5 Lessons You Can Learn From Elon Musk

1- When you see a problem, you don’t just complain about it, instead you try to find a way and solve it.
A lot of people are expressing their concerns about the current issues threatening humanity and the nature in general from global warming and lack of sustainable energy to the possible dangers that may arise from the development of artificial intelligence but they usually expect someone else to do something about it.
While it is true that these problems require attention and action from major entities such as governments, corporate and academic/scientific societies not many individuals in the world do anything practical to take a step (even a small one, to solve any of these problems.
Elon on the other hand is actually trying to do something and not just talk or complain, he invested in companies such as SpaceX, Tesla and Open AI with greater goals to help make life multi-planetary, promote and speed up the process of going towards sustainable energy and doing research on safe and beneficial usage of AI technologies.
2- You do what needs to be done, not what is easy, nor what is normal.
“Going from PayPal, I thought: ‘Well, what are some of the other problems that are likely to most affect the future of humanity?’ Not from the perspective, ‘what’s the best way to make money?’” — Elon Musk
With his experience after founding and running multiple companies such as Zip2 and PayPal, it was fairly easy for Musk to create the next Internet Company with a higher chance of success, instead he invested in some of the most difficult industries, Space and Electrical cars because he believed in the causes.
Musk felt the need to get people inspired in space exploration, the need to prove that electrical cars can be successful and those are the things that drove him to do what he did even when the chance of success was very low.
3- You don’t just think about yourself, you care for the causes which affects the nature and the future of human beings.
As with his many companies his ultimate goal is solving a problem and bringing a major positive change in human’s life, not just creating another product or offering another service that many other companies already do.
There are many car companies out there, what make Tesla unique is the fact that it isn’t built with the mere idea and purpose of taking people from place A to place B, it was made with the purpose of bringing a change to prove a point and set an example for others that an environmental friendly electrical car is possible.
4- You don’t just dream big, but actually wake up to and work hard to achieve it.
It is one thing to have big dreams and great ideas, but it takes a mindset and dedication like his to read voraciously, spend countless hours on research and work 100+ hours a week to design and build the most advanced rockets and the world’s largest factory ever.
He runs multiple multi-billion dollar companies, manages time between work and family (having six children) and never stops to come up with new ideas and inventions.
5- He doesn’t give up when he fails, he tries to find out what went wrong, he learns from his mistakes and comes back stronger.
“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” ~Elon Musk
Persistence is one of the most important keys to success, and looking at Elon Musk’s journey towards success one can see how being committed to your goals and not giving up pays off in the long run.
Musk didn’t give up when SpaceX failed to launch its first 3 rockets and he continued to believe in his dream when Tesla was in the edge of bankruptcy back in 2008, and as a result SpaceX lived through the hard years and finally succeeded with its 4th launch, it later scored a $1.6B contract from NASA and Tesla went on to become one of the most valuable automaker companies in the world.
