If you are a fan of Ironman, you must be a fan of Elon Musk as well, since he is the
real-life Tony stark, he might not have an iron man costume but has rockets that he frequently
sends to space.
What we all can agree is that Elon Musk is one of the most productive people on the face
of the earth.
You might have a different opinion of him, and you might not agree with everything he
does or says, but running multiple multi-billion dollar companies requires an unbelievable
amount of discipline and precise planning.
To be honest, it's difficult to believe that one person can achieve so much in such a little
time.
We all have heard stories of great business leaders, but to be so effective that you are
revolutionizing multiple industries at the same time is insane.
Just so that you know, there hasn't been a new auto manufacturer in over a hundred years
in America because the industry is so competitive.
And here comes a guy, not only enters into the industry but builds the most valuable
auto company in the entire nation.
If we keep talking about his achievements, I am afraid this video won't end any time
soon so that we will leave that for another time, but what we are going to do is find
out why Elon Musk is so productive, how exactly he gets so much done in such a little time.
Musk has been in the spotlight for two decades already, and he has given quite a good number
of interviews; in fact, there is a great book written on his life by Ashlee Vance.
he has explained multiple times on why is he so productive and gets so much time., So,
we are going to take his five most important principles that he integrates into his life
that keeps him insanely productive.
Start with the most important work.
I think the number one productivity hack is to start with the most important task of the
day.
I know that it sounds simple, and it doesn't sound like anything revolutionary, but most
of us tend to start with something easy.
You just had enough sleep; your mind is still clear, fresh, and sharp; your ability to focus
is at your maximum level.
This is when you have to do the hardest task on your to-do list because later on the day,
your willpower, energy, and focus will drop, and you will procrastinate on difficult tasks.
You can't accomplish everything in a single day.
You just have 24 hours, out of 8 you sleep, 4 or 5 you spend on your necessities like
eating, going to the bathroom, getting stuck in traffic dressing, and you are left with
around 11 hours.
If we are going, to be honest with each other, most people can't work for 11 straight hours,
you still have to meet your friends and socialize, spend time with your family, watch the latest
episode of your favorite show on Netflix.
So you are left with 6-7 hours that you can actually put into real work.
Make sure you use them when you are at your highest level of willpower to get the best
out of them.
2.
Secondly, Constantly ask how you could be doing things better
In one of his interviews, Musk said, "I think it's very important to have a feedback loop,
where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it
better.
I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing
things better and questioning yourself."
Musk always practices what he preaches.
Every business he launched was, as a result, him questioning if there is a better way to
do that.
Cars were polluting the climate and causing climate change, which is an existential threat
to humanity, so he asked himself can we have cars without polluting the climate, boom you
have electric cars.
On one beautiful evening, he was driving back home from one of his offices.
As usual, he was stuck in the traffic.
It was boring and frustrating, so an idea popped into his mind; is there is a better
way I can get back home from the office without getting stuck in this traffic, that's how
the Boring Company was born, it just digs tunnels underground to reduce the traffic.
No matter what you are doing, if you approach your work with the perspective of always finding
a better way to do it, you will always be productive.
3.
First Principle
But the problem is that, how do you always find a better way to improve.
How do you constantly find innovative ways to move forward.
Well, Elon Musk uses an interesting method to do that.
In one of his interviews, Musk said, "I tend to approach things from a physics framework.
And Physics teaches you to reason from the first principle rather than by analogy.
Thinking by analogy is how we think most of the time.
It's like comparing two objects or trying to build something better out of what already
exists, there is nothing wrong with that, and it's useful in a lot of cases, but sometimes
things are wrong in their core and to solve them to have to get there, and that's what
the first principle is.
The first principle is a strategy to break down complicated problems to generate original
solutions.
Here is how thinking from the first principle led Musk to start SpaceX.
After visiting several aerospace manufacturers around the world, Musk discovered the cost
of purchasing a rocket was astronomical—up to $65 million.
So he wanted to find out if he could reduce that number.
Let's look at the first principles.
What is a rocket made of?
Aerospace-grade aluminum alloys, plus some titanium, copper, and carbon fiber.
Then I asked, what is the value of those materials on the commodity market?
It turned out that the materials cost of a rocket was around two percent of the typical
price."
Instead of buying a finished rocket for over 60 million dollars, Musk decided to purchase
the raw materials for cheap and build the rockets himself, which is how SpaceX was born.
4.
Four!
Avoid pointless conversations!
Nothing wastes more time than a useless conversation; You are busy working, focused on your most
important task of the day.
But then suddenly your old friend or girlfriend or your relative whom you haven't met for
years call you, and that's the end of your productive day because these conversations
last ages.
Or sometimes, you call your colleague for one thing but then end up discussing how you
had a horrible argument with your spouse last night.
That's why Musk's favorite method of communicating is email.
He even once said: "I do love email.
Wherever possible I try to communicate asynchronously.
I'm really good at email."
In fact, he even avoids meetings at all costs because usually, they are a waste of time.
He even considers it disrespectful to stay in a meeting if you aren't adding any value.
Meeting and conversations should be short, straight, and to the point.
5.
And finally, Musk precisely schedules his time.
You cant come up with a different a better plan every morning.
Every now and then, you have to think about how you spend your days.
But, most importantly, stick to a schedule that works for you.
And Musk is a perfect example of that.
He strictly sticks to his weekly schedule.
Wakes up precisely at 7 am. after getting almost 6 hours of sleep.
And showers first thing in the morning.
He once wrote on Reddit that it had a greater positive impact on him than any of his other
daily habits.
He breaks his time into a series of five-minute slots to be as effective as possible.
He spends Mondays and Fridays at SpaceX in Los Angeles.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, he heads to the Bay Area to work at Tesla.
He usually spends about half a day working at the artificial intelligence nonprofit OpenAI.
On Saturday, he either works at SpaceX or spends his time with his children but still
multi tasks, and he once said: What I find is I'm able to be with them and still be on
email.
I can be with them and still be working at the same time ... If I didn't, I wouldn't
be able to get my job done."
Life might get boring by sticking to a schedule, but it makes you way more productive.
As I was researching how Elon musk manages to be so productive, I came across multiple
things.
I even read his autobiography again by Ashlee Dence.
These principles might not perfectly work for you because you are in a different line
of work, but if you continuously look for better ways to get more done, you will eventually
achieve that.
Remember, life is a journey where we continually keep growing.
Thanks for watching and until next time.
So hit that subscribe button give this video thumbs, and let me know in the comments on
how you stay productive.