Have a Sense of Urgency

Elon Musk on Urgency: Why Slow and Steady Loses the Race

The saying “Patience is a virtue” is more harmful than it is beneficial in many situations.

Urgency is often more of a virtue than patience.

Without a sense of urgency important tasks will be patiently deferred indefinitely.

Elon is a man who fully grasps the necessity of urgency for accelerating important advancements.

Elon’s sense of urgency permeates many of his actions.

Elon even eats fast and has said “If there was a way that I could not eat, so I could work more, I would not eat. I wish there was a way to get nutrients without sitting down for a meal.”

Apparently when Elon goes to the washroom he even uses the urinal urgently. 

Efficiency is an element of everything Elon does.

In a business context Elon’s sense of urgency manifests itself through the aggressive timelines he sets.  This is especially brilliant.  Aggressive timelines necessitate innovative thinking and an aggressive work ethic.

The timelines Elon sets are aggressive to the point of borderline unrealistic.  He said his unrealistic expectations are a result of his optimism and it seems like they help his teams get more done in less time.  

Elon and Tesla do occasionally end up pushing back timelines, but if you zoom out and look at what Tesla has accomplished in the past two decades it’s obvious the urgent timeline strategy is beneficial.

Even if Tesla and SpaceX companies’ projects are late, they almost accomplish what they set out to do, and are making great progress over time.

“I kind of say when I think it can occur, but then I’m typically optimistic about these things…It pretty much always happens, but not exactly on the timeframe.“

Urgency is certainly an asset when it helps expedite positive results.

Slow and steady will lose the race to urgent and steady every time.