Goal, ambition and insanity!

theonlyclevergirl

“If you give yourself 30 days to clean your home, it will take 30 days; but if you give yourself 3 hours, it will take 3 hours. The same applies to your goals, ambitions and potential!” - Elon Musk

Bull💩 or truth?

boilerdawg2009

I mean I was given weeks to do a paper in college and yet I always seemed to wait till the night before to hash it out. Probably the opposite of the intent here lol. I think it's truth though!

JBanx256

LOL, has Elon Musk ever even had to clean a home?

theonlyclevergirl

Lmao! Not here I don’t think. Maybe Mars? Bahahaha

AnnPT77

B.S., like 97.3% of everything E.M. says, IMO. (OK, I made up that number, but I don't like the guy, don't think he's even a tenth as clever as he thinks he is, despite his being rich.)

Sure, work can expand to fill the time allotted; and there are a lot of tasks for which (again making number up) 20% of the effort gets one 80% of the result.

But some things take a long time inherently. And different people will want to do different tasks to different standards of adequacy by preference, which varies the needful time investment . . . which is fine.

Overall, it's a completely meaningless generalization. (WTH does it even mean, applied to your "potential"? That's just motivational-sounding nonsense syllables.)

Personally, I think it's good to be skeptical of abstractions/generalizations. Very often, they leave out important factors, even when they "sound true" on the surface. Be as concrete and specific as possible.

Me, one of the things I'm trying to do - at a ridiculously advanced age for such a goal - is to learn to play bluegrass banjo. "If you give yourself 30 days to learn to play bluegrass banjo, it will take 30 days; but if you give yourself 3 hours, it will take 3 hours." is rip-roaring utter nonsense, could hardly be stupider.

LenGray

Ehhh...as someone who heard this kind of thing a lot growing up, I'd say in this context it's mostly BS with a bit of truth. The main issue, in my opinion, is that it suggests an easy solution to an ongoing, difficult process. Granted, mechanical tasks will generally take the amount of time you give them, but part of the reason why that works is because you give them priority-- for example, if you have 3 days to finish an essay instead of 30, you'll divide your work into the most important bits (intro, body, conclusion) to get it done on time. Likewise, you might prioritize the 'biggest' problem areas when cleaning if you have 15 minutes vs. 2 hours.

Where this argument falls apart is when you apply it to long-term goals or concepts, such as goals, ambition, and potential. Those terms are pretty general, so I'm assuming he's referring to those big, audacious goals that people strive for-- stuff like owning a business, losing 100+ lbs, running a marathon, becoming an artist, etc. Not only are there a lot of variables to these types of goals, but they also get better results when you take your time and become consistent.

In the case of losing 100+ lbs, you could lose very quickly (and there's a whole marketing sector waiting to help you!) but it probably wouldn't be sustainable or healthy and you'd have to do a lot of learning on the back end. For a marathon, you can run one after training for a few weeks, but it'll be a painful grind to get through, rather than an accomplishment you feel proud of and motivates you. Not only is the learning process itself valuable in these instances, but they take time to synthesize into your lifestyle and to combine with other information you've learned.

Where this advice can be true for those big goals is if you apply the mechanical process to the goal. If you want to be an artist, you can prioritize studying and sketching every day. And 5 sketchbook pages of deliberate practice will certainly make you an artist faster than 1, but you'll still have to find that synthesis with other aspects of your life or you'll burn out. Likewise, you can prioritize meal prepping, logging food, or exercise to lose 100+ lbs, but it'll take time and making mistakes before you can do it for the long-term. Running 5 days a week and increasing your mileage are mechanical processes that you can prioritize for running a marathon, but to do it in a healthy way that keeps you moving, you have to take time and learn the optimal way for you to run.

So, TL;DR, this advice is useful in that what we prioritize, we achieve; but the way he phrases it isn't useful since, on the surface, he's suggesting accomplishment above all other variables, which isn't a good way to learn new skills, build successful habits, or generally live a happy life.

ciaoder

Bull...Elon Musk doesn't have any clue what my goals and ambitions are.

My goal is to do something active every day for the rest of my life. I expect this is going to take me the rest of my life.

Slacker16

So... Musk would be cool hiring an engineer that got his degree in four hours rather than four years?

AnnPT77

Slacker16 wrote: »

So... Musk would be cool hiring an engineer that got his degree in four hours rather than four years?

If he did, that might explain Tesla's incidence of recalls and manufacturing problems . . . . 😆

Kidding. Kind of.

mtaratoot

Elon Musk doesn't clean his house or anyone else's.

But at least he doesn't have to have a historic bridge dismantled because he forgot where he had a boat built and how it would get from the shipyard to the sea.

paperpudding

This mantra only works if the task is genuinely doable in 3 hours.
Like I could sort out my shed in 3 hours if I got stuck into it, no stopping.
Or I could do a bit at a time over 30 days.

The mantra implies the first approach is better - not necessarily so.

And totally unachievable if the task is lose weight, train a dog,build a house etc

Overall, seems another meaningless sound bite.

Theoldguy1

Elon didn't come up with crap. Just plagiarizing/paraphrasing Parkinson's Law:

Parkinson's Law
Parkinson's Law is the old adage that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. The term was first coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in a humorous essay he wrote for “The Economist” in 1955.

More info:

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191107-the-law-that-explains-why-you-cant-get-anything-done

NorthCascades

When I'm given longer than a task genuinely takes at work, I spend the extra time making sure it's done well and addressing any quality issues in general.

ythannah

Not only does he not clean his own house, he knows absolutely nothing about house cleaning.

It's not like you clean it and it stays in that condition. So on the 30 day program, it's going to need recleaning several times anyway throughout that period, unless no one lives in the house. It's all psychobabble nonsense.

I'm on the continuous cleaning program. My goals, ambitions and potential are on the same schedule... none of those things stop and stay done, never to be touched again.

magnusthenerd

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

Elon didn't come up with crap. Just plagiarizing/paraphrasing Parkinson's Law:

Parkinson's Law
Parkinson's Law is the old adage that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. The term was first coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in a humorous essay he wrote for “The Economist” in 1955.

More info:

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191107-the-law-that-explains-why-you-cant-get-anything-done

Well, that's consistent with Elon not founding Paypal nor Tesla, but still acting like he did it.

To the extent the adage is any kind of truth, it generally isn't applicable to something like sustained weight loss.

shaumom

BS, Parkinson's law and all that.

I mean, I can appreciate reminding ourselves that sometimes, we can do a task quickly if we really need to, but coming from people in power, it not only is BS, but it feels a bit dark for what it implies about how he'll treat his employees.

Because the problem is, you will get far too many idiots in management BELIEVING what the wealthy/successful/powerful say. And it typically leads to them expecting the impossible from their employees and adding stress and hardship in the workplace.

I always remember an acquaintance whose manager actually believed that if you want it done faster, just make the deadline closer. Like you could alter the laws of the universe, as long as you 'really put your back into it.'

But his employees were the IT department. And they would have hard deadlines involving, as an example, how fast can a computer compiles data. One time, it was going to take 48 hours of JUST computer time (not including the employees even doing anything) to finish a project. The manager told them they needed to get it done in 12 hours, told upper management that it WOULD be done in 12 hours, and then when it was literally, physically impossible, he refused to believe that and all the employees got the blame for not working hard/fast enough. :-/

Theoldguy1

magnusthenerd wrote: »

Theoldguy1 wrote: »

Elon didn't come up with crap. Just plagiarizing/paraphrasing Parkinson's Law:

Parkinson's Law
Parkinson's Law is the old adage that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. The term was first coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in a humorous essay he wrote for “The Economist” in 1955.

More info:

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191107-the-law-that-explains-why-you-cant-get-anything-done

Well, that's consistent with Elon not founding Paypal nor Tesla, but still acting like he did it.

To the extent the adage is any kind of truth, it generally isn't applicable to something like sustained weight loss.

True it doesn't extend to weight loss but is typical for other activities.

Personal example. Our son is getting married. My wife who recently retired took several trips out of town (like a couple hundred miles round trip each) plus ordered 8 dresses on-line trying to find a mother of the groom dress. She said she didn't know how she could have done it if she was working.

The mother of the bride who is a busy business owner, spent about 10 minutes looking on line when we were with her, ordered her dress and was done.

I suggested to my wife that if she was working she would have done what the bride's mom did. Classic case of work (activity) expanding to fit the time allowed for completion.

Or if one's car breaks and not repairable I bet they find a new car a lot sooner that if they have a good car and is shopping around looking for something else because they are tired of what they have.

NorthCascades

shaumom wrote: »

BS, Parkinson's law and all that.

I mean, I can appreciate reminding ourselves that sometimes, we can do a task quickly if we really need to, but coming from people in power, it not only is BS, but it feels a bit dark for what it implies about how he'll treat his employees.

Because the problem is, you will get far too many idiots in management BELIEVING what the wealthy/successful/powerful say. And it typically leads to them expecting the impossible from their employees and adding stress and hardship in the workplace.

I always remember an acquaintance whose manager actually believed that if you want it done faster, just make the deadline closer. Like you could alter the laws of the universe, as long as you 'really put your back into it.'

But his employees were the IT department. And they would have hard deadlines involving, as an example, how fast can a computer compiles data. One time, it was going to take 48 hours of JUST computer time (not including the employees even doing anything) to finish a project. The manager told them they needed to get it done in 12 hours, told upper management that it WOULD be done in 12 hours, and then when it was literally, physically impossible, he refused to believe that and all the employees got the blame for not working hard/fast enough. :-/

Sounds like a place I used to work. "We need you all to drop everything you're doing and put 120% into this hard pivot to left field because sales made some promises..."

HelPur25

BS, like most of what E. M. says. He is a tireless self-promoter.

Long-term consistency is more important to achieve most goals. You can't complete a degree, lose 100 lbs, learn to play a musical instrument, learn a language, become good at a sport, etc. by condensing the number of hours it takes into the shortest time span possible. Some things need to soak in, or you need to ponder concepts, or build muscle memory.

I prefer the adage I once heard that says anyone can become an expert at something if they devote an hour per day, every day, to studying the subject for 7 years.

NorthCascades

"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something." -Heinlein