Elon Musk shows the world how big, audacious goals can be achieved by dividing them into smaller milestones and embracing failure and negative feedback.

His goals are not something he is doing for the media circus, but something in which he is emotionally committed. Goals work when they are bigger than ourselves, enhancing our commitment and responsibility towards them.

Most long-term goals are intimidating, and the mind can feel overwhelmed, resulting in demotivation. If the goal is too easy, the mind feels bored.

The optimum state of productivity, known as ‘flow’ occurs when the activity in question is reasonably challenging, but not too hard. Slicing the larger mission into smaller milestones which have the right amount of challenge makes one enjoy the process and stay on track.

• Failure is generally looked down upon but is necessary for success.
• Failure is a learning mechanism that eliminates what didn’t work and provides a clear path towards a way to achieve success.
• Fear of failure is what kills motivation, as we believe it is an outcome to avoid, and do not look at it as a tool to harness.