren Buffett said, “If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”

What you can gift yourself:

Naval is literally the smartest investor I know. Luckily, he launched his own podcast.

In this three hour audio, you find a collection of every episode he recorded on the topic of money, wealth, and investments. I promise three hours with Naval will be one of the worthiest investments you ever give to yourself.

4) Gift Yourself a Way to Track Your Wealth

Your net worth is the best number to measure your wealth. If you want to become a better money manager, tracking it is essential.

Your net worth is what you own minus what you owe. It’s your assets minus your liabilities.

It’s a reflection of your financial habits. Just like James Clear put it: “Your outcomes are lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits.”

Whether you’re earning $1k or $10k a month, you may not like your financial situation. And that’s okay. But while having a net worth of zero is no obstacle in becoming wealthy, not knowing about your net worth is.

What you can gift yourself:

Set up your net worth planner, or use apps like mint. Once you set up you’ve filled your net worth tracker, revisit it once a month.

When you look at your numbers over some months, you’ll see powerful patterns and the effects of cutting expenses, earning more, and investing wisely.

I go through my net worth once a month. In the beginning, I didn’t like it, but once I saw my money growing, it became a habit I enjoy. Every month I set aside 15 minutes and update the sheet.

Gifting yourself a net worth tracker is priceless yet invaluable on your journey to long-term wealth.

5) Make the Right Choices Easy by Using Automation

Increasing your financial wealth isn’t solely about how much you make. It’s also about how much you save.

Earning $1.000 or $10.000 a month won’t increase your net worth if you’re spending all of it on consumer goods like food, clothes, beauty products, cars, furniture, hairdressers, phones, and travel.

Your salary won’t make you rich, but your spending habits will.

People who spend 100% or even more will never accumulate wealth. So, smart investors save before spending.

The more you invest each month, the faster your money will grow. And by automating your investments, you don’t have to remember to save every month.

What you can gift yourself:

Set up a default option that automates your investments. Determine a fixed savings rate and set up a system that transfers your income to the right buckets.

Ramit Sethi, a personal finance advisor and Standford graduate suggests, using 50–60% for Fixed costs (rent, utilities, debt), 10% for Investments (401(k), Roth IRA, ETF saving plans), 5–10% for saving goals (vacations, gifts, house down payment, emergency fund) and 20–35% for guilt-free spending money (dining, drinking, movies, clothes, etc.).

Whatever you do, don’t save what is left after spending but spend what is left after saving. By gifting yourself the automation setup, you’ll consistently get the basics right.

6) Freedom From Stuff You Don’t Need

Did you know that 50% of the more than 1000 millionaires surveyed in ‘The millionaire next door’ never spend more than $400 on a suit, $140 for a pair of shoes, or $235 for a wristwatch?

They could buy expensive things, but they don’t. Because what made them rich in the first place is spending money on things that matter and investing the rest. Conscious spenders care about the value of something rather than the price.

As Ryan Holiday put it: “Mental and spiritual independence matters little if the things we own in the physical world end up owning us.”

New things cost money. And to earn money, you work. And to work, you give away your life. So, in the end, what you exchange for new stuff is your time on this planet.

What you can gift yourself:

Gift yourself mental freedom and stop buying things you don’t need. Instead, spend more time on the things that matter. Give yourself quality time with friends. Initiative get-togethers and weekend reunions. Start to meditate.

And, remind yourself that you have enough, do enough, and are enough. No material possession can help you feel inner wealth.

7) Gift Yourself Free Subscriptions to Superb Blogs

By now, you know about the great ways to take your money management from good to great.

And while most of the gifts require either time (reading books, listening to Naval, automation, net-worth tracker), or money (fee-only consultation), this last option is great for people without much time or money.

Free subscriptions to high-quality money blogs are a great way to receive easy-digestible regular insights.

What you can gift yourself:

Find two to three trustworthy blogs and gift yourself a subscription to their newsletters. Here’s a selection of my favorites:

  • Morgan Housel’s blog on psychology and money
  • Mr. Money Mustace on financial independence and retiring early (FIRE)
  • Dan Solin’s newsletters about flaws in the investing industry (e.g., “Cracks in the Robo-Advisor Facade,” or “Find the Courage to Be Different.”)
  • Ron Lieber’s money column for the New York Times
  • Madame Moneypenny (German only) on ETFs and investment tips

The Bottom Line

When I first tapped into the world of personal finance, I read as many books as I could. I went to seminars, joined masterclasses, and watched online courses. I saved 7,000€ for my emergency fund, tracked my net worth’s development, and set up an automated investment plan.

But managing your money isn’t complex long, or exhaustive. You don’t have to do all these things to improve your money management.

By gifting you one or two things, you can level up your financials. Just like Naval said: “Making money isn’t a thing you do — it’s a skill you learn.”

This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any major financial decisions.