Elon Musk represents more than ever the image of the brilliant entrepreneur that nothing can stop when he has a goal in mind. While Tesla’s success commands everyone’s respect, Elon Musk is accomplishing something even greater right now.
Elon Musk has just put the United States back at the forefront of the space race with his company’s SpaceX rockets.
The successful launch of SpaceX’s first manned flight on May 30, 2020, in collaboration with NASA, and its return to Earth in early August, is proof that when Elon Musk sets a goal, anything is possible.
However, when Elon Musk created SpaceX in 2002, nobody thought that anyone outside the aeronautics world would be able to succeed.
For Elon Musk, arriving in a field he doesn’t master is a strength
He sees it as the best way to revolutionize this field with new ideas.
History shows us that his bold approach pays off.
As an individual, I think we have a lot to learn from a successful entrepreneur like Elon Musk. I was particularly interested in the 6 major principles of Elon Musk’s life. Sustainably applying these principles will change your life by enabling you to succeed in reaching your wildest dreams too.
1: Reading a Lot to Reduce Ignorance
Many people don’t understand how Elon Musk was able to create startups that became incredible successes like Tesla and SpaceX when he didn’t know anything about them beforehand.
Elon Musk’s secret lies in reading.
Elon Musk reads a lot. He uses reading to reduce his ignorance. It allows him to quickly progress in any field. He knew nothing about rockets when he came up with the idea for SpaceX.
Many would have chosen to abandon the project as being too ambitious. Not Elon Musk.
By reading a bunch of books on rockets, Elon Musk managed to build up his skills. This gave him enough knowledge to launch SpaceX. He also realized that he couldn’t do it alone in this field. He then chose to rely on recognized experts from the rocket world to succeed in achieving his goal.
The big lesson I have learned from the history of SpaceX is that reading a lot will give you the best chance to reach your most ambitious goals.
2: Taking Risks to Seize Opportunities
The fundamental difference between Elon Musk and the average person becomes apparent when an obstacle arises. An average person will tend to complain. Worse still, many will abandon their goal when an obstacle arises.
Elon Musk sees obstacles as unique opportunities.
He is willing to take risks to seize these opportunities. He is never afraid to do bold things. This great principle of the life of Elon Musk is perfectly summarized in this quote:
“Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”
— Elon Musk
Taking risks means you risk failure. But it’s a positive sign. It means that you are breaking new ground by trying to overcome problems that no one has ever been able to solve before.
So you should never be afraid to fail. You have to take risks to achieve your most ambitious goals, keeping in mind that no one ever succeeds in the first attempt. After each failure, you will have to try again.
By doing so, you will eventually achieve success sooner or later.
3: Focus on Success, but Be Prepared to Fail
When you start a new project, you must focus all your efforts in one direction: the success of your project. Even so, you must still keep in mind that a failure is an option.
The fact that a failure is an option is a good indicator for Elon Musk. It implies that he is innovating by going into hitherto unexplored territories.
Since you innovate, you must be prepared to fail. When failure comes, and it will necessarily come, you must adopt the same mentality as Elon Musk: try again and again.
Elon Musk never gives up after failure, and you must do the same. Quickly analyze the causes of your failure, and adapt your strategy to try again differently.
With perseverance, you will succeed in conquering your goal as Elon Musk is doing with SpaceX.
4: Be Positive No Matter What
Once you understand that failure is an integral part of the path to success, you will have taken a big step in your life. You will have adopted part of the mentality of Elon Musk. The next step is to look for the positive in all situations.
At the end of November 2019, Elon Musk officially presented his Cybertruck, an electric pickup with a futuristic look.
On stage, Elon Musk wanted to demonstrate the future Tesla pickup’s ruggedness. With Franz von Holzhausen, chief engineer on the project,
Elon Musk found nothing better than throwing a pétanque ball on the window of the Cybertruck.
The glass cracked in front of amazed observers. They threw a second shot at another glass panel, and the result was the same.
For many, such a situation would have been catastrophic. Not for Elon
Musk again. He took the opportunity to unleash a huge buzz around his Cybertruck.
He humbly admitted his mistake, explaining that it was still only a prototype. In the end, it played as a huge free marketing campaign for Cybertruck. So much so that many thought that Elon Musk had done this on purpose to create the event.
When you move forward in life, and experience failure in public, you have to look for the positive no matter what. This is called having a positive mindset. And that’s how you achieve incredible goals in life.
5: Focusing on Creating, Rather Than Complaining
This principle stems from everything I have just told you about Elon Musk’s philosophy of life. Since Elon Musk sees failure as inevitable when one wants to innovate, he knows how to be positive when it happens.
Being positive about failure means never wasting time complaining.
The idea is quite simple to understand. Whatever happens, you will have to try again if you want to succeed. By complaining, you will be wasting unnecessary time. It is better to focus directly on creating.
That’s the only thing that matters. You have to keep trying. To maximize your chances, your whole mind must be focused in one direction: your future.
You cannot change your past. It is useless to think about it while complaining. Focus on your present by putting in place the things you need to build the future you dream of.
6: Don’t Be a Trend Follower, Be a Trendsetter
The world divides into two categories for Elon Musk. On one side, you have those who follow trends. On the other, you have the trendsetters. Needless to say, Elon Musk belongs to the second category of people.
It’s no coincidence that everyone scans every message he sends on social networks, for example.
Elon Musk’s opinion counts for a lot because he is a leader who simply creates trends. Of course, at our level, I have to admit that it’s difficult to have as much influence as he does.
Nevertheless, you can still apply this philosophy to your life. To do so, I advise you to never be content to blindly follow the masses to please others. Follow your path, and never be afraid to express your opinion loud and clear, even if it is different from that of others.
It is by being yourself no matter what happens that you will succeed in becoming a trendsetter too, rather than a mere follower.
Conclusion
The immense success of Elon Musk is very inspiring. As an individual, I find it very opportune to study the principles of the life of such a great person.
The 6 major principles of Elon Musk that I have just presented to you clearly explain why he achieved so many extraordinary things in his life. The secret lies clearly in never being afraid of failure so that you can take risks to seize every opportunity that comes your way.
By being yourself no matter what happens, you will be able to create your path to success just as Elon Musk did.
