When speaking at the InvestHK conference Elon said:
“We don’t think too much about what competitors are doing because I think it’s important to be just focused on making the best possible products…
It’s sort of analogous to what they say about you if you’re in a canoe if you’re in a race. They say don’t worry about what the other runners are doing, just run.”
Elon does not suggest ignoring competition altogether. Competition can inspire innovation but obsessing over the competition distracts from obsessing over your own business.
So be aware of your competition but don’t let it distract you from your main goal: Making your business and your life as awesome as possible.
The grass will be greener on your side when you focus more energy on making your grass green and less time worrying about your neighbors grass.
Elon Musk on Meetings: Avoid, Shorten, or Walk Out
In a powerful letter to his employees he explained some tips for productivity.
The first three tips were about meetings.
Here they are:
1. “Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time. Please get [out] of all large meetings, unless you’re certain they are providing value to the whole audience, in which case keep them very short.”
2. “Also get rid of frequent meetings, unless you are dealing with an extremely urgent matter. Meeting frequency should drop rapidly once the urgent matter is resolved.”
3. “Walk out of a meeting or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren’t adding value. It is not rude to leave, it is rude to make someone stay and waste their time.”
These strategies are key to achieving operational efficiency.
Saying “Is what I’m doing as useful as it could be?” (STVP Future Fest) is a smart way to keep yourself on point.
Compare Elon’s thinking with the culture of many other companies – where plenty of employees dread long meetings due to their irrelevance and drudgery – and it’s clear that Elon’s meetings methods are one of the many reasons he and his teams are winning.
From Awesome Rockets to AI Robots: Get Excited for the Future!
“Earth is the cradle of humanity. You cannot stay in the cradle forever…
It is time to go out there…be out there among the stars, expand the scope and scale of human consciousness…
I find that incredibly exciting!
That makes me glad to be alive!”
~Elon Musk
Being excited about your work will help you create exciting results.
“We live in a very exciting time. If you look at the whole course of human history and humanity this is the time of the greatest technological growth in history…and it seems to be accelerating.” (Tech week 2021)
So don’t settle for an unexciting career: Strive for an excellent future.
Your expectations and efforts today will determine your outcomes tomorrow.
Rocket launches are one exciting element of our fast coming future.
The rate of rockets launched is increasing year over year, as are the exciting technology they enable. Starlink satellite Internet has opened up access to the Internet to millions of people who did not have it before.
Undoubtedly the new entrants to the online ecosystem will create exciting new innovations in the Ai and other fields as well.
At Italian TechWeek Elon shared his thought on the exciting time we live in:
“We live in a very exciting time.
I mean if you look at the whole history of the world, humanity, this is a time of the greatest technological growth in history.
And it seems to be accelerating.”
So true. We live in the most powerful and exciting time of all time.
Not many people saw Google coming, or Facebook, or the vast majority of the information from history being available at your fingertips on a super computer you keep in your pocket…
But it all happened and more.
Technological innovations depend on the people who use technology and the Internet…and there are more people with technology and Internet access than ever before.
As of January 2023, there were 5.16 billion internet users worldwide, which is 64.4 percent of the global population. And that number continues to increase until it inevitably hits 100% and we are all officially cyborgs.
“You’re already a cyborg. Most people don’t realize you’re already a cyborg.”
~Elon Musk‘
The image above of Elon and the Starship was created by Grok Imagine.
Elon’s company Starlink is making high speed Internet available to many parts of the world that did not have any Internet at all before.
Due to the fact of a larger Internet user base than ever unpredictably awesome innovations will undoubtedly happen in the future also, likely at a faster rate than we are used to.
Elon is making those awesome innovations a reality faster than anyone else alive.
It pays to pay attention to Elon because the future is where you’ll be spending the rest of your life.
Get excited about the future!
Who knows what AI will make possible?
Since AI can leverage trillions of pieces of information simultaneously the one certainty is it will not disappoint.
The Humanoid Robot Future Will Create Abundance
“The robot future is coming” Elon says.
What will robots be able to do in the future?
They will drive for us, cook for us (whatever we want made perfectly like a 3 Star Michelin chef every time), cut and style our hair flawlessly, mow our lawn automatically, and do most manual labor tasks that cause humans to dread their jobs.
And that’s just the beginning…
Robots and technology are literally out of this world.
Recently SpaceX launched the largest flying object of all time…
It was initially called BFR (Big FUCKING Rocket) then renamed to Starship…
And Starships were meant to fly.
Largest Flying Object of All Time
Indeed Starship did fly…
On 4/20, 2023…
Then it exploded in mid air.
But unlike its unrelated Soviet predecessor the N1 it was not the largest non-atomic explosion of all time…likely because Starship used a good amount of it’s fuel achieving 25 miles of flight.
But if it were not for the first unsuccessful Falcon rocket launches would SpaceX be what it is today?
Certainly not.
Pain can be powerful…
No pain no gain.
Elon says he still has PTSD from the early failed SpaceX launches.
But the trauma he and the SpaceX team suffered helped them take the necessary actions to ensure the rocket improved and achieved orbit.
The future will rip apart the world as we know it like the rocket pieces above…
But the changes that might seem difficult at first will transform into a fantastic future over time…
A future where people are far safer in cars, freed from tedious tasks, can vacation in Space, and even live on the Moon or Mars.
Successful Starship Test Flights
Since then there have been successful flights including the first phase booster being caught by arms from the Mechazilla launch platform.
Starship is the first launching system capable of making life multiplanetary and will take 100 people to Mars per trip.
Starship has had numerous multiple successful flights since its initial explosion and has a Mars mission on the way in 2026.
Get excited about the future!
It’s coming fast.
Work on projects that harness the amazing power of technology.
Don’t blindly cling to the past.
The ability to adapt and upgrade your skills with the changing times will empower you.
Test drive a Tesla.
Make the most of today but live like you’ll live forever…because thanks to the power of AI maybe you will.
Or maybe AI will destroy us all. Elon has said developing AI is like summoning the Devil.
Optimus Robots and Ai Will Make Everyone Wealthy
Elon has said the humanoid robot business is bigger than the car business.
“The most likely outcome is that AI and robots make everyone wealthy.” are his specific words in this recent tweet.
And if you think about it human labour costs are more than vehicle costs so this makes sense.
Elon and Making Artificial Intelligence Actual
Elon founded the company OpenAi as well as xAi and Grok.
I recommend following me for the latest updates about how Ai and the many ways Elon and his companies are our world and the future.
Get All My Amazing Elon Musk Info in One Place
Best way to get ready for a more fantastic future with amazing abundance is to buy a copy of Elonology!
The best price is via this website. Only $9.99 USD to reveal the best secrets for success from the wealthiest man of all time, Elon Musk.
Elon has said: “It’s better to be optimistic and wrong than to be pessimistic and right.”
Looking on the bright side of life is the most lit way to think.
When you see the positive in everything more positive outcomes naturally flow.
For example, when you see everything as a positive you will look for and find the lessons in the hardships.
Pessimistic thinking leads to pessimistic outcomes.
You reap what you sow: So sow the seeds of success with smart and optimistic thinking!
Stay optimistic and work to make the positive future you envision real.
As Peter Drucker says “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
When Elon started SpaceX and Tesla he said the most likely outcome was probably failure…
But ever the optimist Elon and his teams persisted and because of this optimism and persistence SpaceX and Tesla have weathered brutal storms and simultaneously risen to achieve success at the highest level.
On the Lex Fridman podcast episode 333 Lex interviewed the former Director of AI at Tesla Andrej Karpathy, who had the opportunity to work with Elon Musk, and is currently working on AGI. (AGI is a hypothetical intelligent agent which can learn to replicate any intellectual task that human beings or other animals can.)
Lex asked: “What did you learn from working with Elon Musk?”
Andrej replied: I think the most I’ve learned is about how to sort of run organizations efficiently and how to create efficient organizations and how to fight entropy in an organization. (Entropy means gradual decline into disorder.)
He basically runs the world’s biggest startups. I would say Tesla and SpaceX are the world’s biggest startups.
Tesla is actually multiple startups. I think it’s better to look at it that way…
The Tesla tech tree is an awesome example of this.
In the interview with Lex, Andrej continues:
He has a very good intuition for streamline processes, making everything efficient. Best part is no part simplifying focusing and removing barriers moving very quickly, making big moves all this is very startup, but at scale.
Cybertruck is an example of bold Startup thinking since it breaks the mold of a traditional truck.
“Disruptive technology where you really have a big technology discontinuity…tends to come from new companies.” ~Elon Musk
The Startup ethos Elon cultivates is especially evident at SpaceX. Because SpaceX is still owned in majority privately Elon has the freedom to move rapidly and implement innovations without answering to investors.
Elon retains majority control of SpaceX and because of this he can tweet whatever he wants about SpaceX. By staying private Elon is able to steer SpaceX in whatever direction he chooses.
Elon’s majority control of SpaceX helps ensure the rapid roll out of new technology.
Hopefully Elon never loses majority ownership of SpaceX because he is clearly steering SpaceX rockets towards greatness and his accomplishments so far are nothing short of fantastic.
The problem with taking a company public is how investors tend to be solely concerned about ROI and quarterly shareholder meetings. And this might create conflict with SpaceX since SpaceX is optimizing to make human life multi-planetary rather than optimizing for maximum profitability. However interplanetary transit will certainly be big business one day if it can be achieved.
This is why Elon intends to IPO Starlink the Internet company, not SpaceX the rocket company.
Speed, Engineering and Passion are the three key areas former Tesla Supercharger UX employee Michael Rihani suggests were key to Tesla’s success, which empowered the company to rapidly iterate innovations and evolve.
The best insights from his tweet storm after leaving Tesla he said:
1. Speed
Tesla’s #1 differentiated advantage is its incredible speed. Plaid mode, for sure. The speed is uncomfortable at first, but employees quickly get comfortable with it.
2. Engineering
Tesla is the #1 place undergraduate engineering students want to work. Why?
Because we stand around a circle table, throw a difficult engineering problem on that table, and everyone — from the SVP, to product, to engineers, to interns — look at that problem, rollup up their sleeves, and immediately dive into solving it, together.
No hesitation. No politics. Tesla is one of the most collaborative places I’ve ever seen.
Furthermore, Tesla has some of the nicest and smartest engineers he says he’s ever worked with.
3. Passion
It doesn’t feel like work when you’re surrounded by stunning colleagues who are aligned to a north star mission – like accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Speed, Engineering and Passion: Apply them to the culture of your company for a positive outcome.everyone — from the SVP, to product, to engineers, to interns — look at that problem, rollup up their sleeves, and immediately dive into solving it, together.
No hesitation. No politics. Tesla is one of the most collaborative places I’ve ever seen.
Furthermore, Tesla has some of the nicest and smartest engineers he says he’s ever worked with.
3. Passion
It doesn’t feel like work when you’re surrounded by stunning colleagues who are aligned to a north star mission – like accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
Speed, Engineering and Passion:
Apply them to the culture of your company for a positive outcome.
Vertical integration is the combination in one company of two or more stages of production normally operated by separate companies.
After multiple trips to Russia where more vodka was involved than strategy…
Elon did the math and realized the raw cost of material components of a rocket could make rockets much more affordable if vertical integration was involved.
This means the raw materials for a rocket coming in one side…
And a fully finished rocket coming out the other.
Tesla taps into the power of vertical integration also…
In fact Tesla is the most vertically integrated auto maker on earth…
And with this vertical integration there are both cost savings and efficiency improvements.
There are also supply chain reliability reasons for integrating vertically.
Because the less you rely on others for your production line…
The more reliable the entire process will flow.
And the most efficient and reliable company often equates with the best…
Manufacturing is hard…so many entrepreneurs shy away from it.
But Elon certainly has not.
Part of the reason is because he feels manufacturing is an area of business that deserves more respect and is ripe for innovation:
“There’s more potential for innovation in manufacturing than there is in the design of a car – by a long shot…
We believe in manufacturing and we believe a company that values manufacturing as highly as we do is going to attract the best minds in manufacturing.” (Q1 2016 earnings call) Certainly focusing on the alien dreadnought “machine that builds the machine” has enabled Tesla to crank out plenty of next level machines, with no sign of slowing down.
Tesla just announced they have produced 9 million vehicles worldwide. And SpaceX is almost at 600 successful missions to space. Congrats to Elon and his teams!
