Musk Elon - Elon Musk : the greatest lessons through the inspiring life of Elon Musk

Introduction: Meet Elon Musk

I like to be involved in things that change the world. The Internet did, and space will probably be more responsible for changing the world than anything else. If humanity can expand beyond the Earth, obviously that's where the future is. Elon Musk

While the name Elon Musk is likely the first time most people have ever heard the Musk name, for those who are members of the tribe, legends of great Musks abound. The family has always fancied itself as adventurers and heroes, they tell stories of the grandparents who were the first people to ever fly between Africa and Australia, the great-grandfather who won a race across the entire length of Africa, the grandmother who was the first female Canadian chiropractor and more.

The Musk family motto certainly seems to be that they are different than everyone else and they prove it by taking risks. With these types of stories running through his head is it any wonder that Elon Musk took it upon himself to reignite the worlds love of space travel? Or that he is funding not one, but two different alternatives to the standard automobile causing some people to call him the Henry Ford of the modern age.

Despite coming from an average upbringing and working his way through college, Musk made his initial fortune as one of the major successes of the Dotcom boom of the 1990s, when most people would have then spent the rest of their lives resting on their laurels, he then threw himself into a second startup while barely stopping to take a breath. After making five times the amount of his original fortune when his second company was purchased by eBay, he again doubled down, though at this point he began aiming a little higher.

He next invested the sum total of his not insubstantial fortune, based on where he hopes and expects the human race to be in 30 years, in making the future a reality. Space travel and electric cars are his primary concerns, though he also has holdings in the largest solar power supplier in California. In his spare time, he is also working to ensure the human race isnt enslaved by the inevitable creation of artificial intelligence. If there is a way to make the world a better place for the next generation which sounds both impossible, and straight out of a science fiction novel, then it is a fair bet Musk has put at least $1 million towards making it a reality.

While certainly extremely smart, Musks biggest skills are noticing signs that indicate likely outcomes in the future and absorbing knowledge as efficiently as possible. For example, when he wanted to send a greenhouse to Mars, he read everything he could on rocket science, talked to everyone in the field he could and then worked out a practical business plan because he then understood rocket science. With his skills and business acumen, Musk could literally do anything he wants, and humanity as a whole is lucky that what he wants to do is make the planet a better place.

Adolescence

I dont have an issue with serving in the military per se, but serving in the South African army suppressing black people just didnt seem like a really good way to spend time. Elon Musk

The oldest of three children, Elon Reeve Musk was born in South Africa on June 28, 1971 to Errol and Maye Musk. His mother was a Canadian born model and his father, South African by birth, was an electromechanical engineer. Musk took after his fathers love of technology early in life and while he was often said to be a quiet and introverted child, his knack for computers was readily apparent.

So much so that at the age of ten he taught himself how to program in BASIC using the familys Commodore VIC-20 computer. In addition to a knack with computers, Musk proved his entrepreneurial spirit soon after, when he sold a videogame he created called Blastar to a local computer magazine for roughly $500 at the age of 12.

Lesson 1: Even the most unlikely goals can be achieved as long as you try.

These early successes were frequently marred by a difficult time at a variety of private schools where the small, quiet boy was frequently tormented by classmates. The bullying grew so severe at one point that a number of other boys actually tossed him down a flight of stairs and then proceeded to beat him so badly that he was hospitalized soon after.

Musks parents divorced in 1980 and after that he primarily lived with his father all around South Africa. When Musk was a teenager, Apartheid was still the rule of the day in South Africa and around this time the South African military was actively working on silencing opposition. Military service was mandatory and Musk, anxious to avoid such things began looking for a way out.