Elon Musks's Advice to College Students
and what he would do if he were 22 today.
From growing up as a kid in South Africa to graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Elon Musk’s $200b ride was something he never expected.
After graduating, he couldn’t even find a job ~ he said he was too shy. The only alternative was to start a company, and that’s where it all started🚀.
Over time Elon started Zip2, X.com, SpaceX, Neuralink, SolarCity, OpenAI, The Boring Company, and of course Tesla (which now looks like this 👇🏼).
Elon Musk's 5 Pieces of Advice to College Students:
1. Don’t Just Follow the Trend
Think of things through the physics approach of first principles.
The idea is to break down complicated problems into basic elements and then reassemble them from the ground up.
Rather than reasoning by analogy, boil things up from the most reasonable truths you can imagine and reason up from there.
You’re able to see if something really makes sense, or if it’s just what everyone else is doing. It takes a lot of effort, but if you’re trying to do something new, it’s the best way to think.
2. It’s Okay to Be Emotional
“I feel fear quite strongly. I wouldn’t say I’m fearless.
But if the work we’re doing is important, I can override the fear.”
Fear will always be there, but don’t let it stifle you. Drive overrides fear.
3. Don’t Overweigh Risk
If you’re young and just coming out of college, what do you risk? Certain situations are understandable, but the majority don’t have much to lose.
People should be less risk-averse when there really is not much at risk in the big scheme of things.
4. Gamify and Invest in Learning
“Education is basically downloading data and algorithms into your brain. Think of your brain as mental software.”
The more you can gamify the process of learning the better.
5. Find Something that Drives You
“The thing that drives me is that I want to be able to think about the future and feel good about it.”
Musk talks about the underlying drivers for companies like SpaceX and Tesla: He wants to look forward to the next day knowing things are going to stay great.
What would you do if you were 22 today?
Look into Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) and make sure things go right
Anything that has to do with genetics (prevent alzheimer’s, treating disease)
Do something that’s of high value for people. It doesn’t need to change the world ~ just something that does a small amount of good for a large number of people.