Elon Musk Admits He Is Bipolar

In addition to persistent cash burn problem, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has admitted he is also bipolar.

In a series candid of tweets on Sunday, one day after delivering the first production Model 3, Musk replied to questions by other Twitter users about his mental state, shedding some light on the inner turmoil he struggles with. Asked "whether the the ups and down he had make for a more enjoyable life", Musk responded "The reality is great highs, terrible lows and unrelenting stress. Don"t think people want to hear about the last two."

The reality is great highs, terrible lows and unrelenting stress. Don"t think people want to hear about the last two.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2017

Turns out people did, and when asked if Musk was bipolar, he answered "Yeah" adding in a follow-up tweet that "maybe not medically tho. Dunno. Bad feelings correlate to bad events, so maybe real problem is getting carried away in what I sign up for."

@elonmusk are you bipolar?

— Fahad Uddin (@iFahadUddin) July 30, 2017

Maybe not medically tho. Dunno. Bad feelings correlate to bad events, so maybe real problem is getting carried away in what I sign up for.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2017

Musk said that his way of dealing with the lows is to "take the pain and make sure you really care about what you"re doing."

"If you buy a ticket to hell, it isn"t fair to blame hell…" he said.

If you buy a ticket to hell, it isn"t fair to blame hell ...

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2017

His final tweet on the topic: "I"m sure there are better answers than what I do, which is just take the pain and make sure you really care about what you"re doing"

I"m sure there are better answers than what I do, which is just take the pain and make sure you really care about what you"re doing

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2017

While unclear if related, last week Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Musk traded insults over the threat artificial intelligence poses to human civilisation. As we reported recently, Musk reveals an apocalyptic vision in which he fears killer computers will wipe out humanity – a view shared by some of the world’s brightest minds.

Zuckerberg – who wants to read human thoughts at 100 words per minutes – claimed that super smart computers will help our species, rather than wiping us off the planet.

If At First You Don't Succeed... A Timeline Of Elon Musk's Long List Of Failures

At first glance, it’s easy to be impressed by Elon Musk’s impressive resume. He’s shooting for the stars with SpaceX, changing the future of transportation with Tesla, Hyperloop, and The Boring Company, and he’s already had a profound impact on the e-commerce and payments sectors through Paypal. It’s no coincidence that most of these are $1 billion+ companies. But, as Visual Capitalist"s Jeff Desjardins notes, focusing only on his successes provides a superficial view of the man. To get the full perspective on his career, it is much more interesting to look at the failures and lows he has experienced. These are the moments when most people would have likely given up.

FAILING OFTEN

As every entrepreneur knows, any business venture can be upended by failures at any moment – and it is how one bounces back from those failures that counts. Today’s infographic from Kickresume shows Musk’s struggles and failures throughout his career, and how he persevered to become a modern business icon.

As the ever-quotable Winston Churchill once said:

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill

After being ousted out of his own company, having many rockets go bust, and fighting to keep Tesla and SpaceX from going bankrupt, Musk kept pushing forward with courage.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN

Entrepreneurs hold people like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Richard Branson in high reverence. Sometimes, we even put them on a pedestal, thinking we could only dream of making such a profound impact on the world. However, this is obviously a one dimensional view. These figures are not superhuman, and the reality is that they’ve all experienced tragic failures throughout the course of their careers. They’ve been disheartened, but they bounced back. We have to recognize that success in business isn’t what it appears to be on magazine covers and headlines. Failure is an everyday part of doing business, and it plagues almost every entrepreneur in some shape or form. The difference is in how you react to it.

...and of course, it helps to be on the right side of government handouts too...

Tesla Overtakes GM As America's Most Valuable Car Company

It"s official - for the first time ever, Elon Musk"s government-subsidized car-maker is America"s most valuable auto manufacturer.

Tesla shares surged another 1% today, amid a continued "trouble in shortville" ramp, topping $300 for the first time...

That gives the company a total value of $52.7 billion.

That"s more than GM"s $49.6 billion valuation. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk says he expects the company to sell 500,000 cars next year. GM, meanwhile, sold more than 20 times that many last year.

"If you look at the different auto companies on paper, it does seem a bit proposterous, where Tesla is at this moment, versus some of the more established auto companies," Jessica Caldwell, director of industry analysis with automotive research firm Edmunds, said in an interview with CBC"s On The Money on Monday.

Tesla sold 76,285 cars last year. That compares to over 10 million for GM worldwide and 6.65 million for Ford.

"I think Tesla has had a very high market cap for a long time, so I don"t think this comes necessarily as a surprise, but when you compare it to someone like Ford [or GM] who has a wealth of resources, it does seem a little out of whack," Caldwell said.

Musk Taunts Shorts As Tesla Hits Record Highs

Amid the stock"s best day in 6 months, pushing the taxpayer-subsized company to record highs, Tesla"s CEO Elon Musk has three brief words for some speculators...

Stormy weather in Shortville ...

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 3, 2017

It appears "Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall," was not a consideration for Mr. Musk.