Elon Musk practices two infallible techniques to learn. Both proved to be successful not just once, but over and over again.
Learning is one of the over-communicated but under-leveraged tools of the common entrepreneur.
Everyone talks about learning methods, but few people find realistic and authentic techniques that actually produce a net benefit in the information and application categories.
Elon Musk has broken that barrier with techniques that have proven successful not just once, but time and time again.
One could argue that Musk has taken advantage of his learning by becoming a disruptor. He and his companies have changed entire industries, including the transportation, energy and space sectors.
He recently announced at a press conference that his plans for his biotech company Neuralink are progressing quite well, hinting at another sector that will likely change in the coming years.
Yes, Musk is a once-in-a-lifetime genius. Probably on the same levels as Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton. He has a different way of looking at problems than the average businessman.
Of course, read hundreds of books. She works with top-notch thinkers. She has astronomical levels of funding to satisfy her every whim. But that's not what makes him a great learner. His learning methods are not so royal. In fact, his two rules on how to learn something faster can be implemented by anyone at any time. Including you.
You too can be a rocket scientist, if you want. That is how.
When it comes to learning, Musk is quick to point out that he believes most people can learn more than they currently know. When it comes to the average entrepreneur, he says they often don't push their perceived boundaries and try to learn beyond their current ability. Or, as he goes on to clarify, they don't know how to summarize their information in a way that leads to further revelation.
In a conversation on Reddit, Musk talked about his approach to learning and the structure he uses as such:
“A little advice: it is important to see knowledge as a kind of semantic tree; Make sure you understand the fundamentals, i.e. the trunk and large branches, before getting into the leaves and details or there will be nothing to hang.
From this, we begin to see Elon Musk's first rule of learning:
What does this mean for you in practice?
It helps the average businessman understand that not everything is weighed with the same seriousness or importance.
When it comes to learning, there is a difference between the material that ends up hanging from a branch and the material that forms the base of the trunk of your tree.
It is the periphery against the center.
Musk is a master at understanding what is at the core of each of the sectors in which his business ventures are located.
Start there, making sure you have the best possible grip on the “trunk” material before moving on to the minutiae of the branches and leaves.
Many of us do the opposite. We focus on facts on the periphery without fully understanding how or why they connect back to the core. This method of looking outside leaves many of our brains cluttered with misidentified and ultimately unimportant knowledge.
That's not learning. It's cramming.
The result of our efforts is a tree with a toothpick trunk and an overload of full branches, which threatens to break while we try to cram one more idea or thought into our brain.
If you want to learn something faster, you should start with the materials that make up the trunk. It may be a little slower at first, but without a sturdy trunk, you won't have the foundation to support any additional learning and skills.
The brilliance of Elon Musk's learning strategy does not necessarily lie in his ability to understand the core core concepts.
Many entrepreneurs over generations have had a solid understanding of fundamental principles and principles.
Musk's brilliance lies in his second rule of learning, which underlines his ability to build vast, towering trees of intellect across multiple sectors.
This is how Musk was able to span sectors and change entire industries seemingly overnight.
He started with solid roots and dense trunks, and then, as he began to increase his knowledge, he began to connect branches and leaves with other branches and leaves of other trees.
Musk never learns a random fact. Everything he takes, he connects back to a deeper, more solid foundation.
Most students today are not master gardeners, but stick gatherers. We walk through life, picking up treats here and there until our arms are full of sticks. Once we have a good handful of sticks, we do what comes naturally when there are a lot of sticks lying around. We burn them.
We believe that the size of our fires is equal to the size of our learning. But it took us a while to realize what Elon Musk has built his entire learning structure on: that fires go out.
Musk plants trees, in fertile soils, which become thick and abundant centers of learning. You can do the same. You just need to accept their two rules. Build the trunk first, then work tirelessly to make the connections.
Like any new system, it may take a while to master. In fact, you may feel like you're learning slower than before. Alright. What you're really doing is laying the foundation for exponential growth.
Albert Einstein once said: “If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you always got.”
If you want to learn something faster, try Elon Musk's approach, but be careful. You may end up becoming a rocket scientist much faster than you thought was possible.
