In Elon Musk: The Scientist Behind the CEO, author Ashlee Vance digs into the mind of the man behind Tesla, SpaceX, and SolarCity to find out how he learns new things so quickly and effectively.
Here are a few ways you can use his approach to take your career to the next level—and beyond.
Rule 1 – Learn from Textbooks
For example, Tesla Motors is named after Nikola Tesla—the scientist whose name has become synonymous with electricity. What you may not know about Tesla is that he began his life as an engineer and a scientist. In fact, in college, he turned down a $25,000 per year salary to work on Edison’s projects because he was fascinated by understanding and building new technologies based on scientific principles. A lot of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs love to read biographies of successful people; I recommend reading biographies of scientists. The way scientists think about complex problems will help you break down your big idea into more manageable pieces which are important when trying to take something from concept to reality.
Take a page from Tesla’s playbook and learn as much about your industry as possible. Even if you don’t have to go back to school, you can read a lot of books on all aspects of your business. I recommend reading technical books if they exist in your field; they’ll help you understand how technology works and some will even teach you how to build products yourself! The great thing about reading is that it opens up your mind, especially when it comes to creative ideas and problem-solving.
Rule 2 – Do Exercises
it’s not enough to just watch these documentaries. If you really want to learn, you have to actually DO something with that information. Now, obviously, I don’t expect you to go out and create your own Tesla in a day… but I do expect you to do SOMETHING. Whether it’s applying what you learned in those documentaries or simply writing a paragraph summarizing what you learned in that documentary, I need students who DO. Just like I told students at Google when they asked me What should we do next?: You should come up with something and do it! The human brain works better when we know there is some sort of plan—even if that plan is just creating a plan for ourselves!
The most important thing to realize, and something that took me a long time to learn, is that you’re going to make mistakes. And not just little mistakes—big ones! The path of life is strewn with failures and missteps, just like it’s strewn with successes and breakthroughs. If you think you’re going to go through life without making a mistake, then you don’t really understand how life works. Failure isn’t a failure if we learn from it. Yes, failure hurts—but it doesn’t have to stop us in our tracks or cause us to give up on what we want.
Rule 3 – Learn From Blogs
A great way to learn about almost anything is through a good book. If you want to get started in business, there are tons of books that can teach you everything from how to find good customers, how to write a business plan, and even what kind of furniture might make sense for your office. But it can be hard to find books you trust; after all, not every entrepreneur knows how to put together a decent book that won’t steer you wrong. Instead of trusting an author with a great title but little experience in your field, consider reading blogs written by other entrepreneurs who have gone before you.
If you’re just getting started in your career or ready to expand it, you can find a lot of great advice from blogs written by other successful entrepreneurs. One great example is Chris Guillebeau, a well-known entrepreneur who has built several businesses since dropping out of college in 1999. While he hasn’t exactly stuck to one area of expertise—he co-founded an alternative energy company before shifting his focus to writing and travel—he has learned a thing or two along the way that will help almost anyone get going on their own business idea.
Rule 5 – Read Books Outside of Your Interests
Reading for pleasure is great, but try reading a book about an unrelated topic. Not only will you broaden your knowledge base, you might also be surprised at how interesting—or boring—the book is. This is why Elon doesn’t just read books about rockets, he reads books about everything from philosophy to cooking. Of course, he reads books about rockets as well—because of rocket science!
If you’re stumped for ideas on what to read, start with a topic or genre that’s new to you. For example, if you like romantic thrillers try reading a fantasy novel or even a science fiction book—after all, some of those themes apply in real life! But don’t always stick to your comfort zone. If you only read romance novels, for example, your perspective will eventually become limited. Try picking up something from another genre and then compare it to what you usually read—you might be surprised at how similar they are!
Rule 4 – Watch Others on YouTube Teach Themselves
It’s easy to get stuck in our own little bubble, whether it be what we’re comfortable with or what we think we need to know. It’s also extremely expensive; it takes time and money to travel around, get books from libraries and buy them from bookstores. Thankfully, these days there is a lot of free content available on YouTube for people who are curious about a topic but don’t want to break their bank accounts. As an example: when I wanted to learn how other founders have taught themselves how to code, I found a great playlist of YouTube videos that took me through an entire course on coding—all for free!
Learn by Doing: When it comes to learning, there’s nothing quite like experience. If you have any business idea that you’re interested in but have no clue how to execute it, just get started! The worst thing that could happen is that your idea flops and you learn from it. At least you’ll learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t; heck, maybe you can write a great post about it for Hacker Noon! If you don’t have an idea but want to start building skills or professional relationships in a new industry, try starting with small side projects. Find out if anyone will pay for them or find another way to gauge if they are useful.
Rule 6 – Read About the People Around You
Sure, you want to be an innovator and a visionary, but those people didn’t get there on their own. They were surrounded by a team of people who encouraged them, challenged them and even informed them. The next time you’re feeling too far ahead of your teammates or looking down at colleagues, remember: they may be in your field now, but someday they could be right there next to you. And it all starts with learning from them. This is where I’ll pick up tomorrow when we look at Rule 7: Learn From Others Around You.
The number of other people trying to do what you’re doing or something similar is staggering. When I think about Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company, I realize that each one has a huge audience of followers who are eager to learn about what they’re doing and how they got there. And those followers range from people in your field to those who may be in entirely different ones! Take a look at what Elon is posting on his Twitter account (@elonmusk) and see if it sparks any ideas for you. Chances are he’s looking at plenty of things that might inspire you too!
Rule 7 – Practice by Tackling Difficult Projects
If you’re looking to level up your learning, take on projects that are so challenging that they help you push past your comfort zone. When it comes to our ability to grow, we need new and different challenges because these experiences cause our brain to create neural patterns—or new connections between neurons. If a particular subject doesn’t push you outside of your comfort zone, it could be holding you back from growing. This might mean choosing a class with an advanced level of content that forces you to learn in ways you never have before. Or it could mean taking on a tough internship or even brushing up on unfamiliar software tools at work.
The key to learning new things is to expose yourself to situations that you’re not comfortable with, but are still within your grasp. Set a goal of trying at least three new activities every week—even if they seem too difficult. At first, it might be tough and you might feel like quitting. But in time, practice makes perfect! Eventually, you’ll reach a point where each challenge feels more manageable and before long you’ll be able to accomplish great things. And once that happens, remember: It all started with practice!
Rule 8 – Take Calculated Risks
In his interview with Bloomberg, he said: If something is important enough you should try. Even if there’s a 99% chance of failure. Basically, risk management means doing all you can to minimize your losses when things go wrong, but having a well-thought-out plan for when they don’t. For every decision in life, it’s important to ask yourself whether or not you’re willing to accept that thing going wrong. If you know losing $1M on a business venture would ruin your financial situation forever and ever – which it almost certainly would – then ask yourself whether or not that type of loss is worth taking on an attempt at $100M. That sort of math applies to everything in life – including entrepreneurship!
When it comes to taking risks, calculating them isn’t nearly as important as not making irrational decisions in their place. If you can remain rational and objective when thinking about your potential losses and gains, then you can make better decisions about whether or not a risk is worth taking. The first step to doing that is to always remember that risks aren’t something that happens – they’re choices we make all of the time. Once you start making calculated choices with risks rather than letting them run wild on their own, then there’s nothing stopping you from becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re trying to make a name for yourself in your industry or looking to explore a new one, self-education is an invaluable skill. Now, don’t get me wrong: you can learn plenty of things in classrooms and online courses—no doubt about it. But true learning comes from making mistakes, fighting through challenges and ultimately overcoming them, and doing what others won’t or can’t do to achieve success. In other words, no matter how much effort you put into studying your field of choice, there are always ways to take that knowledge further by teaching yourself new skills outside of traditional education settings.
