5 Steps Elon Musk Use to Learn Things Faster

Hello! I'm Rahul Sanaodwala, the founder of StriWears.com. Welcome to My Stories, a platform where aspiring entrepreneurs get inspired by the journeys of successful founders and learn the secrets to building thriving businesses.

Imagine that you are in the ocean, sitting alone in a boat. This is not an automatic boat; it is a rowing boat. Along with you are two more friends, Vikas and Kuldeep. They are also sitting in their own boats. These boats are not automatic either; they are paddling boats.

All three of you have been told that a lot of gold is kept in some corner of this ocean. It is gold that you need to achieve, but in which corner is this gold? You don't know. Now, all three of you have completely different mindsets.

Vikas thinks, "First of all, I need a perfect idea, a perfect set of data that can tell me where the gold actually is." For that, he makes many plans. He is writing notes in a diary.

Your other friend, Kuldeep, says, "Forget this, my friend. I don’t want to waste time. I have to take action." He directly starts paddling in the first direction his intuition tells him, without any concrete plan. He keeps paddling day and night.

Now, you tell me. Since childhood, we have been told, "Don’t quit." Will this approach work for Kuldeep? Probably not, because if we are directionally wrong, no matter how much hard work we do, it will be wasted.

On the other hand, Vikas, who is thinking about a perfect idea without taking any action, is also stuck. He has ideas but no execution, so he will not reach anywhere.

What you need is a balance between idea and execution. You start paddling, just like Kuldeep, but then you notice the direction the birds are flying. You adjust your course to follow them. Next, you smell the soil and realize the shore might be nearby. You keep refining your plan. Finally, you reach your goal.

The powerful learning from this fictional story is that, first of all, if we have to achieve something quickly, we must be directionally correct. Blindly paddling in the wrong direction will not help, no matter how motivated we are to "never quit."

Imagine you are sitting comfortably in your house, working peacefully, when suddenly you notice smoke. You check another room and see fire.

The fire has a specific pattern: a huge blaze in one area and a small fire in another. You quickly run to the bathroom and find only two buckets of water. You remember there has been no water in your house for the last seven days.

Now, the question is, will you panic and throw away these two buckets of water randomly, or will you think carefully about where to use them?

In entrepreneurship, this scenario is common. Startups are always "on fire." The key is to decide which fire to extinguish first. In this case, with limited water, the most logical move is to put it on the largest fire.

This doesn’t guarantee the house will be saved, but it is the best possible action given the constraints. This logic relies on understanding constants and variables.

In our fictional scenario, the constants were the fire and the limited water. Using these two facts, you must draw a logical conclusion. The conclusion was to prioritize the biggest fire.

Let’s consider a real-life scenario. Suppose you go to the office, and as soon as you arrive, you are bombarded with tasks. Email notifications start popping up, someone demands a presentation urgently, and you have your own work to complete.

There is "fire" everywhere. The question is, which fire should you extinguish first?

Here, the constant is time. Just like in the story, you have limited time. You should list all your tasks, prioritize them (A, B, C), and focus on the most important one first. Make a time box for it, and during that time, think of nothing else.

If you panic and tackle small, insignificant tasks, you’ll waste your limited time—the constant resource—and fail to achieve meaningful results.

Imagine someone gives you a watch that works at half speed compared to others’ watches. It means the work you can complete in 4 hours would take someone else 8 hours.

You might say, "That’s impossible!" But in reality, this concept exists in terms of productivity.

For example, my productivity before lunch is double compared to after lunch. This phenomenon has been studied extensively and is often referred to as Maker’s Time and Manager’s Time.

Maker’s Time refers to tasks that require deep focus and uninterrupted time blocks, usually when energy levels are at their peak. For most people, this is early in the day, shortly after waking up.

To maximize productivity, we need to identify our "prime time" and allocate it to our most important tasks. This way, we avoid working on critical tasks when our energy is low.

Now imagine a cooking competition. You and your competitor are tasked with making a dish that people will love.

You can test your dish with only one taster and tweak it once based on their feedback. Your competitor, however, gets four testers. They can adjust their dish multiple times before presenting it.

Who is more likely to win? Most likely, your competitor will win because they had more feedback cycles.

This concept applies to real life. The sooner you gather real-world feedback, the faster your learning curve. Instead of setting yearly goals, aim for quarterly goals. Divide these into smaller, actionable tasks, get feedback, and adjust.

Finally, let’s talk about happiness.

In the book Inside Out, there’s a concept called the Happiness Matrix. On the Y-axis is stress (positive or negative), and on the X-axis is belief (positive or negative).

If your belief about the future is positive, you’ll remain happy regardless of stress levels. However, if your belief is negative, high stress turns into trauma, and even low stress leaves you feeling unfulfilled.

To find true happiness, focus on maintaining positive beliefs while managing stress effectively.

In conclusion, to achieve success:

1. Be directionally correct (know where you’re going).
2. Prioritize your tasks and focus on the biggest "fires."
3. Use your prime time wisely for important tasks.
4. Seek real-world feedback early and often.
5. Maintain positive beliefs to navigate stress and achieve fulfillment.

These lessons can transform how you approach work and life, helping you reach your goals effectively.

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