How To Learn Anything, Anywhere - Elon Musk

Another principle that Elon Musk follows in his quest for self-education is surrounding himself with the best and the brightest people.

He would strike up conversations with people who were the best in their field, acquire their knowledge and expertise through discussions, and then try to replicate that knowledge when he applied it to his endeavors.

It is for this reason that he keeps a close network of industry experts some of whom he even employs. In fact, Jim Cantrell actually worked with Musk at SpaceX for a time before moving on to his own ventures.

Elon Musk admitted in an interview that he was raised by books and then his parents. His reading history is impressive: when he was just nine years old he reportedly read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, then moved on to almost exclusively reading science fiction novels for about 10 hours per day. 

Although the average person probably doesn't have 10 hours a day to dedicate to reading, some of the richest and most talented people will tell you that one of the secrets to their success is that they read constantly: take the example of  Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Mark Cuban.

What separates Musk from people who just read books is that he applies the knowledge he acquires.

Musk has stated that he has two basic principles for knowledge acquisition and application:

1. the first is that he reviews knowledge in his words as sort of a semantic tree; he encourages people to make sure they understand the fundamental principles.
2. the second principle is that it is nearly impossible to remember what you can't connect. The correct function of our brains and acquiring knowledge is not just to store random facts in order to learn. We have to practice putting that information to use.