In 2021, Elon became the world’s richest person and was awarded Time person of the year. It all didn’t happen in a day or a year. He has been hustling for more than 20+ years now. I worked at Tesla for almost 5 years and can tell you from my own experience that he is one of the most hard working people I have ever seen in my life. So to me the success of Elon or valuation of his companies is no surprise. I actually think he and his companies are just getting started.
In my opinion, money and success are mostly the fruits of our labor. Although you also need little luck and timing which we will discuss soon.
One important thing which I have learned is that there are no shortcuts in life. If it comes easy then it will go easy. So if you want to get 10x returns in life (be it money, success, career or relationship) then you need to learn to invest in the right thing and for the right time.
Following are some of the things which I have learned from my 10x failures and 10x winners that I wanted to share:
Learn 10x. Give 10x.
If you believe in life long learning then nothing can stop you. The trick is to learn about hard things and things which others are not paying attention to. Remember that Elon started a rocket company by reading books on rockets and WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum taught himself computer networking by purchasing manuals from a used book store. But with learning you need a little bit of luck too. And luck comes from just one thing which is to give to others. In other words, you need to go above and beyond to help others.
Value your time 10x more.
In my opinion, time is the real money. So I don’t like to spend my time arguing with customer service on why a package was delivered late to me. Neither do I like to stand in long lines to return an item. Thus to stay away from these materialistic distractions, I try to have a minimalist lifestyle aka consume only what is needed and try not to get attached to things which have no long term value. In other words, my focus instead is to spend my time and energy only on things that have the potential to return life changing returns.
On that note following is one of the best tweet which I have read on valuing your time:
Improve your health by 10x.
If you are not healthy then nothing else matters, neither your time nor your money or success. The longer you can play, the more opportunities and returns you can get. But you can play longer only if you are healthy. The goal of staying healthy is actually to stay young. I once read a tweet (which I cannot find now) but that summarized this point very well: When you are young you want to be rich and when you are rich you want to be young.
Invest in Founders/CEOs executing at 10x.
Running super successful companies that can return 10x is all about execution, execution and execution. In fact the title of the CEO stands for Chief Execution Officer. So invest in those that can operate at 10x and those who are immune to chaos and short term failures involved in ruthless execution.
Invest in those solving 10x harder problems.
The biggest advantage of solving or investing in those who are solving super hard problems is that there is very less competition. The other advantage is that you still get the 10x market opportunity to grow. And if you can grow by 10x then your returns would also be 10x.
Increase your emotional & self-discipline by 10x.
When you try to solve hard problems or invest in those who are solving hard problems, it won’t be an easy ride. Learn to develop a thick skin by increasing your emotional and self-discipline. Don’t get into arguments with people regarding what they think or what they say. You don’t have to agree or disagree with anyone. Don’t read the news, ignore the rumors and turn-off the comments and notifications. Instead spend all your energy in doing the work and getting things done. Also, don’t get disheartened by the success or luck of others. In other words, level up your self-discipline to stay focused, cheerful and hopeful.
Work hard. Build products. Be present. Play long term and Have fun.
If there was just one thing that you could learn from this post then it would be this section so let’s discuss each thing in some detail
Work hard
Working hard doesn’t necessarily mean spending more hours. It instead means to not compromise the quality of your work. It means to give more than what was expected. It means to have integrity and always do the right thing. It means following up and staying on top of your deliverables.
Build products
Learn to build and sell products. Working for someone else can make you rich but selling your own products can make you super rich. Of course it comes with risk but without risk there are no rewards.
Be present
In this world of internet, social-media and never ending news, your attention is your most valuable asset. Don’t get distracted by social likes and hearts. Your quality of work and execution is what differentiates you and it all depends on your ability to stay focused aka being present.
Play long term
Learn to play the long term game as building and holding things is hard. Also, it usually takes 10+ years for successful products to go from idea to IPO and another 10 years to get the non-linear returns.
Have fun
In the end we are all going to die so what’s the point if you are not having fun and if you are not at peace. I actually value peace more than time so my formula to deal with life is:
Peace > Time > Money.
If doing something doesn’t give you peace and happiness then don’t do it no matter what impact it makes or how much money it will make you.
You do your best and get the best results when you are having fun.