elonology.com

Tag: Skills Development

  • Manifest Motives Worth More Than Money

    Manifest Motives Worth More Than Money

    Be guided by doing the right thing.  It’s always right to do the right thing.

    Elon has a current estimated net worth of $600+ billion as of December, 2025, and this does not factor in his crypto assets. 

    His net worth fluctuates depending on the price of Tesla shares and the valuation of SpaceX.

    Interestingly Elon went on the record in a Reddit Storytime with NASA and said:

    “I actually don’t care about money at all.  At all.  But I do care about us becoming a space faring civilization.”

    For Elon it’s certainly not all about the money: First and foremost for Elon it’s about the missions.

    When we make mistakes, it’s just because we were being foolish or stupid or whatever, but it’s really always made with the right motivations.  

    We say the things we believe even when sometimes those things we believe are delusional.”

    Elon is a genius among geniuses and part of this is his ability to recognize when re-calibration is necessary.

    Even the smartest among us make mistakes.  Making mistakes is a part of making things work better.  Elon elaborated on this idea at a Baron Investment Conference: 

    “We’d made so many mistakes in the beginning of Tesla we basically had to recapitalize the company completely…Almost every decision we made was wrong.”

    Being right is often a process of eliminating and learning from what is wrong…

    A big part of the power of Tesla and everything Elon does is his willingness to be wrong, and then use this knowledge to pave the path to a more righteous realization.

    Thinking you are always right will always stifle innovation.

    Naive teenagers often think they are always right…and they often are proved wrong at this point.

    Elon has likely made more right business decisions than almost anyone else alive and yet he says: 

    “We start from the point of view that we are wrong.  And our goal is to be less wrong.”

    The more wrongs you can improve upon…

    The more likely you will ultimately be right.

  • Speed, Engineering and Passion

    Speed, Engineering and Passion

    Three Pillars Driving Tesla’s Success

    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.

  • The Most Likely Outcome

    The Most Likely Outcome

    Elon Musk and the Power of Laughter: Why Entertainment Shapes Reality

    From posting memes, to hosting a meme review, to cracking jokes on Twitter and everywhere else, Elon Musk is a hilarious man.

    And being funny is a powerful trait.

    Elon said if there is ever a scandal about him *please* call it Elongate.

    elon-musk-laughing

    Laughter is so physically positive many consider it the best medicine.

    There is something instinctive about laughing.  It’s intrinsic.  It’s automatic.  It makes you feel good.

    Laughter is positive.  Like action, it is an antidote to despair.

    Elon gets this and part of the reason he is loved by so many is because he makes a good joke.  

    The most entertaining outcome is the most likely.

  • Learn at Every Opportunity

    Learn at Every Opportunity

    You want to learn as much powerful information as you can.

    Elon elaborates: “It’s great to read books and talk to interesting people, and learn as much as possible…”

    “Maybe it was Plato or Socrates who said: To know everything is to know nothing…”

    So keep an open mind.

    The moment you think you know everything is the moment you fail to learn anything…

    So keep learning.

    If you think you know everything it will be difficult to learn anything.

    At ​​Italian TechWeek Elon elaborated:

    “I think you should maximize your feedback loop and your ability to learn.  As soon as you think you know too much and people can’t teach you things that’s when you start getting very dumb…”

    Stay curious.  Keep asking questions.  Be a lifelong learner.

    Audio Books are a Great Way to Learn More

    Elon Musk listens to audio books as he goes to sleep usually.

    Elon is a lover of history and audio books.

    Particularly favoring historical, biographical, and epic works—many with themes of war, civilization, and leadership.

    He often emphasizes listening to classics like ancient epics in audio format, noting that they were originally meant to be spoken.

    Here are some of his most frequently or enthusiastically recommended audiobooks:

    • The Iliad (Penguin Edition, narrated for audiobook): Musk has repeatedly praised this highly, saying “Can’t recommend The Iliad enough!” and recommending the Penguin audiobook at 1.25x speed. He stresses it’s best experienced as a spoken story.
    • The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant: Tops his list of audiobook recommendations, described as “very much worthwhile” despite its length (multi-volume series on world history).
    • The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek: Included in his curated audiobook list, focusing on economics and freedom.
    • American Caesar by William Manchester: A biography of Douglas MacArthur, part of his history-focused recommendations.
    • Masters of Doom by David Kushner: About the creators of Doom video games—appeals to Musk’s gaming interests.
    • The Wages of Destruction by Adam Tooze: Economic history of Nazi Germany.
    • Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger: A WWI memoir.
    • The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman: On the outbreak of WWI.
    • The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar: Caesar’s own account of his campaigns.
    • Twelve Against the Gods by William Bolitho: Profiles of historical adventurers.
    • Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford: Musk has shown interest in Genghis Khan’s history separately.

    Additionally, he highly recommended the audio version of Destined for War by Graham Allison, saying “could not recommend this book more. Audio version is great.”

  • On The Future of Education

    On The Future of Education

    Elon is much more interested in exceptional ability than he is a college education.

    “I think colleges are for fun and to prove you can do your chores but they are not for learning.”

    “I make sure Tesla recruiting does not have anything that requires University because that’s absurd…but there is a requirement of evidence of exceptional ability.

    If you try to do something exceptional you must have evidence of exceptional ability.

    I don’t consider going to College evidence of exceptional ability.  In fact ideally you dropped out and did something.

    Gates is a pretty smart guy, he dropped out.  Jobs, pretty smart guy, he dropped out.  Larry Ellison, smart guy, he dropped out.  Like: Obviously not needed.” [source 7:10]

    Clearly great success does not require a piece of paper on the wall.

    Of course that’s not to say a College or University degree does not help.  They certainly can.  However with the great proliferation of quality information from excellent schools and individuals online there are plenty of great alternatives to the traditional model.

    Traditionally the schools had a monopoly on information.  They had the books.  But these days it’s different.

    There are plenty of full length lectures from Stanford, Harvard, and a number of other reputable schools.

    edX.org is a truly powerful online resource that contains over 3,000 courses from 160 Colleges, many of them among the worlds best, and it’s totally free.

    Harvard, Stanford, The University of British Columbia, and the National University of Australia are just a few of these institutions you can learn from for free.

    At the time of writing there are 343,710 people learning on edX at this moment.

    I’ve taken an edX course from Harvard and found the quality to be exceptional.  They use the actual lectures and material from the on campus program.

    Learning solutions like Astra Nova, Synthesis and edX are three shining examples of the future of education you can use to learn whatever you want.

  • Elon Musk on How to Improve The Education of Children

    Elon Musk on How to Improve The Education of Children

    Astra Nova is latin for Bright Star and is the name of the school Elon created for his children, and for the children of some of the engineers he works with.

    Initially the school was named Ad Astra, which means to the stars.

    Elon has some great ideas about how children should learn, which has certainly influenced how his school is run.  The first unique divergence from the norm is there are not any grades.

    On a clubhouse audio conversation Marc Andreesen (Salesforce CEO) asked Elon: What kind of education would you recommend for a five year old?

    Part of Elon’s reply was: “I think generally with education you want to make it as interesting and exciting as possible…

    Unless relevance is established people will have a hard time remembering.

    This is much better than having a course on wrenches or a course on screwdrivers.

    Start with a problem and ask what tools do I need to solve this problem?

    That establishes relevance and a compelling narrative thread.

    Asking: How can we make this engine better, what do we need to do?”

    The education is catered to the unique abilities of each student, rather than using a one size fits all approach.  In a 2015 interview Elon explains:

    “Some people love English or languages, some people love Math, some people love Music, and have different abilities at different times.  It makes more sense to cater the education to match their aptitudes and abilities.

    The Astra Nova website explains:

    Each Year Anew: We redesign each year based on our students. We apply the lessons learned from every project, lab, and discussion to inform our next move.

    Another important concept they touch on is the importance of creating… 

    A school children love: What if students were taken seriously and their time well spent? Astra Nova believes in meaningful student experiences across age levels and domains.

    In an effort to make the style of education from Astra Nova more widely available a new company named Synthesis was started.  Synthesis is a weekly, 1-hour enrichment program for students who want to learn how to build the future.

  • 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

  • Be a Voracious Reader

    Elon, like many highly successful people, is a voracious reader and learner.

    Elons knowledge impresses because he has read and listened to so much content over the course of his life.

    “You don’t know what you don’t know. You realize there are all these things out there.“

    One of the reasons Elon prefers reading to listening to content is because “Reading has a faster bit upload rate.“

    AKA you can consume more information by reading than you can by listening.

    Elon was an especially excellent reader in his youth and his excessive knowledge is proof he continues his information.

    Musk spent his childhood with his nose in a book. He read every book in the library then read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from cover to cover.

    They’d kick him out of the book store sometimes for being there reading for so long.

    If you want to know what you don’t know it’s a good idea to read up.

    On a reddit AMA (Ask me Anything) Elon shared thoughts about learning:

    “I think most people can learn alot more than they think they can.”

    To learn more you need to read more.

    One way I have been able to read more is by setting a daily page goal of 10 pages.  Often times I will read more than 10 pages and by ensuring I hit my goal of 10 pages a day keeps me learning more every day.

    Another reading strategy I use is by keeping an active “Books To Read” list in my Google Keep app.  The way I work with my list is to sort the list with the books I believe to be the most valuable at the top of the list.  Then when it’s time for a new book I simply buy – or borrow from the library – the books at the top of the list.

    Having a couple of books on the go at a time can help you stay engaged and eager to continue achieving your daily goal of reading 10+ pages.

    It’s also important to re-read the best books you have ever read from time to time to refresh your mind with their powerful knowledge.

  • Use What You Have, Do What You Can

    Within the space of a decade Elon went from being an immigrant to the United States, sleeping in his office and showering at the YMCA, to being a dot com multi-millionaire taking delivery of a million dollar McLaren Supercar.

    Elon used what he had, did what he could, and it worked for him.

    “At the beginning we had one computer which would be the web server during the day and then at night I’d program on it.  And we’d sleep in the office.

    It was cheaper to rent the office than to rent an apartment so we just rented the office and slept in the office and showered at the YMCA.”

    Elon was born in South Africa but it didn’t stop him from moving to Canada, and then to America and Silicon Valley to be a part of the dot com boom.

    Maybe you are starting out from a humble beginning.  When I started my first online website I started it from my bedroom while in University and living at home with my parents…

    Yet despite my humble beginning I grew my blog into a success to the tune of thousands of visitors a day.

    If you have a laptop and an Internet connection a world of awesome potential awaits you.

    Dream big, work hard and act boldly, because these days more than ever: When there is a will there often is a way.

  • Be Ready to Learn New Skills

    Be Ready to Learn New Skills

    Unlock Your Potential: Stop Limiting Yourself and Start Learning

    Don’t let what you don’t know stop you from tackling important endeavors and don’t be afraid to develop new skills.

    Elon never owned a car company before, but that didn’t stop him from joining the very early Tesla team and becoming a driving force.

    Elon was never a rocket scientist, but that didn’t stop him from starting SpaceX.

    There are plenty of books out there and there is more information readily available than ever before so set your sights high because there is a world of information available online and the potential to turn your wildest dreams into reality has never been greater.

    Never limit yourself.  

    Propel yourself to greatness and don’t let self-doubt stop you from realizing your most powerful potential.