Elon Musk The Man Behind Tesla SpaceX and neuralink he's not just running multiple billion dollar companies he's redefining Industries yet here's the thing he's not a trained rocket scientist AI expert or neuroscientist so how does he do it how does he Master topics that leave most people scratching their heads it's not about degrees musk has said he doesn't credit his college education for his success instead he developed a method a way of learning anything deeply in quickly and it's so effective that it took him from a kid reading Encyclopedia Britannica to designing rockets that are now making space travel more affordable today we'll break down how musk learns how he applies knowledge to solve The World's Toughest problems and how you can adopt these techniques to achieve extraordinary results in your own life chapter one why musk doesn't trust traditional education you don't need college to learn learn stuff okay musk attended the University of Pennsylvania earning degrees in economics and physics he even enrolled in Stanford's PhD program but dropped out after just two days why because musk doesn't believe the traditional education system Fosters Rapid or deep learning in his words it's about memorizing rather than understanding musk feels that schools don't focus enough on critical thinking or problem solving the skills that matter most in the real world so he decided to take learning into his own hands so how would you educate your five boys actually I created a little school when musk wanted to build rockets for SpaceX he didn't hire a tutor or enrolling classes instead he reached out to Jim Cantrell a satellite systems expert musk cold called Cantrell convinced him to meet and borrowed textbooks like rocket propulsion elements and fundamentals of astrodynamics musk didn't skim them he devoured them canant trell later said Musk seemed to memorize everything he read he could hold conversations about astrodynamics and rocket science like he'd been doing it for years kantrell recall how did you get the expertise to be the chief technology officer of a rocket ship company um well I do have a physics background that's helpful as a foundation um and then I read a lot of books and talk to a lot of a lot of smart people yourself taught yeah but here's the twist musk didn't just read to absorb information he read to apply it soon after he used that knowledge to design the Falcon one spacex's first rocket chapter 2 the semantic tree method so what makes musk's learning so effective he uses a method he calls the semantic tree here's how it works musk starts by mastering the core principles of a topic the trunk and branches of the tree before diving into the finer details which he calls the leaves for example when musk studied rocket science he didn't jump straight into complex designs he started with physics how objects move the science of combustion and materials engineering once he understood the fundamentals he built on them musk believes most people fail to learn deeply because they focus on the leaves first memorizing random details without grasping the structure his method ensures that every new piece of information has a place to fit making it easier to recall and apply and musk doesn't just use this approach for engineering it's how he thinks across disciplines from AI to renewable energy by connecting core principles he comes up with ideas others Miss chapter three raised by books musk's Learning Journey started young growing up in South Africa he devoured books for 10 hours a day by nine he'd read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica his brother Kimble says musk would finish two books a day reading anything he could get his hands on from science fiction to biographies this habit of reading broadly is key to musk's success he doesn't limit himself to one field instead he draws connections between seemingly unrelated topics for example his knowledge of physics helps him understand AI his background in economics gives him insight into scaling Tesla musk recommends Books That Shaped his thinking like Walter isakson's biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein these aren't just stories their lessons in leadership Innovation and problem solving musk applies those lessons to his companies driving breakthroughs in multiple Industries chapter four applying knowledge reading is just the first step what sets musk apart is how he applies what he learns he said knowledge is only useful if you put it into action when musk read about rocket propulsion he didn't just memorize equations he used that knowledge to create spacex's initial designs and when he studied AI he applied those insights to neuralink and Tesla's self-driving technology this principle extends to how musk solves problems he once said when you struggle with a problem that's when you truly understand it that's why he pushes his team to dig deep and it's how he evaluates potential hires musk famously asked job candidates to explain problems they've solved if they can break down their process in detail he knows they're genuine if not it's clear they didn't do the work chapter 5 lessons from musk's learning philosophy what can we learn from musk's approach here are three takeaways one start with the basics don't get lost in the details Master the core principles first two read broadly explore topics outside your field cross-disciplinary knowledge leads to Innovation three apply what you learn don't just absorb information use it whether it's solving problems at work or pursuing a passion project action is where the magic happens musk success isn't just about intelligence it's about curiosity persistence and strategy he's proof that you don't need formal education to achieve extraordinary things you just need the right mindset you don't need college to learn learn stuff okay everything is available basically for free uh you can learn anything you want for free it is not a question of learning um there there is a value that colleges have which is like you know seeing whether somebody's is can somebody work hard at something including a bunch of sort of annoying homework assignments and still do their homework assignments uh and and kind of soldier through and and get it done you know that's that's like the main value of college and then also you know if you probably want to hang around with a bunch of people your own age for a while instead of going right into the workforce um so I think colleges are basically for fun and to prove you can do your chores but they're not for learning uh so I want to make sure Tesla recruiting does not have anything that says requires University CU that's absurd uh but there is a requirement of evidence of exceptional ability like you just can't if you're trying to do something exceptional you must have evidence of exceptional ability I don't consider going to college evidence of exceptional ability in fact ideally you dropped out and did something I mean obviously you know you look at like you know Gates is a pretty smart guy he dropped down uh D is pretty smart he dropped out you know Larry Allison smart guy he dropped out like obviously not needed so did Shakespeare even go to college probably not Elon musk's Journey from a bookish kid to a self-taught rocket designer is a testament to the power of learning if he can teach himself rocket science imagine what you could accomplish by adopting his methods so what's the first topic you'll tackle let me know in the comments below and if this video inspired you don't forget to like subscribe and hit the notification Bell thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next one