Why Elon Musk Asking Tesla to Slow Down Will Actually Improve Its Productivity

Elon Musk’s email is a genius move to become predictably productive while saving costs.

In a mail sent to all Tesla employees in Q4,2021, Elon Musk asked them to be more predictably productive. He also asked them to forget about the notion of “end of quarter” performance. In essence, Elon musk effectively asked his team to “ stop sprinting like crazy to maximize deliveries”.

The right principle is take the most efficient action, as though we were not publicly-traded and the notion of “end of quarter” didn’t exist.

Thanks, Elon

Does Elon Musk want Tesla’s productivity to go down? Not quite. Instead, his email confirms that he realizes the importance of the big picture. Sprints are often good, but not when they don’t help the company in the long run.

The Destructive Power of “Counter-Productive” Deadlines

Tesla realized that at the end of every quarter, employees would get into a rush to get as many cars out as possible. The extra deliveries would improve the quarterly numbers. But at what cost?

Expedite fees, overtime and temporary costs would pile up to enable those deliveries. And can you guess what would happen immediately after the quarter ends? Deliveries would drop massively in the first few weeks of the following quarter. Over a six-month period, Tesla would end up delivering no extra car — but they’d incur a lot of extra costs, employees would get burned out & overall productivity will fall.

Is it a sprint or a marathon?

Long-distance runner Mo Farah is only the second athlete in modern Olympic Games history to win both the 5 & 10 kilometers titles at successive Olympic Games. Legendary sprinter Usain Bolt was another runner who outshone every other sprinter in successive world events.

But how would they perform if they switched races? What would happen if Usain Bolt ran a marathon like a 200-meter sprint?

For Tesla, it’s a long-term game. Running it like a sprint doesn’t help them.

In your life as well, do you have activities that more resemble a marathon than a sprint? Will it help you if you rush to do more in the short term when a consistent effort is required? Is working out in the gym for 20 hours a day for one day better than one hour for 20 days? You understand the importance of pacing yourself — but often external deadlines make that distinction blurry.

85% is better than 100%

High performers like Hugh Jackman often talk about the 85% rule. The idea is about easing off the throttle to give yourself the breather & permission to do less.

That permission lowers your expectation of yourself — which leads to lower stress. In a less stressful environment, you end up doing more.

By telling employees to slow down, Elon Musk is effectively reducing their stress. And that alone would eventually improve their productivity.

Final Thoughts — Tortoise vs. Rabbit

You & I often overestimate what we can do in a month or a year. But we grossly underestimate what we can achieve in a decade.

By keeping our eyes on the prize, we can avoid outside distractions that don’t really help us. That’d enable us to focus on what’s important. And you’d eventually find that —

“Consistency is more important to success than motivation”

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