elonology.com

Author: x.com/Garin

  • Pivoting Towards Power

    Pivoting Towards Power

    Elon Musk’s Mastery of the Pivot: Building Empires Through Adaptation

    There are plenty of potholes on the roads of business as you climb the winding mountain of success.

    Innovating, iterating, and focusing on what is working best seems to be the best way to climb.

    With PayPal: “Initially the thought with PayPal was to create a conglomeration of financial services.  So that you have one place where all of your financial services needs would be seamlessly integrated and work smoothly…

    And then we had a little feature which is email payments.

    And whenever we’d show the system off to someone.  We’d show the hard part, which was the conglomeration of financial services.  Which was quite difficult to put together.  And nobody was interested…

    Then we’d show email payments, which was actually quite easy, and everybody was interested.

    So I think it’s important to take feedback from your environment.  You know because you want to be as closed loop as possible.

    So we focused on email payments and really trying to make that work.  And that’s what really got things to take off.

    But if we had not responded to what people said then we probably would not have been successful.

    So it’s important to look for things like that and focus on them when you see them, and correct your prior assumptions.”

    Adaptability is key.

    Modifying the names of brands is one powerful way to adapt for the better as a business.

    Elon has adapted the name of the school he created for his children from Ad Astra to Astra Nova for example.  And now the name of the school is Synthesis.

    Elon’s company Neuralink was originally called Neuralace.

    The mission of Tesla was recently changed with a post on X from “Sustainable Abundance” to “Amazing Abundance.”

    Constant adaptation and innovation is why Tesla vehicles do not have model years.  This way Tesla can roll out new features rapidly, and consistently, rather than waiting for the next model year to implement improvements.

    Elon’s companies are always adapting.  Always innovating.  

    And it’s paying off. With each innovation Tesla increases their technology superiority in the auto industry.

  • Be Willing to Change Your Mind

    Be Willing to Change Your Mind

    Being willing to change your mind when new information is presented is a sign of a strong mind.

    Stubbornly clinging to an idea that starts to appear inferior is a strategy that will start to render diminishing results.

    When it comes to changing his mind two examples from Elon come to mind.

    First is the old idea Tesla had of swapping out battery packs, for a faster charging experience.  At one point Tesla was going in this direction, but they decided to abandon it as faster charging solutions have emerged.

    Another more recent example is when Elon released a song about NFT’s as an NFT.

    As you can see in the tweet above, Elon changed his mind.

    Turns out NFT’s like the bored ape yacht club lost a ton of value. Elon was on point with under valuing NFT’s. They lack the intrinsic value and can be copied too easily in my opinion. They have lost around ~10X or more of their value since their peak.

    Changing your mind might seem counterintuitive to other advice Elon gives, namely his praise for persistence.

    Elon clarifies: “Yeah I think absolutely persistence is extremely important.  You should not give up unless you’re forced to give up.

    That principle can be misapplied if you happen to be trying to penetrate a brick wall with your head, you know, so you need to be cautious in always saying one should always persist and never give up because there are actually times when you should give up because you’re doing something in error.”

    So the lesson of this segment is: Don’t be afraid to change your mind if the path you are on proves to be unpowerful.

    Changing your mind when presented with more new information simply makes sense.  Remaining unphased by new information is a sign of ignorance.

    Don’t let others try to paint your ability to upgrade or change your decisions as a weakness.  Because it is a strength.

  • Ask The Right Questions / The Meaning of Life

    Ask The Right Questions / The Meaning of Life

    When contemplating the meaning of life Elon found answers that resonated with him within one of his favorite books of all time: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams.

    In the book Douglas points out: “One of the really tough things is figuring out what questions to ask.”

    Elon used this insight as a stepping stone to answer the question “What is the meaning of life?” He said:

    “I came to the conclusion that we should aspire to increase the scope and scale of human consciousness in order to better understand what questions to ask. Really, the only thing that makes sense is to strive for greater collective enlightenment.“

    Certainly striving for greater enlightenment is an excellent answer.

    In Douglas Adams’ book the answer 42 is the answer to Life, The Universe and Everything.

    Questioning the current state of things and how they can be improved is the starting point of all innovation.

    Change is the most enduring constant so in order to have consistently relevant answers the questions we ask must change over time as well.

    Better questions lead to better answers, so never stop questioning how to make the world around you better.

    Also be sure to ask yourself on an ongoing basis: “What are the best actions I can execute on to make progress and improve my life?”

    Having a monthly system of measurable objectives and key results is a great way to make progress on an ongoing basis.

  • Get People Excited

    Get People Excited

    How Elon Musk Masters the Art of Getting People Excited

    Getting plenty of people excited about what you are working for is powerful for producing organic marketing opportunities.

    Elon is a master of influencing public opinion. 

    At STVP Future Fest he explained:

    “If you’re trying to convince the public to do something, then you have to think “OK, what’s the message?

    What’s going to get them really excited?”

    Part of this strategy is obvious in the exciting events SpaceX, Tesla and Elon put on with every rocket or product launch.

    Elons brother Kimbal manages a company called Nova sky stories which puts on drone shows for many events. Tesla events and many others are put on by Nova Sky Stories and I look forward to seeing one of them for myself in real life.

    Here’s a screen caption of the Tesla logo in the sky.

    Excitement Built in the Products:

    And anyone who has driven a Tesla can attest to the exciting feeling of instant acceleration when you drive it.

    Elon’s companies have a feeling of the future about them. It is fun to be a part of it.

    With Tesla’s the horn can be customized as well. You could turn it into a whoopie cushion if you wanted.

    The cars can “dance” with their lights if you want them to.

    And anyone who has driven a Tesla can attest to the exciting feeling of instant acceleration when you drive it.

    Tesla Plaid’s are the fastest 0-60 production cars on Earth so this effect really hypes some people up.

    It is called “The Tesla Effect” and gets people excited without fail.

    With SpaceX anyone near Starbase can watch a rocket launch if they want to. It’s located right near a major highway and they launch multiple times per week usually.

    Elon says it seems like we are at the beginning of the big bang of intelligence. It will be interesting to see where the advances in the coming years will take us.

    Starship’s first mission to Mars is scheduled for 2026.

  • Be Willing to Sacrifice

    Be Willing to Sacrifice

    “If you don’t sacrifice for what you want, what you want will be the sacrifice.” ~Elon Musk

    Tesla faced a severe threat of death during the Model Three production round.  

    “The company was bleeding money like crazy and if we didn’t solve these problems in a very short period of time we would die.

    It was extremely difficult to solve them…

    So I started working seven days a week, sleeping in the factory.  I worked in the paint shop, general assembly, body shop…

    Interviewer: Do you ever worry about yourself imploding because it’s too much?

    Elon: “Yeah, absolutely.  Noone should put this many hours into work.  This is not good.  They should not do this.  This is very painful…

    It hurts my brain and my heart.  It hurts.  This is not recommended for anyone.  I just did it because if I didn’t there was a good chance Tesla would die.”

    Elon is committed to the success of Tesla and SpaceX above all else it seems, and this gives him a competitive edge.

    While Elons competitors are spending time with their families, watching TV, or spending time in one of a million other ways, Elon is grinding.  And the grind creates greatness.

    Sometimes getting the win means losing out and sacrificing other areas of your life.

    If you choose to work 90 hours a week your personal life will suffer.

    And the harder you try to win the more sacrifices you will need to make in other areas of life.

    Priorities are everything.  Priorities dictate how you allocate your time.

    The thing about priorities is they are a continuum…so you need to remind yourself on a regular basis what matters to you.  Reminders are powerful.

    This is why every single day you should write down your priorities.

    Winners win because winners take the actions needed to win.
    So figure out what you need to do…

    Write it down…

    And do it!

  • Let Your Imagination Soar

    Let Your Imagination Soar

    With awe-inspiring ideas which are launching us into the future, Elon has benefited from first mover advantage in all his business ventures.

    Elon even generated a massive amount of press for himself with his highly imaginative idea the Hyperloop.

    The Hyperloop is Musk’s proposal for a faster new form of transportation between the Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area.

    The system is proposed to use a partial vacuum to reduce aerodynamic drag, which it is theorized would allow for high speed travel with relatively low power.

    SpaceX announced an open competition, geared towards university students and independent engineering teams, to design and build the best Hyperloop pod.

    Then SpaceX built a testing Hyperloop rig and encouraged groups of teams from around the world to compete in 2017 and 2018.

    The event was a great success.

    As of 2025 the website on SpaceX no longer shows these images as they are more relevant to Elon’s business The Boring Company.

    Grok Imagination is Amazing Image Visualization

    However another way an Elon managed company can give your imagination a boost is Grok: Specifically, Grok Imagine.

    With Grok Imagine you can visualize almost anything you can think of. Many images on Elonology.com and in the book are Grok images as well. A watermark in the bottom right corner can help you tell.

    The images are very life like. Undoubtedly with progress in this area indistinguishability between Grok Imagine and real life will occur.

    This is what Grok’s Imagine home page looks like currently. Every image you see is actually a short video.

    Try Grok Imagine for yourself and get a better look!

  • Have a Great Team Around You

    Have a Great Team Around You

    Elon has personally been involved in the interviews of the first 3,000 SpaceX employees.  Certainly he’s learned a thing or two in the process.

    At the World Government Summit Elon was asked “How do you choose your team?”

    Elon replied: “I suppose honestly it tends to be gut feel more than anything else…

    So when I interview somebody my interview questions are always the same.  I say: ‘Tell me the story of your life’

    And the decisions you made along the way and why you made them. 

    Also: ‘Tell me about some of the most difficult problems you worked on and how you solved them’ and that question I think is very important because the people that really solved the problem they know exactly how they solved it.

    They know the little details.  And the people who pretended to know how to solve the problem can maybe go one level and then they get stuck.”

    Nonetheless small and strong is often superior to large and clunky.

    Or as Elon would say: “A small group of very technically strong people will always beat a large group of moderately strong people.”

    ~Fast Company, Feb 1st 2005

  • Make Your Product Magical

    Magical products get people talking.

    And when people have good things to say this helps with sales.

    The best product often wins so you need to be hyper-focused on making your product (and service) as magical as possible.

    Elon says:

    “The thing I really focus on at Tesla is we’re going to pour 

    all the money and attention into trying to make the product as compelling as possible…

    Because I think the way to sell anything is really via word of mouth.

    The key is to have a product the people love.  Generally people if they are at a party or with friends or whatever you’ll talk about the things that you love…

    But if you just like something, it’s okay, you’re not going to care that much but if you love something you’re going to talk.  And that will generate word of mouth and that’s basically how our sales have grown like we’re not spending money on advertising or endorsements…

    So anyone who buys our car they just bought it because they like the car and you know it’s genuine.”

    So many parts of a Tesla are true engineering magic, so much so even a vehicle from a decade ago seems old school by comparison.  The more engineering magic you can pack into a product it seems, the better.

    In Forbes (March 26th, 2012) Elon said:

    “If you go back a few hundred years, what we take for granted today would seem like magic…so engineering is magic, and who wouldn’t want to be a magician?”

  • Surround Yourself With Great People

    A Company is a group of people working together to create a product or service.

    In his commencement speech at USC Elon Musk explained that if you are creating or joining a company the most important thing is to attract great people.

    “Join a group that is amazing that you really respect or if you are building a company you’ve got to gather great people.”

    For a company to be great it must be made up of great people.

    With Tesla Elon says a College degree – or even high school – is not needed.

    What is needed is a track record of exceptional results.  Elon is smart enough to know exceptional people do not always have college degrees.

    In the past I started and grew an inspirational quotes website until we were acquired…

    The most enduring and persistent quote that continually resurfaced was from Jim Rohn:

    “You’re the average of the five people spend the most time with.”

    Or in other words: You are the company you keep.

    So keep great company.

    Surround yourself with great people.

    And give the hard working people on your teams credit when credit is due.  

    In conversation with Bill Gates Elon said: 

    “Most of the time – I get way too much credit or attention for what I do.  I’m just the visible element.  But the reason those companies are successful is because we have extremely talented people at all levels that are making it happen.”

    Gotta love Elon’s humility.

    Because of Elon’s willingness to share the credit undoubtedly his employees are willing to work harder than if Elon selfishly claimed the success was all him – even though it’s clear Elon and his involvement is a massively positive vector for success.

    Elon’s powerful friends and terrific teams helped make it happen.

  • Be Unrelentingly Optimistic

    Elon is known for setting seemingly impossible deadlines and making requests of his employees to cut costs by up to 90%.

    Only bold goals lead to bold achievements.

    With the optimism to tackle massive goals you definitely have a better chance of achieving success.

    Even if you fall slightly short of your original target you will still achieve far more than if your target was much less.

    Challenge yourself to think big and your odds of creating big returns increase.

    Seeking extraordinary levels of achievement is required to achieve strong lasting success.

    (Interesting note about the Grok image. The length of a day on Mars is 24 hours 37 minutes.)