4 habits that make Elon Musk such an innovative leader

Getty/Kevork Djansezian

There are only 24 hours in every day, and you can’t squeeze out an extra second.

Yet some people manage to be so productive and innovative they become billionaires at an age when most of us are still struggling to make ends meet.

Even among billionaires, some stand out more than others, capturing the hearts of admirers everywhere.

Elon Musk is arguably one of the most well-liked and respected billionaires today.

With Tesla’s recent Model 3 announcement, he continues to stay relevant.

Let’s take a look at how Musk has stayed one step ahead of a very elite pack.

What habits set him apart from his peers?

1. He reads the way most people watch TV.

Like Buffett, who claims to read around 500 pages a day, Musk is the definition of a bookworm. When he was in grade school, he was reading ten hours a day, devouring everything in his library and the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, and completed a six-month BASIC course in just three days.

Here’s a list of some of his favorite books, just in case you’re interested.

2. He doggedly pursues his own interests.

If his healthy reading habits weren’t already a giveaway, Musk is a true believer in self-guided learning. At the age of 12, he used his BASIC skills to program Blastar, a self-made video game which he sold to PC and Office Technology for $500. Musk also doubled majored in physics and economics, then interned for both ultracapacitor research and video game companies.

Today, he’s worth $14.5 billion and runs businesses that seem to have nothing to do with one another. Except they all do, of course — Musk is genuinely interested in them. It’s no surprise that he’s the main inspiration behind Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man character.

3. He is tirelessly, unflaggingly optimistic.

While the first two traits are true for most successful businesspeople, Musk also has an ace up his sleeve — he has a strong glass-half-full mentality. His Forbes profile sums this up best by describing two of his companies as “moonshot tech companies.” Except Musk doesn’t think of them as moonshots at all.

The secret to his innovation lies in his enthusiasm. This is a guy who grew up with an emotionally abusive father and was once bullied and beat up so bad that he needed to go to the hospital. “If you wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be better, it is a bright day. Otherwise, it’s not.”

Related: Entrepreneurs: Your Irrational Optimism Is Necessary

Musk genuinely believes that what he’s doing is good for the world, and that it’s making a positive difference. In fact, he believes so much in SpaceX that there are two giant posters in his office: before and after scenarios of what Mars will look like once he’s colonized the planet. “I want to die on Mars. Just not on impact.”