On Christmas Eve 2008 Elon Musk was hours away from bankruptcy.
Major delays on the Tesla Roadster meant they were too slow getting cars off the production line.
Three failed launches at SpaceX left them barely scratching together enough money and parts for a fourth.
This night it was all on the line.
With most of his chips already on the table, when he might have lost it all, Elon went ALL IN.
He gave Tesla his last remaining cash. Other investors followed.
In the face of imminent failure, Elon drove through.
Something he’d need to keep doing just to keep his baby alive even nine years later.
The power of drive
That’s powerful stuff, isn’t it?
I shared this story with a client who’s seeing storm clouds gathering in his business and our world.
He said that when you perceive things might go wrong you can get tentative or fearful or otherwise lose motivation.
But often what matters most is that you keep driving through.
He’s been listening to the book by retired Navy SEAL David Goggins where he talks about the difference between needing motivation and having drive.
It reminded me of this clip of Elon Musk talking the same way:
You see him saying his actions are disconnected from needing hope or motivation because he has a high drive to get things done.
My client has been reminding himself that he’s the same.
He’s successfully driven his company through this darker time and whatever rain or sunshine comes next he’ll keep driving.
Keep driving forward
This is the most important theme that has defined this time for me and clients.
We’ve all faced new challenges, none of us know where it’s headed, and the best you can do is focus on what you control and keep driving forward.
One thing that has most helped me this year is the deep research I’ve done on Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
As the world has gotten even noisier, in studying them I’ve found clear signal.
In this time when things can feel stuck, they’ve reminded me of all history’s great leaders that kept driving forward.
And more importantly, having built a method from studying them, they’ve helped me keep driving forward too.
One regret I have is not yet sharing this with you.
I’ve been “trying”
When I started researching Elon and then Jeff I didn’t know what I was looking for, let alone what I might do with it.
But I quickly saw that more of us need to know this, especially now.
It’s not just the way that Jeff and Elon set their sights on incredibly ambitious world-changing goals, and then achieve them, FAST.
Nor how in the face of great threats, they keep driving forward.
In doing this research I saw just how differently they think and operate relative to even most highly successful people.
And often opposite to what you’re taught, particularly on crucial topics like goals, risk, failure.
This year I’ve learned more on business building, advancing through difficult times, and achieving extreme goals from researching Jeff and Elon than from any other single source in my 21 years of research.
I see how this can help any of us achieve any goal, and equip more of us to achieve even world-changing goals.
So for months I’ve been “trying” to build a program to share this with you. (You can now check out this program here.)
3 months ago…
I thought we were there, but it wasn’t good enough.
2 months ago it still wasn’t there.
And it was only in watching our latest cut last week that I accepted the truth of where we’re at—
Even in a 12 hour video program, we may NOT be able to convey what I’m trying in a way that really delivers for you.
Over thousands of hours, reading books, watching hundreds of videos, writing some 1,200 pages of ideas I’ve built a system decoding what they do.
And then, most importantly, baked it into Upgrade YOU to build a method for achieving your most ambitious goals.
Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?
Yep, that’s why despite my best trying I still haven’t found a way to best bring it together for you.
So let’s drive forward anyways
This year I’ve written a little on Elon and Jeff but I’ve been waiting to write more until I have an ACTUAL solution for you.
Not to just say—hey, look at this video of Elon that shows you can drive through even the hardest times.
But to lay out for you a method that you can learn quickly and put to work right away in your own goals.
In hindsight, I would have done it differently.
Researching Elon and Jeff has been a huge shot in the arm for me driving forward this year.
And rather than feeling I needed to have this all figured out in advance, I would have just started sharing more with you.
Time is of the essence, especially now.
And I feel I’ve wasted time in sharing with you what might be helpful ideas.
So I’ll keep iterating the program, but I’m going to just drive forward sharing more with you.
Now as we finish up here, let’s turn to the part that’s hardest to convey in the program.
It’s about YOU
See, the hardest thing to capture is that it’s NOT about Elon and Jeff.
While we’re watching clips of them and talking through paradigms of why, what, how they do, surprise, surprise, it’s hard to convey—
This ISN’T about them.
It’s about what YOU can learn from them and do too.
Take this topic from today, for instance.
It’s interesting and perhaps inspiring to hear how Elon can drive through hard times, but how is this most valuable for you?
Are there things in your career, business, life that it helps you drive through?
Or perhaps it’s just a great reminder to look back on all your past drive that has driven you here?
However it is, keep in mind as we keep talking more about Jeff and Elon, we’re focused on you.
P.S. You can now check out the program for Rocketing To The Top like Musk and Bezos here.