It was life or death, those betting against the company were right by all conventional standards that we would fail. But they just did not count on this unconventional situation of creating an assembly line in a parking lot in a tent. Elon Musk More Quotes by Elon Musk More Quotes From Elon Musk Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough. Elon Musk failinginspiringmotivational When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor. Elon Musk crazysuccessinspirational Work like hell. I mean you just have to put in 80 to 100 hour weeks every week. [This] improves the odds of success. If other people are putting in 40 hour work weeks and you’re putting in 100 hour work weeks, then even if you’re doing the same thing you know that you will achieve in 4 months what it takes them a year to achieve. Elon Musk motivationalinspirationalmean Constantly seek criticism. A well thought out critique of what you're doing is as valuable as gold Elon Musk valuablecriticismgold Some people don't like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster. Elon Musk alternativespeopleneeds I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary. Elon Musk inspirationalpeoplethinking Optimism, pessimism, f**k that; we're going to make it happen. As God is my bloody witness, I'm hell-bent on making it work. Elon Musk pessimismoptimismhell Focus on something that has high value to someone else, be really rigorous in making that assessment, because natural human tendency is wishful thinking, so the challenge to entrepreneurs is telling what's the difference between really believing in your ideals and sticking to them as opposed to pursuing some unrealistic dream that doesn't actually have merit, be very rigorous in your self analysis, certainly being extremely tenacious, and just work like hell. Put in 80-100 hours every week. All these things improves the odds of success Elon Musk dreambelievethinking My mentality is that of a samurai. I would rather commit seppuku than fail. Elon Musk samuraicommitfailing Don’t just follow the trend. You may have heard me say that it’s good to think in terms of the physics approach of first principles. Which is, rather than reasoning by analogy, you boil things down to the most fundamental truths you can imagine and you reason up from there. Elon Musk principlesfundamentalsthinking I think you should always be seeking negative feedback. Elon Musk feedbacknegativethinking The biggest mistake, in general, I've made, is to put too much of a weighting on someone's talent and not enough on their personality. And I've made that mistake several times. I think it actually matters whether somebody has a good heart, it really does. I've made the mistake of thinking that it's sometimes just about the brain. Elon Musk mistakeheartthinking I always had an existential crisis, trying to figure out ‘what does it all mean?’ I came to the conclusion that if we can advance the knowledge of the world, if we can expand the scope and scale of consciousness, then, we’re better able to ask the right questions and become more enlightened. That’s the only way to move forward. Elon Musk tryingmeanmoving People should pursue what they're passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else. Elon Musk passionateshouldpeople For me it was never about money, but solving problems for the future of humanity. Elon Musk problem-solvingproblemhumanity Great companies are built on great products. Elon Musk builtcompanygreat-company The only reason I was able to accomplish things is the great people willing to work with me. A company is a group of people organized to create a product or service, and that product or service is only as good as the people in the company - and how excited they are about creating it. I do want to recognize a ton of super-talented people. Without them, I would have accomplished very little. I just happen to be the face of the companies. Elon Musk excitedreasonpeople You have to be pretty driven to make it happen. Otherwise, you will just make yourself miserable. Elon Musk miserablemotivationalinspirational I'm extremely confident that solar will be at least a plurality of power, and most likely a majority... in less than 20 years. Elon Musk majorityyears Many things are improbable, only a few are impossible. Elon Musk improbableimpossible
