13A – Reading Reflection No. 1

I read the book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, Ashlee Vance. 

1. Although I had previously been a fan of Elon Musk and all that he has done and does do, I had not realized the extent of which he has actually done! One of the most admirable points of Musk is his never end mission and resilience. Where most entrepreneurs will start to kick back and relax Musk chooses to proceed forward with another venture. After selling PayPal Musk could have been able to retire and enjoy his wealth, however this is when he put every dollar he had earned into SpaceX and Tesla. Although one of the main odd features of his success the least admirable characteristic would be is carelessness about many things he does. I personally find myself to care more than Elon seems to about the things he ventures into. However, although I don’t admire this characteristic, I feel that it is most needed for me ion some aspects to be more successful. One other aspect of his personality that I did not admire as much is his “playboy attitude.” Elon suffered many setbacks and failures with both SpaceX and Tesla. Both of his start ups were complete money-pits and practically made him go broke. At one point Musk was faced with having to only to be able to save one of the companies, however, in the final hour Elon secured a government contract for SpaceX and secured financing for Tesla in order to pay expenses due. 
2. Elon exhibited the competencies of never ever giving up and perseverance through everything. HE was able to overcome giant hurdles and still does everyday. When most people will state that he was crazy, he had continued on his mission. Musk compares to a modern day Howard Hughes with his perseverance to make things happen. 
3. Many of the parts that seem confusing to me was going over how he had programmed computer games at a young age. Having no background knowledge about coding and creating computer programs I felt that It was hard for me to comprehend the complexity of this. 
4. The two questions I would have for Elon would be, “Where do you find the time to be able to do everything?” As he accomplishes so much that it almost seems to not be comprehendible how he does in such little time. The other question I would ask Elon is “What makes you able to get over the hurdles you face constantly without it affecting your attitude?” This because of the amount of criticism he faces till this day despite him constantly moving forward with his businesses. 
5. I think Elon’s opinion on hard work would just simply be perseverance. He displayed so much of it in all of his companies developments. I would say he would say this because anyone can simply “work hard” at anything, but only successful people can actually persevere through adversity. I share this opinion as well personally.