Life lessons from the wealthiest man's favorite video game

Elon Musk is an obsessive workaholic. But he once missed a Tesla meeting for a surprising reason: Polytopia. A civilization strategy game he EXCELS at (He once beat the creator) And it's not just a silly past-time. Elon has drawn SEVEN life lessons from it:

Empathy is not an asset. Kimbal Musk says he has an "empathy gene" which has hurt him in business. Elon told his brother to play Polytopia to get over this gene and develop the cold ruthlessness needed for business success. Kimbal: "Elon said it would teach me how to be a CEO"

Treat life as a video game. Zilis, the neuralink exec who has twins with Musk, once told him: I've this feeling that as a kid you were playing one of these strategy games and your mom unplugged it, and you just didn’t notice, and you kept playing life as if it were that game"

Scrub the fear of loss from your body. Elon Musk: "You will lose. It will hurt the first fifty times. When you get used to losing, you will play each game with less emotion." Beyond this fear lies all daring experimentation, original ideas, and great victory.

Move first and shape the playing field. Polytopia involves warring tribes battling over resources, space, and technology. Zilis kept losing as she was a self-confessed "Canadian pacifist." The only way to win at Polytopia - and life - is by taking initiative.

Optimize every turn. Polytopia's curious rule is you only get 30 turns before it's game over. In life, too, you have limited time. Important to waste nothing. Musk: "You only get a set number of turns in life. If we let a few of them slide, we will never get to mars."

Double Down. Shivon Zilis, mother of twins with Musk, on how he plays: “Elon plays the game by always pushing the edge of what’s possible. And he’s always doubling down and putting everything back in the game to grow and grow. It’s just like he’s just done his whole life.”

Front minimization. Can't fight all enemies at once. Isaacson: "In Polytopia you might be surrounded by six or more tribes, all taking swipes at you. If you swipe back at all of them, you lose. Musk never fully mastered that lesson, and Zilis found herself coaching him on it."

Kimbal: "I had to stop playing Polytopia because it was destroying my marriage." Zilis and Grimes deleted it too. Elon started "dreaming about Polytopia." He deleted the game as it was "taking up too many brain cycles" but then started playing again a few months later.

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