“The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.”
Elon Musk · Interview, various
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I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better.
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About this quote
Meaning
Musk is describing the habit of continuous self-evaluation as essential to doing anything well over time. The phrase "feedback loop" comes from systems thinking and engineering, and he is applying it to personal and professional behavior. The idea is straightforward: without regularly stepping back to assess what is working and what is not, improvement is accidental rather than deliberate. He is advocating for reflection as a discipline, not just an occasional exercise.
Context
This observation has appeared across various interviews in which Musk discusses how he approaches his own work and how he thinks about building effective teams and companies. It connects to a broader engineering mindset in which iteration and correction are built into the process from the start. The sentiment is not unique to Musk, but it recurs consistently enough in his public statements that it appears to be a genuine organizing principle for how he evaluates progress.
About the author
Elon Musk is an entrepreneur and executive known for working in technically demanding fields where rapid iteration and honest assessment of results are considered essential. He has spoken frequently about the importance of learning from failure and using what goes wrong as information to improve subsequent attempts. His emphasis on feedback loops fits within a broader philosophy of treating problems empirically and treating one's own performance as something that can always be measured and refined.
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