Yahoo Finance Elon Musk’s 5 must-do everyday habits
To maintain his title as the world's richest man, Elon Musk has a jam-packed schedule and is said to clock in 80-100 hours of work per week, so what daily habits does the billionaire employ to keep his focus?
Approximately 90 per cent of his time at SpaceX involves design work, and it takes up 60 per cent of his day at Tesla.
Mondays and Fridays are spent at SpaceX in Los Angeles or Boca Chica and the rest of the week at Tesla in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to Finty.com.
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Musk currently runs four successful businesses - Tesla, Space X, The Boring Company and Neuralink - and his potential takeover of Twitter will likely further add to his working hours.
Here are 5 habits the real-life Iron Man (as he is popularly known) maintains, which help him manage his time and priorities and give him the impetus to scale new heights.
1. Wakes early and gets adequate sleep
In a Reddit AMA, Musk confirmed he woke around 7:00am each day. This seems a reasonable hour compared to Apple CEO Tim Cook's daily alarm at 3:45am, although Cook is said to hit the hay as early as 8:45pm while Musk doesn't turn in until around 1:00am.
Waking early provides a head start and increases productivity and is a common habit of all successful CEOs.
The cryptocurrency enthusiast gets around 6-6.5 hours of sleep as he believes lack of sleep lowers his productivity.
“Sleep is really great. I find if I don’t get enough sleep I’m quite grumpy," Musk said.
"I could drop below a certain threshold of sleep, [even though] I could be awake more hours, I would get less done because my mental acuity would be affected.”
2. Showers every day
In a Reddit AMA, Musk revealed the one daily habit to have the 'largest positive impact' on his life was showering.
In the race to complete tasks and save time, a common practise among people the world over is to skip showers. But Musk won't have any of that. He always makes time to take a shower no matter what the day's schedule may be.
He said he didn’t feel in the right headspace without his shower, and it was a critical part of waking up and preparing to face the challenges of the day.
Apart from the personal hygiene aspect, it's a proven fact that showers have several health benefits, including rejuvenation, washing away toxins, decreasing stress, improving immunity and blood circulation to name a few.
The next time you decide to give showering a miss, think of all the great benefits you are forgoing.
3. He eats to live and not the other way round
In interviews, Musk has said he usually skips breakfast due to the morning rush. But on days when he does eat, he prefers an omelette.
While most of us expend too much time and energy on 'three square meals a day', Musk doesn't concern himself too much with it.
The billionaire told Auto Bild TV that business dinners were probably the only times he indulged.
He doesn’t spend too much time on meals and usually has lunch during meetings and is done within five minutes.
However, he's not a complete bore when it comes to indulgences, and he has some favourites.
Musk has a weakness for Diet Coke, French food and barbecues. He also enjoys the occasional whiskey or wine and is known to have hosted or attended some of the most legendary all-nighter parties, according to Entrepreneur.
4. Not always available for phone calls
A genius innovator and wealthiest man on earth cannot possibly be available to all at the click of a button.
Musk prefers to answer as few phone calls as possible and he admits to forgoing most of them so he can stay focused at work.
He is also known to have an obscure work email address to help him block all unnecessary correspondence.
One of life's greatest skills is to be able to sieve superfluous communication. It is imperative for every career-focused individual to identify and prioritise goals.
5. He is a voracious reader
Reading has been listed as the one common habit among all successful CEOs.
Notwithstanding his busy schedule, Musk spends a good amount of time reading books. His favourites include The Lord of the Rings, biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, and Twelve Against the Gods.
According to Harappa education, the habit of reading strengthens your mental muscles.
Reading has been scientifically proven to improve comprehension and analytical abilities. Not only does it fire up the imagination but it also stimulates the memory centres of the mind.
It's no wonder Musk is one of the great innovators of all time.
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