How does Elon Musk run so many ambitious companies like Neuralink, Tesla, The Boring Company, and SpaceX?
He's an alien. That's how.
But, all joking aside, if he's not an alien and is in fact a mere mortal like the rest of us, here are some of the productivity, wealth and time management lessons I from his latest podcast interview with Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience: Ep. #1470:
1. Don't own things you don't use
The more material possessions you own, the more time and financial investment is needed to maintain them.
If you don't use them all the time, what's the point in having them.
“I think possessions kind of weigh you down, they’re kind of an attack vector.”
Elon Musk
“I have a lot of houses but I don’t spend a lot of time in most of them and that doesn’t seem like a good use of assets.”
Elon Musk
Elon may actually be turning into one of the world's most high profile minimalists.
2. Cut out what doesn't help you reach goals
Obviously, Elon still makes time for his family and the occassional podcast interview in his very small amount of time off, but otherwise, he seems to focus all his attention and resources on reaching goals for his businesses.
“What’s more important, Mars or a house?”
Elon Musk
His thoughts above on how possessions weigh you down and are pointless if you don't use them also relate to this lesson.
3. Making billions of dollars usually involves this:
In the interview, Elon addresses whether it is bad to be a billionaire or not.
Joe Rogan mentioned how many billionaires shouldn't exist because of the wealth gap in America.
This is what Elon has to say about that:
“How does this wealth arise? It’s if you organize people in a better way to produce products and services that are better than what existed before and you have some ownership in that company then that essentially gives you the right to allocate more capital.”
Elon Musk
So, to get extremely rich, Elon basically says you need to create better products or services than what is already out there while organizing people in a way that can make it happen profitably.
If you look at other billionaires, this is a pretty common theme.
4. Too many smart people do the same jobs
A common problem in today's society is too many people go for the same careers while other industries are starved for talent.
Elon addressed this problem a little bit in the interview:
“Basically too many smart people go into finance and law…we should have I think fewer people doing law and fewer people doing finance and more people making stuff.”
Elon Musk
“Manufacturing used to be highly valued in the United States and these days it’s not, it’s often looked down upon, which I think is wrong.”
Elon Musk
5. Sleep quality and health tips
If you've ever tried to be productive after a terrible night's sleep, you know it's almost impossible.
Elon is another successful person takes his sleep seriously and recommends people don't eat or drink right before bed.
“It can actually cause heartburn…and that subtle heartburn affects your sleep.”
Elon Musk
Joe Rogan also recommended people try intermittent fasting where you go 16 hours without eating.
He claims this has improved his overall health.
6. Always aspire to improve, even if you don't succeed
“You don’t always improve but you can aspire to improve. You can aspire to be less wrong.”
Elon Musk
Related: 20 Best Warren Buffett Quotes on Success
1 Response to "6 Elon Musk Life, Wealth and Productivity Lessons | JRE #1470 Notes"
Great article, Justin. The information Elon provides should be taken seriously by anybody who aspires to be wealthy. If you truly want to be wealthy then study people who are successful at accumulating wealth and emulate how they created the lifestyle you want to have.