Elon Musk and Opportunity
The worldwide CEO used 10,000 hours, meaningful work, and desirable disadvantages to become a success.
By Brandon Loverude | Biology and Chemistry Major
Elon Musk sits down for his interview with the Today Show, he is expecting to be talking about Tesla and his new SpaceX Rockets his companies will soon release. Gadi Schwartz, the host at NBC’s show, says, “Tell me about your childhood.” Adjusting in his chair, Musk looks distressed. “When I was a child, I was bullied so badly in elementary school that my parents took me out of the school and moved me to another one 20 miles away. I once had rocks thrown at me. I went to the doctor once because a spitball got stuck deep inside my ear. The kids didn’t like me because I was creative and vocal. Not a conformist.” (Musk). Everyone knows of a kid who gets bullied because he or she is different, smart, or special. The other kids want to tear him or her down. When he was 10, he taught himself how to program by using the Commodore VIC-20, an inexpensive home computer. Before long, he had become good enough to create Blastar, a video game kind of like angry birds. He sold the BASIC code for the game to a magazine called PC and Office Technology for $500 at the age of 12.
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, writes about success almost as if he is talking directly about Musk in this book: “Who we are cannot be separated from where we’re from.” Elon survived terrible bullying. In doing so, he learned that he could do things the other kids told him he couldn’t do. In his early years, he figured out how to use Gladwell’s theories about 10,000 hours, desirable disadvantages, and meaningful work to be successful. And he hasn’t stopped yet.
Musk was severely bullied growing up, thrown away by his parents, and was a college drop out, yet is one of the most “successful” people on the planet. Musk used his unique disadvantages to his future benefit.
When asked about his childhood in a private interview, Elon Musk said, “I had a terrible upbringing. I had a lot of adversity growing up. One thing I worry about with my kids is they don’t face enough adversity” (Swisher). Musk was severely bullied growing up, thrown away by his parents, and was a college drop out, yet is one of the most “successful” people on the planet. Musk used his unique disadvantages to his future benefit.
In the book Outliers, Gladwell described a story of a Jewish immigrant named Joe Flom who was denied a job at any major law firm because of his background and the way he looked. This overweight, Jewish man somehow turned what looked like an impossible circumstance into a desirable disadvantage. How did he do this? Flom used his Jewish culture and being overweight to his advantage. This forced him to start a new law firm, which he would have never done if accepted by any other law firm. This also forced him to take more risks, something that the America desperately needed (Gladwell, Outliers 116–118).
Joe Flom and Elon Musk used their unique backgrounds to become as successful as they are today. When Musk was just a child, he was bullied horribly at recess. Instead of going outside to play with his classmates, he decided to stay inside. During this time, he would sit on his computer and work on programming projects that his father would tell him about and show him. While it certainly doesn’t seem ideal to sit inside during recess time, this desirable disadvantage propelled Musk to become proficient enough at programming to be able to create the basic code for a game he called “Blastar” by the age of 10 (Vance, 56).
When Musk went on to study and graduate from the University of Pennsylvania. He then went on to pursue a PhD in Physics at Stanford University where he had entrepreneurial visions dancing in his head (Grohol). After just two days of graduate school, Musk decided to drop out to attempt to capitalize on the “internet boom” about to hit the Silicon Valley. Unsure of his decision, he started up a company called “Zip2 Corporation”. This company later turned into “PayPal” and in 1999 Musk sold his company for $307 million in cash (Linderman). This all happened because Musk took a risk, just as Joe Flom took a risk starting his own law firm. Success isn’t born in the ordinary, but is achieved only when adapting and capitalizing on desirable disadvantages.
The key to success is “working hard”. Most business owners will agree that to start up a company it is essential to work hard or even “super” hard. Musk, when giving a commencement speech at USC School of Business told his own story. When Musk and his brother were starting their first company, instead of getting an apartment they decided to rent a small office and slept on the couch. The place was so inadequate that they had to go the nearby YMCA to shower. If that wasn’t enough they only had one computer that they used for their company (Zip2). The website was up during the day, and Musk would be up coding all night, 7 days a week, with no days off. He goes on to say that in order to achieve success you need to put in more hours than everyone else. The average American works 40 hours per week, Musk on the other hand was putting in 90–100 hours per week. If you do the math, he was getting done in 4 months what the average American gets done in a full year (Rose).
In Outliers, Gladwell explains that reaching the 10,000-Hour Rule, which he considers the key to success in any field, is simply a matter of “practicing a specific task that can be accomplished with 20 hours of work a week for 10 years” (Outliers). He tells the story of The Beatles. Before The Beatles came to America in 1964 and exploded with success, they were a house band in a strip club in Hamburg, Germany. They would play 8 hour sets, 7 days a week, for months at a time (Outliers). We often think of The Beatles as these geniuses who come out of left field or rather “overnight success stories” but in reality they put in thousands of hours and are were not overnight successes at all.
A quote by Tim Notke was brought to light by Kevin Durant (NBA basketball player) is not mentioned in Outliers, but fits in well with this theory. This being said, natural talent or gifts exist and definitely help one be successful. But when it comes down to it, hard work beats talent, as said by one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Hard work is what is going to beat the competition every time.
Musk taught himself how to code at the age of 10. This means that by the age of 20–25, Musk had already reached 10,000 hours. Not to say that Musk wasn’t a naturally good coder, but because he started so young and had such a passion and drive, the odds were definitely in his favor. In 2016, SpaceX spent 16 months trying to prove it was possible to land one of its rockets on its oceangoing recovery drone ships. The first attempt took place on January 10, 2015 resulting in an engine sensor failure and the rocket blowing up. The next two attempts, the rocket tipped over and plummeted a few hundred feet straight into the water. When asked in his famous 60 Minute CBS Interview if he ever thought about giving up after the 3rd try, he responded by saying, “Never. I don’t ever give up. I’d have to be dead or completely incapacitated in order for that to happen.” Eight weeks later, Musk led the company on yet another space adventure; and this time it worked (Gibson).
Elon Musk has always had a set morning routine. He goes to bed around 12pm, and wakes up at 7am, ensuring that he gets 6–7 hours of sleep (Grohol). The first thing he does when he wakes up is read what he calls his “critical emails”. For around 15 min to half an hour. Most mornings he is too busy for breakfast, but always makes time to make a quick coffee. Next, he says goodbye to his five sons and gets them off to school. Musk takes a quick shower and drives to work in one of the 5 cars that he owns. The rest of his morning is usually spent in engineering and design discussions or meetings (Vance).
Gladwell often talks about this idea of meaningful work as “one of the most important things we can do to impart our children” (Linderman). In Outliers, Gladwell investigates the psychology of success. He later makes a powerful point about what factors play a significant role in people committing and enjoying their work. An example of meaningful work is described by Gladwell as work that is autonomous, work that is complex or occupies your mind, and work where there is a relationship between effort and reward (Rose). In the early 1900s, the Jewish industry had a great advantage in making garments. This is because, although it was a terrible and horrible thing, it was considered meaningful work. This is because it was “explicitly entrepreneurial.” This phrase is often used because during this time, if you had enough money to get a few sewing machines, and were willing to stay up all night, you could start your own company. At the same time, the same is not true for Mexican immigrant in California. Working in the fields all day is not meaningful work in any three of those respects previously mentioned.
Elon Musk and Malcolm Gladwell both would agree that meaningful work is essential to success. “Focus on signal over noise. Don’t waste time on stuff that doesn’t actually make things better,” is something that is a staple in Musk’s very successful businesses. Being the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Musk doesn’t have time to focus on the noise. For Musk, the “signal” is product development, which requires the majority of his attention. Musk believes that most people and companies focus way too much time on media (such as advertising) and “businessy” things. Musk believes that a person should spend almost 80% of your time working on engineering and design making the product better (CNBC). And that is exactly what he does.
At the end of the Today show interview, Musk was asked if he was fulfilled with his accomplishments, or if there was anything else he wanted to do before he retires. Musk had a troubled look on his face, as if he had never thought of this question before. He thinks for a few moments, and then says, “I want to die on Mars, just not on impact” (NBC). Thus, this was the birth of the “Mars Oasis” (Urban). An idea that would commercialize space travel and colonize Mars.
Musk has been able to take advantage of his opportunities his whole life; from his rough childhood to today. Musk has unknowingly used Gladwellian traits his whole life to be successful. He has successfully turned his disadvantages into advantages. “Working really hard is what successful people do,” (Gladwell, Outliers Ch.4). Success is not random, it requires hard and meaningful work for years on end, as demonstrated by the life of Elon Musk.
WORKS CITED
Hall-Porter JM; Schweitzer PK; Eisenstein RD; Ahmed HAH; Walsh JK. (2014). The effect of two benzodiazepine receptor agonist hypnotics on sleep-dependent memory consolidation. J Clin Sleep Med, 10, 27–34.
Grohol, John M. “Here’s Why Your & Elon Musk’s Lack of Sleep Is Bad.” World of Psychology, 25 Aug. 2018. psychcentral.com/blog/heres-why-yours-elon-musks-lack-of-sleep-is-bad/.
Swisher, Kara, host. “Elon Musk: The Recode Interview.” Interview session 1. November 5, 2018.
Urban, Tim. “Elon Musk-The World’s Raddest Man.” Http://Aincrad.cc/Static, 2016, aincrad.cc/static/WaitButWhy_ElonMusk/part1.pdf. Print.
CatClifford. “Here’s Elon Musk’s Morning Routine-and His Top Productivity Tip.” CNBC, CNBC, 22 June 2017
Vance, Ashlee. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2015.
Gibson, Kate, interview host. “Warren Buffet on Elon Musk: “I just don’t see the necessity to communicate.” MoneyWatch, April 12, 2019. (Warren Buffet talk about Elon Musk)
Rose, Charlie. “Malcolm Gladwell.” Charlie Rose, charlierose.com/videos/12014.
“Here’s Elon Musk’s Morning Routine-and His Top Productivity Tip.” CNBC, CNBC, 22 June 2017, www.cnbc.com/2017/06/20/elon-musks-morning-routine-and-top-productivity-tip.html.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brandon Loverude, a sophomore at Bethel University, grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. He seeks to be accepted to a dental school in the year 2021. He enjoys going to the lake, listening to music, and traveling.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED
Speaking in front of the class showed me I can do it without feeling like I’m going to pass out on the floor. Practice makes perfect, and while I’m far from perfect, I made lots of progress by being forced to give presentations time and time again.
My book club book (Nebrasketball) showed me that Professor Scott Winter is a much better teacher than he is writer. Just kidding. He not only can teach well but can also practice what he preaches. What a beast.
Group selfies and teamwork taught me I don’t have to struggle alone. It was intimidating the first few times speaking in front of the class. With the help of my peers it made it more comfortable and fluid. But selfies are by far the best part of Inquiry Seminar. End of story.
Naming dogs is a concept our very own Professor Winter preached throughout the entire semester. Whether it’s writing a paper, giving a speech, or telling the class what we like (or don’t like) ALWAYS be specific and give that dog a name.
Malcolm Gladwell taught me it’s okay to be different. In his book Outliers, he not only defined success but showed me steps that I can take in my own life to be successful.
Mr. Rodgers taught me that there is always satisfaction when your work is meaningful. If a simple man in a red cardigan can change television forever, then why can’t I?
Group editing taught me that it’s impossible to meet up with others when they have baseball games and I’m stuck two-hours away at a track meet.
I study best with my headphones blaring, outside with the warm sunshine glistening on my pasty white skin.
On the first day of class, I took the last open seat. Front row. Scott comes in and instead of asking an icebreaker, he asks what everyone uses for toothpaste and deodorant. From that moment on, I knew it was going to be a great semester.
(Editor’s note: This paper was written as a part of a GES160 Inquiry Seminar class as Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota.)
