How To Become a Subject Matter Expert Using Elon Musk’s 5 Rules of Learning: Everyone knows Elon Musk is a billionaire, successful entrepreneur, and the world’s richest person. He is the CEO of big companies like Tesla & SpaceX. Very less people know he is also a self-taught scientist. He is the chief engineer of SpaceX and he doesn’t have any relevant engineering degree. He used his extraordinary learning capability to learn all this without any fancy degree. He is known to be a subject matter expert in his practiced domain. Wouldn’t it be great if we were also able to use these unique learning techniques? But first, we must understand what is subject matter expert is and what they do?
What is a Subject Matter Expert (SME)?
Subject matter experts or SMEs offer organizations or clients profoundly particular information with respect to a particular region, practice, process, specialized strategy, or piece of hardware. They are searched out by others to tackle explicit issues or address difficulties. An SME may be a representative who gives extraordinary knowledge on a specific component or cycle inside an organization. They can likewise be outsider project workers who deal with subject matter administrations on an hourly or administration charge premise. Subject matter experts in certain fields regularly fill in as master observers in claims or other legitimate activities.
5 Elon Musk Rules to Become a Subject Matter Expert
Let’s find out how to become a subject matter expert by following Elon Musk’s five rules of learning. Rules that he himself used in his daily life to learn a new thing every day.
1. Reading is The Best Thing
In his initial stage when Elon musk was making rocket prototypes. He got many rejections from Russian because rockets were costing him an arm and a leg. And that’s where he started to think about why rockets are so expensive & is there any way to make reduce their cost or make them less expensive. He met a few people who had expertise in Rocket science and had worked in many space agencies. But they were unable to help them because Elon Musk didn’t have any knowledge of space satellites. So, he started to read books on several subjects that include the science behind the working of rockets, astrophysics & space systems. He didn’t only read those books; he made notes and memorize so many important things from the books. Just because he read so many books, he became the subject matter subject and was able to make knowledgeful conversations on rockets and space science.
In fact, when SpaceX was newly launched, he was asked in an interview, “You don’t have any background in rocket science. So, how do you become a founder of a rocket company.”
In response to which, Elon replied, “I read a book about it.”
You should also start reading books in the field where you want to achieve success to make yourself a subject matter expert in that domain.
2. Identify Different Parts of The Tree
In some Reddit threads, Elon Musk has defined his learning structure in a very detailed manner. Where he concluded by saying we should not weigh everything equally.
For Example, some students give equal weightage to every chapter before exams. They believe every chapter is equal in terms of weightage. We all know there are some chapters that are more important and carry more weight than others.
Business Analogy
In the business world, people tend to think the same thing. For them, marketing, sales, finance, technology all are equally important, and try to give equal weightage to them. In reality, at some point in time, only one or two aspects of the business are more important than others. Sometimes, marketing should be given more preference than others. And the same thing goes for other aspects like R&D or product development. Thus different things carry huge value at different stages of their lifecycle.
Elon Musk wants us to understand the between what we think is important and what is actually more important. The learning process should be seen as a tree. We can’t tell about its growth process by looking at its branches, leaves, or fruits. We have to look into the branches and how deep roots are spread in the soil.
Whenever it comes to learning and becoming a subject matter expert, Elon Musk firmly believes anyone can learn beyond their normal capacity. For anyone who wants to become an entrepreneur or businessman, it is very important to constantly push their current learning capability
3. First Principle Approach
Elon has talked about the first principle approach in many interviews. During childhood, he was afraid of the dark, and in order to overcome this fear he questioned himself, ‘What is darkness?’. After which he finds out when there will be no light, there will be darkness. The darkness which he was afraid of. Later he discovered the meaning of light. So he finally concluded that darkness is something where light is absent. He didn’t find his fear to be logical. This is the first principle approach.
If you really want to become a subject matter expert then it is important to learn and understand the basics and fundamentals of that subject. Learning fundamentals and understanding their basics will help us out in performing research and provide in-depth solutions.
4. Surround Yourself with Smarter People Than You
After selling Paypal, Elon Musk shifted to Los Angeles from Silicon Valley because he was working on SpaceX project.
Fun Fact: NASA & many Airforce bases are also located in Los Angeles where many innovations are being made out of new technologies.
The main reason to reach Los Angeles was to surround himself with people who already were experts in Space Technology. He built rapport with them. He had conversations with them and got to learn new things every day.
The first thing he did after coming to Los Angeles was he joined the Mars Society where he met scientists who were experimenting on mars. Today, many of them are full-time employees at SpaceX.
Similarly, if you want to learn something new or want to feed new knowledge to your brain, think of your brain as an empty bottle. An empty bottle that you have to fill with specific knowledge. The best way to fill that empty space is to read books or talk with other experts who have experience in that domain. Elon Musk did the same thing. Now it is yours.
Learning From Other’s Experiences
Elon Musk often talks to their employees to learn from them their experiences. Elon shows great interest in problems that his employees solve. He gets to learn things that he never knew before. This is a great attitude towards learning that everyone should have if he wants to learn something.
5. Connections Power Your Learning
The real secret of Elon Musk is he knows how to study things out of his core. Elon connects all of his learning with others. He has another famous quote, ‘You cannot learn things if you cannot connect.’ This connection helps with having great knowledge while working in different sectors. He is a true subject matter expert. It is only possible when you can understand the basics & fundamentals and gain deep knowledge about the concept.
Different Domains to Become a Subject Matter Expert
Here is a list of domains where you can apply this learning in order to become a successful subject matter expert.
- Digital Marketing (SEO, Backlinks, Keyword research, & article writing)
- Graphic Designing
- Human Resource
- Education
- Marketing
- Information Technology
- Health & fitness
- Law & Legal Affairs
- Finance & Account
- Software or Hardware Development
- Public Relations
- Journalism
- Engineering
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Final Words
Successful Subject Matter Experts are always on the hunt for knowledge. They aren’t satisfied with the status quo or skill recession. Still, all their hard work and schoolwork pay off in the form of a fulfilling career that they are passionate about. So now you know how to become a subject matter expert in any industry by following Elon Musk’s five rules of learning. We covered all the aspects of Subject Matter Expert in this article that I hope you found informative and useful. You can show your love by sharing the article with the needful via social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and others.
