Reading Reflection No. 1

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance

1. Elon Musk is really cool. Before reading, all I knew about him was that he invented the all-electric car, Tesla. What surprised me was his "ultimate mission." Elon Musk wants to put people on Mars. Not just for a visit, but he wants to create the technology that allows people to live on Mars. Upon entering what the author calls "Musk Land" aka the SpaceX headquarters, you see two large banners: one with a current photo of Mars and the other with Mars with trees, rivers and life. His ability to dream big is what I admire most about him. The ultimate mission is not just some wild fantasy that he hopes will come true. He ACTUALLY intends for people to inhabit Mars one day. He says that if he can leave this world with more confidence of humanity's survival, he will die a happy man.
Something I did not admire about him was his relationship with his family. He has been remarried more than once, and only gets to see his children a few times a week. I know there are many circumstances that involve these things and that he is a very busy man, but it still is upsetting to see that his work kind of comes before them.
Musk had a rough patch in 2008. Tesla Motors was on the verge of bankruptcy, SpaceX's third rocket failed to launch, and went personally broke (cash not assets). As we know now, things have turned around for Tesla Motors and Elon Musk's personal wealth.

2. Elon Musk has been bright since his childhood. The book goes into lots of detail about his home life as a kid in South Africa. Despite his emotionally abusive father and constant bullying throughout school, Elon excelled academically. His mother and friends described that he would "zone out" a lot, just staring off into nothing, his brain moving a mile a minute. He read books in a day. He read multiple copies of the encyclopedia just for the sake of learning everything he could about everything. He designed a video game at 12. Something that the book describes the most that set him apart from other innovators is his genuine passion for everything he does. One of the main reasons he was/is so successful at his ventures is because he fully immerses himself in each and every one. They become his livelihood. He even said that if he could omit eating from his life he would so that he could have more time to work.

3. One part about Elon that was confusing to me (this doesn't pertain directing to the book, but rather Elon himself), was his dietary choices. Elon tries to restrict himself to a "no-carb" diet. For someone so brilliant, these seems quite stupid to me. He would restrict himself so much that he would wind up binging later on due to deprivation. He should know that carbs are necessary (and one of the macronutrients we need the most)!

4. Questions I would ask Elon:
"If you could go back and change one decision of your life thus far, what would it be and why?"
I'd ask him this because I am curious if there are any regrets that he has. He has been wildly successful with what he has done, and I wonder if there is anything that he thinks he missed out on (besides PayPal).
"Do you wish your different companies were located more conveniently or do you like living in two different places?"
When traveling weekly to his Tesla headquarters, he literally "couch surfs." He does not have a residence there but rather crashes at various friends homes every week... Seems impractical to me but I'd love to learn more about how that dynamic works for him every single week while juggling a family.

5. I think that Elon's opinion of hard work is literally becoming obsessed with what you do. His projects take over his mind and his life. He lives and breathes his mission and I absolutely believe that is why he is so successful today. I do think that can be extreme though, as it appears to me he barely has time for his children and wife. In the book, he talks about his wife as a second "job," considering how much time he should allot to her weekly. I do not share that with him. I think that family should come first, job second.