You’re a cosmos: 5 secrets of Ilon Musk’s productivity

By creating an electronic payment system, electric cars, a Mars mission and reusable rockets, Ilon Musk changed science and engineering and became the most famous scientist of our time. Today is the hardest working man in Silicon Valley’s birthday, and we’ve made a selection of his top rules for personal efficiency.

Don’t waste time on things that won’t do you any good

At the start of your work day, choose tasks that will help you get ahead in your work. Ilon Musk always sets pressing tasks that will take the company and employees to the next level. Starting his day at 7 a.m., he first responds to the most necessary emails in the mail and leaves others unattended.

Analyze your actions and try to do better

Ilon recommends constantly questioning your actions and thinking about what you could have done better. Such self-criticism helps to avoid many mistakes and effectively use 24 hours in a day. From his employees from requires only negative feedback, it helps to reach the next level professionally and emotionally.

Don’t succumb to analogies

You need to start acting from the basics. This is the foundation from which everything starts and it is the only thing we can be sure of when it comes to a complex issue. Thinking in this way is difficult enough, but you can learn how to do it. First, write down your initial vision of the problem on a piece of paper, and then ask yourself the question “Am I sure that…?” and start your reasoning from there. That way you will find a new solution.

Use electronic communication methods

Musk lives at his own pace, so he chooses email to communicate with colleagues and partners. He most often rejects proposals with requests for a face-to-face meeting, so as not to lose the working mood. His offices are always very quiet. Such a rule exists so that sounds do not distract and the productivity of workers does not fall.

Communicate with motivated people

Communicating with such people gives new knowledge and inspires new, higher achievements. But before you can communicate with motivated people, you need to learn how to do it. Ilon Musk often sends out memos to employees, in which he teaches them to state their thoughts briefly and clearly. Such speeches will help achieve your mission and will interest your superiors. Avoid expressions of weakness and doubt, such as “maybe”, “I think”, “I suppose”, and do not use the passive voice, it will give the impression of you as an insecure person. Emphasize the main point in bold to visually draw the reader into the problem.

Learn to multitask

Responding to emails and eating lunch is a regular Ilon Musk routine. Despite the fact that doing multiple things at once is less efficient because the brain doesn’t have time to switch from one task to another, Musk continues to be a multitasking strategist. Ilon composes a composition of similar chores that doesn’t stress the brain too much, or does one important task in conjunction with an automatic task, such as eating lunch or spending time with the kids.

Plan your time in advance

Use a calendar to have a sense of the passage of time and imagine how long it will take to accomplish a task. Don’t spend your working hours thinking about lofty matters, but rather divide the day into intervals and complete important work tasks within a certain time frame.

Set unrealistic goals

The impossible is possible – this is Musk’s principle of life. He sets the bar so high for himself every time that such ambition may seem crazy to many people. Such goals help to get out of the comfort zone, because achieving them requires a lot of resources, including spiritual ones. But Ilon succeeds, although not the first time and with mistakes, but he achieves his goal.

Strive for constant personal growth

People grow when they deal with complex issues. For them, it is a challenge that takes them to the next level. In order not to be afraid of facing such challenges, you need to learn to see failures as steps on the road to success, constantly evolve, choose tasks you haven’t faced before, rejoice in the success of others and don’t take offense at criticism.

Get a basic education

“Make sure you understand the basics first – that’s the trunk and branches – before you turn to the leaves, which are the details. Otherwise, you may find that the leaves have nothing to hold on to,” Musk says. So, you need to understand physics, math, and computer science first, before turning to engineering and business. Basic things help you learn more in-depth topics. So think about which discipline is fundamental to your field and start studying it.