The Five Chimps Theory

🧶 Tags:: #literature_Notes
🗃 Resources:: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (2020)
2026-06-10

There's the "five chimps theory" where you can predict a chimp's behavior by the five chimps it hangs out with the most. I think that applies to humans as well. Maybe it's politically incorrect to say you should choose your friends very wisely. But you shouldn't choose them haphazardly based on who you live next to or who you happen to work with. The people who are the most happy and optimistic choose the right five chimps.

The first rule of handling conflict is: Don't hang around people who constantly engage in conflict. I'm not interested in anything unsustainable or even hard to sustain, including difficult relationships.

If you can't see yourself working with someone for life, don't work with them for a day.