The founder of three billion dollar companies doesn't care a whole lot about his net worth. He is not very focused on his existence, rather the existence of humanity -- sustainable energy, clean transportation, and interplanetary space travel. On Oct. 27th 2021, noted researcher Dr. David Eli tweeted that 2% of Musk's wealth, worth $6 billion, can stop world hunger. The tweet said "All we need is $6.6B—just .36% of the top 400 US billionaires' net worth increase last year. Is that too much to ask??"
Musk responded to the tweet saying that "If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it." Elon Musk is trying to change the world; we could all learn something from arguably one of the smartest people in history.
Lesson 1: Seek Criticism
Complimenting creates short term contentment, whereas criticism created improvement and long-term change. Elon stresses this consistently, specifically in new product development. He believes in order to make the optimal product, all the flaws must be pointed out.
Lets take use the example of the first car of Tesla (Model S) which stemmed the growth to the Trillion dollar company Tesla is today: “When I spoke with someone about the Tesla Model S, I didn’t really want to know what’s right about the car. I want to know what’s wrong about the car."
So What
So what if you are not trying to develop the next big thing, how can you apply this concept to your life. Find people that will give you criticism, whether its your colleagues, friends, family, and ask them what you could change. This will hurt the ego, but that is human nature. Reflect on what they say and decide if there is a course of action in which will help you develop into a better person.
"You should take the approach that you’re wrong. Your goal is to be less wrong."
Lesson 2: Passion Trumps Talent
Earlier I talked about how Musk cares more about helping humanity than himself. He believes the reason he is so successful in this goal is because of his immense passion for making the world a better place. Back in the early school days when Musk was in South Africa he argued for solar against fossil fuels. He was passionate about sustainable energy from an early age. Now he has created cars run by renewable energy and makes his own Tesla solar panels.
So What
Find what you believe in, take risks, and turn your dreams into reality. Don't choose the safe option, more socially acceptable option, or what you believe will result in the most compensation. Musk believes that passion is the biggest driver to success; doing something without passion is a recipe to failure.
Lesson 3: Remove Worries
Making a decision is scary. What if you choose the "wrong option" or make a mistake? Elon believes that the best way to remove fear is to put yourself in a horrible situation and ask yourself how you feel. Elon decided at age 17 that he wanted to be an entrepreneur and forced himself to live off one dollar per day, eating mainly hot dogs and oranges. Elon lived the "worse-case scenario" to see if he had what it takes to become an entrepreneur.
"I figured if I could live off a dollar a day then, at least from a food stand point, it's pretty easy to earn $30 a month."
-Elon Musk
So What
Picture yourself in the worst case scenario, imagine how you would feel. Imagine what the worst possible outcomes are; Are they really that bad? Is there anything you can do to make it manageable? Go over this worst case-scenario in your head, and try a minimized version in real life. For example, lets say you want to become vegan for health reasons but you are scared you may not like the food, it will be too expensive, or it will take too much time. Try cooking vegan meals for a week and track which meals you like, how much it all costs, and how much extra time it takes.
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