Elon Musk is a legendary figure. He is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. He is very wealthy and works very hard. His family background is very ordinary; his success is entirely due to his own efforts.
Friends describe Elon Musk as a person with very clear goals; as long as he is optimistic, he will work hard until he achieves his goals.
Elon Musk shares his success method in an interview. He believes that people who cannot achieve their short-term goals do not lack beautiful goals, inspiring dreams, or strong abilities; they just do not know what they want to do at that moment.
The secret to high work efficiency is to convert tasks specifically. For example, if you need to read 300 pages of a book in 5 days, then you need to read 60 pages each day and read 10 pages each hour.
You also need to know exactly what you need to do at this moment, at what level. It's not that many people do not want to act or do not want to waste time; it's just that they lack a specific awareness of time and cannot align goals or tasks with the present moment.
How can you improve focus? When doing something important, do it little by little; it doesn't matter if it's 30 minutes, 20 minutes, or even 10 minutes. Just do it first and have a framework in your mind.
Musk talked about competition in a speech at a university. He stated that social competition does not require you to be better than others. Most people are very lazy and may not study for several years and make no progress. So, as long as you work a little HARDER, you can ensure that you are better than 60% of people in society.
If you focus a little more on everything you do, you can surpass 80% of people in society. If you are willing to put in the effort to do something for 3 - 5 years, getting into the top 10% of society is not too difficult; you might even make it to the top 5% of the elite. Work hard to become the person you want to be. Even if you do not succeed, at least you will gain many valuable lessons.
Additionally, you need to spend energy on reading books, exercising, loving, and doing what you desire.
Billionaire Elon Musk has also shared some learning tips that yield high efficiency:
1. Learn according to the right goals
In an interview, billionaire Elon Musk candidly shared his learning perspective: he will learn according to specific goals to solve the problems he encounters.
Every time before starting to learn, he asks himself 3 questions: "Why do I need to learn this subject?", "What will I achieve after learning?" and "How should I plan my study for it?".
These are goal-oriented questions that help us understand the essence of every problem and the key when studying to avoid wasting time.
Because when observing the people around us, we will realize that many are studying without specific goals. They only know to study but do not know what the destination is, leading to a feeling of frustration, helplessness, and lack of motivation when facing difficulties, eventually leading to discouragement and giving up.
2. Learn by the first principle
Billionaire Elon Musk shares the learning method that he likes and respects the most, which is learning by the first principle.
This learning method will focus on the most fundamental principles of the issue without being limited by experience or existing concepts.
When he was young, Elon Musk was extremely afraid of the dark. But instead of accepting his fear, he used the first principle to analyze the darkness.
He realized that the essence of darkness is merely a state where photons cannot be seen in wavelengths. Understanding this, his fear gradually improved and disappeared. Moreover, billionaire Elon Musk also breaks down issues whenever he learns to analyze the entire problem deeply.
3. Learn by reading extensively
Billionaire Elon Musk once shared an interesting thing about his upbringing: "The books, stories, and lessons nurtured me first before my parents did."
From a young age, he read many different types of books. In his youth, Elon Musk could spend 10 hours a day reading.
And the amount of knowledge accumulated through books over the years has made him more intelligent than others, with exceptional learning ability, far-sighted vision, and understanding from various fields.
Moreover, Elon Musk's brother also mentioned: "Since childhood, Musk has read 2 books on different topics every day. And the boy also has a reading speed 60 times that of an average person."
The habit of reading has given this billionaire the sharp thinking ability and a solid foundation for the bold plans and crazy ideas he pursues later.
4. Learn interdisciplinary, in many fields
Billionaire Elon Musk rejects professional study, focusing only on one field; instead, he advocates for interdisciplinary learning.
Because in today's fast-developing society, interdisciplinary thinking is the key to success, solving all existing problems.
Moreover, this billionaire also believes that interdisciplinary learning and developing thinking in many fields will help us maximize creative thinking capabilities, adapt to changes in the world, and create exclusive values, connecting many professions together to succeed.
5. Learn by the 2-minute rule
Billionaire Elon Musk has a very effective and quick learning method that encourages everyone to implement, which is the 2-minute rule.
First, we will create the habit of setting simple, achievable goals and spend about 2 minutes to accomplish them. This helps us reduce stress and build a foundation for our brains to create small habits leading to great success.
When we complete a small task, we feel satisfied with ourselves, which motivates us to create a series of consecutive successes.