Elon Musk’s

Learning
Strategies
TimothyKenny.com
1.0
TimothyKenny.com
 Introduction

TimothyKenny.com
 Learn Like Elon Musk
● What should you learn?
○ What skills does Elon Musk have?
■ Business/Entrepreneurship
■ Physics/Engineering
■ Software Development
■ Leadership
● How should you learn?
○ Where should you source your information?
TimothyKenny.com
 Elon Musk’s Intangible Skills
● How do you learn intangible skills?
● What are Musk’s intangibles?
○ First principles thinking
○ Using his instincts to make quick decisions
○ Powerful imagination
○ High risk tolerance
○ Performs well under stress
○ Big visions for the future
○ Belief in himself and his abilities
TimothyKenny.com
2.0
TimothyKenny.com
 Building a
Towering
Semantic Tree
TimothyKenny.com
 “...it is important to view knowledge as sort of a
semantic tree — make sure you understand
the fundamental principles, ie the trunk and
big branches, before you get into the
leaves/details or there is nothing for them to
hang on to.”

TimothyKenny.com
 What is a Semantic Tree?

TimothyKenny.com
 Reading the Encyclopedia at 9
● Encyclopedia Britannica 15th Edition
○ Half a million topics
○ 40 million words
○ 33,000 pages
● Structure
○ Micropaedia
○ Macropaedia
○ Propaedia
TimothyKenny.com
 Mortimer J. Adler
● Author of “How to Read a Book”
● Goal of Brittanica to systematize all human
knowledge
● Chairman of board of editors for decades
● Last printed edition in 2010

TimothyKenny.com
2.1
TimothyKenny.com
 Staying in The
Flow
TimothyKenny.com
 “My context switching penalty is high and my
process isolation is not what it used to be”

TimothyKenny.com
 Staying in The Flow
● Reduce task switching
● Only work on cool problems
● Build a clear vision of what you want
○ Link this vision to what you value most
○ Balance difficulty and your current skill level
● Make your work your life

TimothyKenny.com
2.2
TimothyKenny.com
 Questioning
Assumptions
TimothyKenny.com
 “I mean, in America it's pretty easy to keep
yourself alive. So my threshold for existing was
pretty low. I figured I could be in some cheap
apartment with my computer and be okay, and
not starve."
"So I was like, 'Oh, okay. If I can live for a dollar
a day — at least from a food cost standpoint —
it's pretty easy to earn $30 dollars in a month,
so I'll probably be ok.”
TimothyKenny.com
 Experimenting with Assumptions
● Make sure your risk analysis is correct
● Base assumptions on first principles instead
of what everyone else assumes
○ Be as sure as possible about which first principles to
base your decisions off of
● Test important assumptions with an
experiment on yourself if possible
TimothyKenny.com
2.3
TimothyKenny.com
 Instinct vs. Data

TimothyKenny.com
 “Data informs the instinct. Generally I wait until
the data and my instincts are in alignment.

And if either the data or my instincts are out of

alignment, I sort of keep working the issue until
they are in alignment, positive or negative.”

TimothyKenny.com
 What is Instinct?
● The combined knowledge from all the
experiences you have accumulated
● Some instincts are genetic
● Second nature
○ Skills that are so practiced that they operate at the
same speed as genetic instincts

TimothyKenny.com
2.4
TimothyKenny.com
 Creating
Feedback Loops
TimothyKenny.com
 Feedback Loops
● Make sure you are measuring your own
progress
● Look for mistakes and fix them
● Control your motivation by linking positive
and negative feedback correctly
● Create feedback loops that you have control
over
TimothyKenny.com
2.5
TimothyKenny.com
 Teaching Himself
to be a Rocket
Scientist
TimothyKenny.com
 Textbooks and Expert Tutors
● Went to top professors and experts and
interviewed them
● Hosted salons at hotels and invited top
scientists
● Borrowed textbooks
● Not afraid to read a textbook cover to cover

TimothyKenny.com
 Reading List
● Rocket Propulsion Elements - Sutton
● Fundamentals of Astrodynamics - Bate
● International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems -
Isakowitz
● Elements of Propulsion: Gas Turbines and Rockets -
Mattingly
● Modern Engineering for Design of Liquid Propellant Rocket
Engines - Huzel
● Ignition!: An informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants -
Clark
TimothyKenny.com
2.6
TimothyKenny.com
 Choosing His
College Majors
TimothyKenny.com
 School Record
● Several different schools during middle/high
school period
● Briefly at a college in South Africa before
moving to Canada
● Queen’s University in Canada
● UPenn for Physics, Wharton for Business
● Stanford for special energy program
TimothyKenny.com
 Physics and Economics
● First principles comes from physics
● Doesn’t value his business degree
● Wharton is a top business school
○ More applied learning than the average business
degree
○ Hires people in spite of their MBA, not because of it
○ Didn’t like business school students as much as arts
and sciences students
TimothyKenny.com
2.7
TimothyKenny.com
 Teaching Himself
Programming
TimothyKenny.com
 The Beginnings
● Commodore VIC-20
○ Learned in 3 days at age of 12
○ Released in 1980
● BASIC, COBOL, Pascal
○ Learned in High School

TimothyKenny.com
 Gaming Influence
● C++ influence from video game
programming
● Wanted to use Microsoft C++ instead of
Linux for Paypal because lots more available
pre-written code (libraries) at the time
● Assembly language for writing hardware
drivers at video game company
TimothyKenny.com
2.8
TimothyKenny.com
 Learning
American Culture
TimothyKenny.com
 “While everybody in South Africa had maids
and servants, he'd have us play this game.
It was called America, America, and when we
played it, we'd have to do everything an
American child would do.
We'd have to clean the house, mow the lawn,
do all sorts of American chores.”

TimothyKenny.com
 Travel and Family History
● Family of travelers
● Mother’s family from Canada
● Took trips with his dad to other countries as
a child
○ 6 continents
● Pictures and stories from his maternal
grandparents many travels
TimothyKenny.com
2.9
TimothyKenny.com
 Learning as a Life
Purpose
TimothyKenny.com
 Elon’s Existential Crisis
● What is the meaning of it all?
● Teenage years

TimothyKenny.com
 “I came to the conclusion that we should aspire
to increase the scope and scale of human
consciousness in order to better understand
what questions to ask. Really, the only thing
that makes sense is to strive for greater
collective enlightenment.”

TimothyKenny.com
 Flowchart of Learning Motivation

Ask better Become more

Advance the Expand the scope of
questions/more of the enlightened (collective
knowledge of the world consciousness
right questions enlightenment)

TimothyKenny.com
 “Elon Musk got his best piece of advice from
Douglas Adams’ book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide
to the Galaxy, and it was: “Don’t panic!” Musk
says if you let your emotions take over, they
can cloud your decision-making process, and
cause you to make decisions you’ll regret
later.”

TimothyKenny.com
 “He said he looks at 2 things before embarking
on anything.
1) Can it be done? (That by doing it we are not
breaking any laws of physics)
2) Is it important? Is it important enough for
humanity that it would make a major dent.

If the answers to both the questions is "Yes"

then he goes ahead with it. Simple. ”
TimothyKenny.com
 “For me, in anything I do, there are three things
that are essential.
First, it has to be intrinsically interesting. It
has to be fun to do, and all three of these
companies were.
Second, it has to be commercially viable.
And third, if we are successful, it has to have a
meaningfully positive effect on the world.”
TimothyKenny.com
 Fun and Commercially
Interesting Viable

Benefits
Humanity

TimothyKenny.com
3.1
TimothyKenny.com
 Starting at First
Principles
TimothyKenny.com
 What is Most Important?
● Problems that would affect the future of
humanity
○ Now how to make the most money
● Terrestrial problem
○ Sustainable energy
■ Production and consumption
● Backup the biosphere
○ Preservation and extension of consciousness
TimothyKenny.com
 What is Consciousness?
● What you are currently aware of
● Unconscious behaviors are ones that you
don’t know are happening or you don’t
intentionally make happen

TimothyKenny.com
 Learning Plan His Businesses/
Investments
Be a magician - create Physics - how to
things that are ● Internet
universe works ● Space
indistinguishable from
magic ● Energy
● Transportation
Business - how the ● AI
economy works ● DNA

Become more
enlightened (collective Leadership - how to
enlightenment) bring people together
to create something

TimothyKenny.com
3.2
TimothyKenny.com
 Getting Feedback

TimothyKenny.com
 Paypal
● Small feature to send money via email was
the biggest interest to investors
● Correct prior assumptions about what people
care about

TimothyKenny.com
 Recursive Self Improvement
● Your beginning idea will be mostly wrong
● Get feedback to improve your idea
● 99% perspiration - Edison
● Try to discard bad advice and keep good
advice
● Keep iterating on a loop of:
○ “Am I doing something useful for other people?”
TimothyKenny.com
3.3
TimothyKenny.com
 Recognizing
Opportunity
TimothyKenny.com
 Economy/Finance -
Computers - VIC-20 Internet - Zip2
Paypal

Space - SpaceX

Transport - Tesla
Energy - SolarCity
(Hyperloop)

DNA - Halcyon
AI - Google (Page)
Molecular

TimothyKenny.com
3.4
TimothyKenny.com
 Learning to Take
Risks
TimothyKenny.com
 Childhood Adventures
● Dangerous train travels with
brother Kimbal and cousins
● Apartheid (“ah-par-tide”) South
Africa was a dangerous place
● Races segregated geographically
● Toy rockets, dirt bikes, pellet guns
● Just getting a job not interesting
TimothyKenny.com
 Who Teach Acceptable Risk Levels?
● Family (past and present)
● Friends
● Co-workers and classmates
● TV, Movies, Books and Music
● Acceptability varies with the conditions of the
environment and needs of the group

TimothyKenny.com
3.5
TimothyKenny.com
 Educating His
Children
TimothyKenny.com
 Previous School
● Los Angeles’ Mirman School
● Private School
● For gifted children
● Requires pass an IQ test
● No traditional grade levels
● Musk recruited one of their teachers

TimothyKenny.com
 SpaceX Elementary School
● Ad Astra
● 14 students, most children of SpaceX
employees
● No grade levels
● Match edu to aptitudes and abilities
○ Specialize early
● Against factory line system
TimothyKenny.com
 Problem Solving Skills
● Teach to the problem, not to the tools
● How an engine works example
○ Teach how screwdriver works
○ Give an engine and have students take it apart
■ Teach screwdriver in context once it’s needed
● Hacker mindset
○ Just in time
○ Just in case
TimothyKenny.com
 Artificial Adversity
● Adversity build strength
● Not sure how to create this for his children
● His dad made him learn how to do basic
construction, electrical work and plumbing

TimothyKenny.com
3.6
TimothyKenny.com
 Ignoring Negative
Feedback
TimothyKenny.com
 Persistence
● Non believers in his company
● Family of people who are explorers
● Father’s 7 year courtship of Musk’s mother

TimothyKenny.com
3.7
TimothyKenny.com
 More
onMotivation
TimothyKenny.com
 Paypal
●
● involved w things that chnage the world,
internet and space

TimothyKenny.com
4.1
TimothyKenny.com
 Reading Habits

TimothyKenny.com
 As a Child
● Read all books in his school and
neighborhood library by 3rd or 4th grade
● Read 2 encyclopedias:
○ Including Encyclopedia Britannica
○ “You don’t know what you don’t know”

TimothyKenny.com
 As a Child
● He would go to the bookstore to read each
day from 2-6pm
● Would often leave family group while
shopping to read in a book store
● Liked science and science fiction/fantasy
● Comics - read everything in the store

TimothyKenny.com
 As an Adult
● Doesn’t read much
● Reads on his iPhone
● Likes biographies and autobiographies

TimothyKenny.com
4.2
TimothyKenny.com
 Favorite Books

TimothyKenny.com
 Early Life
● Lord of the Rings
● Foundation Series
● The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
● The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

TimothyKenny.com
 Adult Life
● Structures: Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down -
Gordon
● Superintelligence - Bostrom
● Zero to One - Theil

TimothyKenny.com
 Biographies
● Walter Isaacson's Biographies
○ Einstein
○ Franklin (and autobiography)
○ Jobs
● Tesla
● Scientists and engineers
● Howard Hughes - His Life and Madness -
Barlett
TimothyKenny.com
4.3
TimothyKenny.com
 Developing a
Powerful
Imagination
TimothyKenny.com
 A Human Graphics Card
● Most computers have a separate, secondary
processor for rendering graphics
● Elon developed a strong imagination as a
child
● He is able to use this part of his brain for
some internal thought

TimothyKenny.com
 Using Imagination for Physics
● Created a software/hardware package for
his designers
○ LeapMotion controller
○ Oculus Rift headset
○ Siemens PLM’s NX Software
● More intuitive way to create and examine 3D
models

TimothyKenny.com
 Imagination and Other Greats
● Einstein’s theory of relativity developed with
imagination
● Nikola Tesla has similar, more advanced
abilities

TimothyKenny.com
4.4
TimothyKenny.com
 Learning
Concrete Skills
TimothyKenny.com
 Applied Engineering
● His father was an electrical engineer
● Knew how all physical objects worked
● Brought Elon and Kimbal to big work sites
● Taught them how to:
○ Lay bricks
○ Install plumbing
○ Electrical wiring
○ Fix windows
TimothyKenny.com
 Applied Engineering
● Building model rockets
● Building explosives
○ Which chemicals mix with which other chemicals?
○ Off the shelf ingredients

TimothyKenny.com
4.5
TimothyKenny.com
 School Strategies

TimothyKenny.com
 School Record
● Several different schools during middle/high
school period
● Briefly at a college in South Africa before
moving to Canada
● Queen’s University in Canada
● UPenn for physics, Wharton for Business
● Stanford for special energy program
TimothyKenny.com
 Specialize Early
● Failing grades in elementary school in
subjects he wasn’t interested in
○ Afrikaans in HS
○ Missed History and English classes at UPenn
● Focused on acing specific courses
○ Years ahead in math
○ Physics
○ Computer programming
TimothyKenny.com
 Started Building Businesses Early
● Sold program/game at age 12
● Door to door easter eggs to wealthy
neighbors at high markup
● Attempted to set up video game arcade

TimothyKenny.com
 Continued in College
● Sold computer parts and built computers
● Ran party house with friend
● Worked summer jobs at video game
company and ultracapacitor company
● Dropped out of Stanford to pursue internet
company idea
○ Based on some code he had already written
TimothyKenny.com
4.6
TimothyKenny.com
 Role Models

TimothyKenny.com
4.7
TimothyKenny.com
 Musk’s Skillset

TimothyKenny.com
 Combination of Skills
● Innovation
○ Broad engineering and science background
○ Programming/hacking
○ Leading a team
○ Encyclopedic knowledge/upper ontology
○ Ability to deconstruct physical objects and processes
○ Build connections with top innovators in a field

TimothyKenny.com
 Combination of Skills
● Marketing
○ Raise funds
○ Viral campaigns
○ Identity/Lifestyle
○ Using the press
○ Finding opportunities for disruption
○ Recruit top engineering talent in the world

TimothyKenny.com
 Intangible Skills
● Eye for good visual design
● Imagination/vision making/scifi background
● Perseverance
● Hard working for long periods 80-100 hour
weeks
● High risk tolerance
● Belief in himself
TimothyKenny.com
 Comparisons to Other Greats
● Jobs
○ Doesn’t suffer fools like Jobs
○ Less hot-cold with employees than Jobs
● Gates
○ Similar level of engineering knowledge
○ More social/emotional skills than Gates
○ Hire people out of his areas of skill

TimothyKenny.com