5 Powerful Lessons You Can Learn From the Career of Elon Musk

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1. Focus on the impact of your dreams, not the odds.

Maybe, like Altucher, your initial reaction to this principle is to worry that your particular dreams might just be impossible. But, as Altucher reminds readers, this advice is coming from a man who wants to colonize Mars. Are you dreams really more of a long shot than that?

2. No one does amazing things for the money.

"I've interviewed over 100 people now on my podcast. Each of the 100 have achieved amazing results in their life," notes Altucher. "But none of them have done if for the money." Neither did Musk, who Altucher quotes as saying: "Going from PayPal, I thought: 'Well, what are some of the other problems that are likely to most affect the future of humanity?' Not from the perspective, 'What's the best way to make money?'"

The takeaway: if you want to do great things, focus on the difference you'll make in the world (or to yourself), not the financial rewards 

3. Reason from first principles.

Altucher sums up his unusual and incredibly effective approach with this quote: "Boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there." In short, to improve your thinking, set received wisdom aside and try to look at the world with fresh eyes, using objective data and clear-headed observation.

4. Persistence pays.

Not all of the lessons of Musk's career are off the wall and unexpected. Sometimes, he proves that conventional wisdom is right. Like with this quote: "Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up."

5. In hiring, talent beats numbers.

Some entrepreneurs tackle difficult problems by trying to throw a whole lot of warm bodies at them. Not Musk.

"It is a mistake to hire huge numbers of people to get a complicated job done. Numbers will never compensate for talent in getting the right answer (two people who don't know something are no better than one), will tend to slow down progress, and will make the task incredibly expensive," Altucher quotes him as saying.

So next time you need to hire your way out of jam, spare a thought for this bit of wisdom and take the time to find the right talent rather than just hoping that brute numbers will save you.