[Interview] Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It (Because it Does) With Kamal Ravikant

Of the hundreds of podcast interviews I’ve done, few are more potent and powerful than my discussion with Kamal Ravikant.

An infamous Silicon Valley entrepreneur, eclectic millionaire, and paradoxical human (who is equal parts hustler and mystic), Kamal Ravikant’s book, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It, transformed my life and helped me achieve unprecedented success and fulfillment.

And in our interview, he will flip your world upside down, change everything you ever thought you knew about success, and reveal why self-love is the key to…well, everything.

Let’s dive in.

Who is Kamal Ravikant?

Kamal Ravikant is one of the world’s most interesting entrepreneurs, whose initial success was found in the Silicon Valley.

In addition to his entrepreneurial success, Kamal has also trekked the Himalayas, meditated with Tibetan monks in the Dalai Lama’s monastery, served in the US Army Infantry, and walked 550 miles across Spain.

He is also the author of Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It, Live Your Truth, and Rebirth.

Favorite Success Quote

“Destiny favors the committed.”

“Hater’s gonna hate!” ~Taylor Swift

Key Points from my Interview with Kamal Ravikant

1. Commit To Yourself 

Making and keeping a commitment to oneself is the ultimate measure of a man’s success.

We live in a society full of liars and fakes.

And I do not mean that people are maliciously seeking to manipulate their way to the top or intentionally putting on a facade of success and gravitas.

We live in a society where the greatest lies that are told are the ones that we tell ourselves.

“This time it will be different.”

“This is the year that I will quit smoking/doing drugs/watching porn/standing on the sidelines”

“This is the year where I will take control of my life and start my own business.”

We live in a society that lies to itself to sedate the pain of staying the same.

But what if things could be different?

What if we were able to make commitments and follow through on them?

What if we valued ourselves and our own word so much that the very thought of backing out of a commitment that we made to ourselves was unthinkable?

It is possible.

But it starts by learning to value yourself and the commitments that you are making.

It starts with integrity, with giving a damn about your word and your own personal dignity.

And more importantly, as we will discuss in a minute, it starts by loving yourself.

2. Execution, not Ideation is the Key to Success

Everyone has a great idea.

Everyone has an idea that could make them a billionaire (or at least much wealthier than they already are).

So why are there so many broke and impoverished people? Especially in a country like the U.S. where there are so many opportunities?

Because ideas  are not worth a damn thing. Only execution is.

The greatest investors in the world never bet on the idea, just the team behind it.

If you want to succeed, stop worrying about what you are going to do, and start worrying about how you are going to do it and who you are going to become so that you can achieve your goals.

Forget all of your ideas.

Instead, worry about transforming yourself into the kind of person who can execute and bring ideas to life.

3. Loving Yourself is Selfless

So often people read the titles of books like “Love Yourself” and “Choose Yourself” and they think “Wow! What selfless a-holes these people are”

But what they never stop to realize is that the greatest narcissists in the world are the people who loathe themselves.

If you love yourself and take care of #1, then you enter into the world from a place of peace, joy, and love and therefore you are able to pour out into others and be the light that others can follow.

If you do not love yourself, then you enter the world from a place of scarcity, fear, and anxiety, ensuring that the only impact you have is to negatively affect and drain those around you.

What is more selfless?

Making sure that you are taken care of so that you can take care of others?

Or focusing all of your energy on others until you are burnt out, angry, and depressed?

4. If I Loved Myself at a Level 10 What Would I Do?

As you face different challenges and choices in your everyday life, you should view every trial, question, and challenge through one lens and one lens only.

“If I loved myself at a level 10 of 10, what would I do?”

This question simplifies even the most complicated of questions and makes it very easy for you to figure out the best solutions.

If you loved yourself at a 10/10 would you smoke that cigarette or abstain?

If you loved yourself at a 10/10 would you watch another porn flick, wasting your day and poisoning your sex life, or would you find more constructive ways to spend your time?

If you loved yourself at a 10/10 would you stay in that toxic relationship or bite the bullet and move on to someone who loves and appreciates you?

If you loved yourself at a 10/10 would you continue living a sedated, numb life, doing just enough to get by, or would you stand up and pursue your dreams, leave “desire” on the sidelines and be a man of action?

If you loved yourself at a 10/10 what would you do?

Self love is the epitome of groundedness and your first step to becoming the man you need to be.

5. Vulnerability is Where True Power Lies

We are all broken.

From Bill Gates to Warren buffet to Kamal to Me.

No one is perfect and no one has everything figured out.

We are all on this journey called life together, and we are all blessed to be faced with different challenges and different successes.

And it is your privilege, no… your responsibility to share the story of your challenges and triumphs with the world.

You never know when one simple blog post, when one video, or when one conversation that you have will change someone’s life.

Opening up, being vulnerable, and sharing your story could be the difference between a friend committing suicide and a friend radically changing their life and pursuing their dreams.

Some of you may feel a bit uncomfortable sharing your story and being vulnerable with the people in your life.

But you have to remember that your story has power.

It has the power to attract people into your life who can help you on your journey and it has the power to reach people you may never know and radically transform their journey.

Do not live a life that is so selfish that you deprive yourself of the joy you will experience by impacting the world with your vulnerability.