During the last few decades, Elon Musk has become somewhat of a phenomenon. More than just an entrepreneur or CEO at this point, Elon has proven himself to be a guru when it comes to perseverance, innovation, and hard work. His level of creativity and lack of risk aversion brought us some of the coolest inventions of the last little while. Self-driving electric cars (if you’ve never heard of Tesla you should run to Google that right now!), and even the ability to have civilians travel to the moon (if you can pay the $5.5 billion dollars the ticket costs, that is), all came from his mind. If you’ve ever looked up to Elon and dreamed of being just like him, you’ll enjoy this article. We’ve collected 10 of the best Elon Musk quotes to help take you to the moon too!
1. On sticking with what you think is valuable
Elon Musk quotes like this remind us of the irrational nature of human decision-making. Most of us find it hard to find what truly moves us. What makes us happy, and causes us to want to wake up in the morning and face the day. But once we do we’ll find that nothing will prevent us from going after it. It won’t matter if we keep being told we’ll never achieve it, or how hard it will be to get there. If something is valuable enough for you, you’ll go for it against all odds.
2. On not giving up. Ever
If you’ve been following along with any of the other articles we’ve shared in this series, you’ll find that the concept of persistence is key. It’s one of the underlying themes we can find across all great minds – and Elon Musk is no exception. It’s the secret to success and what sets him apart from all others who tried. He kept going and didn’t let anything stop him unless he essentially had to be physically forced to (he was fired from PayPal around 20 years ago).
3. On the value of taking calculated risks
Elon Musk quotes like this remind us of the risk aversion of humans. Look, we’re not talking about just launching yourself into the newest project that catches your eye without preparing. And we suspect, neither is Elon. But there is something to be said about taking calculated risks. So many people today with big ideas never see them come to fruition because they never try out of fear of how risky it is. But, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Next time you have a new goal, don’t be afraid to try it out.
4. On the power of being patient
Some people call this manifesting. But we think about it more as working hard under the surface only to see your goal pop up in front of you seemingly out of nowhere. It happens more often than you think. You set a goal and a timeline, only for that date to arrive and your objective to not be completed. You keep going anyway because you know perseverance is key and the next thing you know you’ve reached the peak of the mountain. You might have not followed the exact timeline you gave yourself, but eventually, through your hard work, you still made it.
5. On how negative feedback and success go hand in hand
In order to know what to change to get you closer to success, someone with an outside view needs to tell you what they see. The problem is that most of us don’t like hearing what we did wrong. And we also don’t realize how important that feedback is for our ability to keep learning and growing. The best people to ask are those that know you best or have your best interest at heart. Friends, family, and mentors.
6. On not resting on your roses when you succeed
You should absolutely celebrate your wins. It’s something you worked hard at, after all! But it’s even more important to sit down and figure out what you did right in order to get there. You want to really hone in on those key steps you took that others didn’t so you can copy those in all your other journeys.
7. On striving to not be blind to your own issues
We do tend to be blind to our own problems, fixated as we are on the things we do right. But it’s important to not lose sight that we’re not perfect, and there are always things to be worked on. When we fail to be self-aware we’re not setting ourselves up for success. We delude ourselves into thinking the path we’re taking is the right one, and so we’re likely to repeat that same process again and again. Always be on the lookout for improvement points!
8. On learning what you can, and can’t, control
Elon Musk quotes like this give us an insight into his perception of risk. Now, this is a bit of a controversial standpoint Elon has depending on how you look at it. While it’s very much applicable to bigger life decisions, it might be harder to apply to smaller choices. For example, let’s say you’ve decided you want to quit your corporate job and become a writer instead. You don’t need to diversify your eggs into doing part-time writing and part-time corporate because you’re scared you won’t succeed. You can control how much effort you put into developing your writing business! But on the flip side of that, if you’re considering different ways to gain clients perhaps putting all your eggs in one basket isn’t ideal. Cast as wide a net as you can in order to amplify your chances of success.
9. On why knowing your end goal is so important
While Elon is talking about work environments specifically here, you can also apply this to your everyday life. In order to wake up in the morning ready to face any issues the day might bring, you need to have a clear idea as to what your end goal is. If you know why you’re taking each of these little steps it will keep you motivated to keep going. Why do you work out every morning? Why are you eating healthy? Why do you take mid-day walks? In order to become stronger, and therefore happier.
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10. On how happiness can actually bring financial success
There’s a large amount of truth when people say “follow your passion, money will follow”. And it’s not because you’ll magically become successful if you sit around and watch movies all day. But when the thing you do day in, and day out is something that doesn’t feel like a chore you’re more likely to put more effort into it. When you’re happy you’re going to gladly face the issues that come along knowing the process is something you enjoy.
