A successful life is the sum of all your good time investments, whether spent on nurturing good relationships, pursuing your creative work, providing value for others investing in yourself or pursuing your true north. You lay a solid foundation for a successful life by doing things that are important to you.

To achieve great things in life, it is important to learn from the most successful people in the world, especially those with an unconventional approach to success. One of the best ways to do that is by reading their books and following their advice closely.

Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur and investor who’s best known for his work in the startup space. He co-founded AngelList, a platform that helps startups raise money and connect with investors. He’s also an active angel investor, investing in companies like Twitter, Uber, and 100+ more.

Naval has become well-known for his unconventional wisdom and insights on building your best life. In addition to his work in the startup world, Ravikant is also a popular writer and podcaster. He’s written about a wide range of topics, from philosophy to self-improvement to investing.

“The three big ones in life are wealth, health, and happiness. We pursue them in that order, but their importance is reverse,” Naval said.

Naval’s Twitter account is a popular guide for building wealth, pursuing financial freedom and finding happiness. He shares high-quality short-form content that teaches people how to make smart life decisions.

“The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness” is a collection of his philosophies and secrets for a good, meaningful and successful life. In the book written by Eric Jorgenson, Naval reveals his formulas for success in life, business, and investing. He also shares his thoughts on happiness, work-life balance, and more.

Naval has a unique approach to life. He believes in systems and formulas to help you become a better version of yourself.

As Scott Adams famously said, “Set up systems, not goals.” Once you have the basics down, you can use them to design the life you want, master your mindset, improve your relationships, and pursue your greatest work.

While there’s no one “right way” to live a good life, there are definitely some “right ingredients” that can make all the difference.

Action is a better predictor of success

There are many ways to achieve your life goals, but one thing is important: you need to take action. As Ravikant says, tomorrow won’t be any better than today if you don’t do anything different today.

“Be a maker who makes something interesting people want. Show your craft, practice your craft, and the right people will eventually find you,” he said. “Intentions don’t matter. Actions do.”

Action is a sign that something is happening and that progress is being made. It’s not just that action is more likely to result in success; it’s also that action is more likely to result in successful action.

In other words, if you want to take action, chances are you’ll take it. If you want to succeed at something, chances are you’ll succeed (and if you don’t, someone else will).

The most successful people in history have all taken massive action to pursue their goals. Bill Gates built and sold one of the first PCs. Steve Jobs built and sold one of the first personal computers.

Richard Branson started out with a single ticket to Jamaica and grew his company into a global brand. These are all examples of deliberate action, which is different from natural talent.

Figure out what you want from life

One of the most important things in life is to figure out how you want to live it. The rest is merely acting on your goals or putting systems and structures in place to unfold your best life. “The hardest thing is not doing what you want — it’s knowing what you want,” Naval once said.

Naval is a big advocate of the idea that meaningful work is more important than money. He believes that our lives should be filled with purpose and meaning, and he thinks this is best achieved by doing meaningful work.

And while money can help make your life easier, it’s not the goal in itself. He encourages people to be true to themselves, pursues meaningful work and invest in permanent leverage (productize themselves) for a successful life.“Forget rich versus poor, white-collar versus blue. It’s now leveraged versus un-leveraged,” says Naval.

This may sound like common sense, but many people struggle with feeling like their work doesn’t have any meaning. They feel that if they don’t earn enough money, then they aren’t successful.

Play the long game

Naval encourages people to play the long-term game to be successful in the long term. “Play long-term games with long-term people. All returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest,” he writes.

Long-term thinking is a key success strategy in many areas of life, from investing to relationships. You make decisions with the future in mind when you play the long game. You sacrifice short-term gains for the sake of long-term success. This can be a difficult thing to do, but it’s often worth it.

There are two main ways to build wealth: You can earn income (which can take a very long time) or invest in assets (like stocks and bonds). Most people take the income approach.

In the long run, income is likely to disappoint. Therefore, it’s essential to build a portfolio of assets that will produce reliable long-term results. Naval believes the key to long-term wealth is owning equity — a type of investment that gives you an ownership stake in a company or property.

“You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity — a piece of a business — to gain your financial freedom,” he said.

When you own equity, you have the potential to earn a return on your investment through appreciation or dividends. There are many ways to own equity in a company.

The easiest way to own equity is by purchasing good stocks. The popular ones are stocks, bonds, and real estate or, better still, building your own business. In the long term, owning equity can lead to increased purchasing power and higher net worth.

Build specific knowledge

“Earn with your mind, not your time.” — Naval Ravikant

To generate wealth over time, Naval encourages people to build specific knowledge. Learn and nurture unique skills that make you indispensable.

“So, specific knowledge is found much more by pursuing your innate talents, your genuine curiosity, and your passion. It’s not by going to school for whatever is the hottest job, it’s not for going into whatever field investors say is the hottest,” argues Naval.

Building a specific set of knowledge is the most effective way to build a successful life. Your curiosities are key to finding and building unique knowledge. By focusing on something you deeply care about and are positioned to excel at, you will have a much better chance of succeeding in the long term.

Become a perpetual learner

Naval believes embracing lifelong learning is key to gathering life’s right formulas and skills. “The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner,” he says.

You will become unstoppable by self-learning the core fundamentals for a good life and incorporating them into your daily routine. By learning new skills, you’ll be able to adapt to keep up with changing world of work.

“The best jobs are neither decreed nor degreed. They are creative expressions of continuous learners in free markets,” he observed.

We all have our unique paths to take in life. The good news is that you can decide what you want or expect from your life. Once you know what you want, do everything you can to nurture and pursue it.

Commit to meaningful things in your life — your success depends on it. You can’t do anything worthwhile if you don’t have skin in the game.

This article originally appeared in Medium.