Video Notes: Elon Musk's Advice for Young People

In this 8-minute video, Elon Musk was interviewed by Lex Fridman and shared his advice for young people:

What I really appreciate is that Musk does takes his time to think through his answers as you can find in those long pauses.

What advice would you give to young people about their career and life in general to have a big positive impact? (0:10)

Try to be useful.
- Do things that are useful to your fellow human beings, to the world.
It’s very hard to be useful.
- Try to have a positive net contribution to society.
  - Contribute more than you consume.
Do not to try to be a leader for the sake of being a leader.
If you live a useful life, that is a good life, a life worth having lived.

What do you recommend regarding education and self-education? (university/self-study/hands-on/road trip/…) (1:40)

Read a lot of books.
- Try to ingest as much information as you can.
- Develop a good general knowledge. → Have a rough idea of the knowledge landscape.
- Learn a little about a lot of things because you might not know what you’re really interested in.
Talk to people from diverse backgrounds (different walks of life and different industries, professions, skills, and occupations). (3:04)
- Just learn as much as possible.
- Man’s search for meaning.
  - Actually, there is bestseller book titled “Man’s Search for Meaning” that Musk could be referring to:

Find something where there’s an overlap of your talents and what you’re interested in.
- You are inherently good at it + you like doing it.
- Reading will help you figure out both.
Example: As a kid, I read through the encyclopedia, which is very helpful. (4:24)
- You can always read the condensed version of the Encyclopedia: Britannica.
- Skim through it: skipping subjects you are not interested in and going to subjects that are interesting to you.

I have a lot of respect for someone who puts in an honest day’s work to do useful things. (5:08)

Avoid having a zero-sum mindset. (5:17)

In other words, have a grow-the-pie mindset.
Many people, including very smart people, are doing it without realizing it.
If you have a zero-sum mindset, then the only way to get ahead is by taking things from others.
- If the pie is fixed, then the only way to have more pie is to take someone else’s pie.
Much better to work on adding the economic pie.

You can learn more about Elon Musk’s life journey through the New York Time’s bestseller biography written by Walter Isaacson:

Video Notes: Elon Musk’s Advice for Young People