Dave WordenTriumph Business Solutions · Founder

Elon Musk's Productivity Rule#4 Contradict Yourself #shorts

7 Feb 2023 · 1 min

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In this brief YouTube short, two speakers discuss a productivity principle attributed to Elon Musk: the willingness to reverse or contradict one's own previous statements when new information emerges. Speaker A cites Musk’s habit of walking back decisions, while Speaker B expands on the idea, emphasizing the need for tact and framing it as a growth mindset. B shares a personal example from the "Profit First" methodology, describing how an earlier belief that profit should be the bottom‑line consideration was later revised after a revelation. The dialogue underscores that admitting past errors and adjusting course is a valuable skill for personal and business development.

Chapters

Five. Don't be afraid to contradict yourself Musk isn't afraid to walk back a decision.
All right. So yeah, don't be afraid to contradict yourself now, yeah, of course contradict yourself. But. But with tact, meaning when you have a new revelation, it's okay to say I've had a new revelation and what I believe to be true in the past was wrong. Actually that's how Profit first came about. When I wrote Prophet first I said I believe that prophet should be the bottom line in the year end. It should be the last consideration but didn't work for me at a revelation that was wrong. And maybe I'll I'm sure I will have more revelations of things I'm doing now and actually just recently had one that maybe aren't right or at least not optimal and I have to contradict what I've said in the past. That's perhaps the biggest argument or value right there is when something we commit to is not working to have the courage to say oops, that was wrong.