Elon Musk's Scramble for Worth

The 1 question that drives the world’s wealthiest man.

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Today, I want to talk about the man making all the headlines.

Elon Musk.

But not the political version. Not the Tesla version. Not the X version. Not the rocket-building, meme-slinging billionaire. I want to talk about the person behind the persona. Because while the world is fascinated with what Elon Musk does, I’m more interested in why he does it.

What drives the world’s wealthiest man?

If you’re familiar with my work, you know my answer. He’s driven by the same thing that drives each of us, his Primal Question. To discover his Primal Question, we have to look to his early childhood.

Elon Musk grew up in Pretoria, South Africa.

From a young age, he was curious, introverted, and imaginative. At 12, he taught himself to code and built a space-themed video game called Blastar, which he sold for $500 [1]. His mind was already somewhere beyond Earth.

Because for Elon, life on Earth was brutal.

He was relentlessly bullied at school. Not just teased but targeted. A gang of boys once shoved him down a flight of concrete stairs and beat him unconscious. He spent a week in the hospital. His brother, Kimbal, said, “They were trying to beat him to death” [2].

Life at home wasn’t much better.

His parents divorced when he was young.

He stayed with his father, Errol Musk, whom Elon has described as “a terrible human being” who “plans evil.” Elon has said his childhood was not just difficult. It was “misery” [3]. And the wounds of that time are still open. In a 2022 interview, Errol publicly said he’s “not proud” of Elon’s accomplishments.

He stated that Elon’s younger brother is the “pride and joy” of the family [4].

That kind of rejection imprints something deep.

Imagine becoming the richest human being in history—building the world’s most valuable car company [5], launching 6,750 satellites into orbit [6], pioneering reusable rocket technology [7], and being worth over $300 billion [8]—and still being told by your own father, “You’re not enough.”

What happens in childhood doesn’t stay in childhood.

It shapes the lens through which we see the world. It forms our emotional blueprint. And for Elon Musk, I believe that imprint (the hidden question that drives his entire life) is not “Will we make it to Mars?”

It’s Primal Question #6: “Am I good enough?”

It’s the Primal Question that forms when our need for love, approval, or affirmation are inconsistent or conditional. It gets imprinted when a child learns that their value must be earned and that even then, they still might not be enough.

When this question is left unanswered, we don’t grow out of it. We grow into it. It consumes us. That’s when we enter what I call the Scramble.

The Scramble is our chaotic attempt to force the answer back to a “yes.”

For someone wired with Q6, the scramble looks like this:

• Tying your identity to achievement and performance

• Feeling like rest is lazy—and productivity equals worth

• Overcommitting to prove you’re capable or impressive

• Showcasing success to earn validation or approval

• Fabricating or puffing up achievements to look successful

Why is Elon Musk in Washington, D.C.?

Why is he wading into political drama while Tesla tanks? Why keep spinning up new projects when the old ones aren’t done? Why insist on doing everything, everywhere, all at once?

Because when you don’t believe you’re enough, you don’t know when enough is enough.

You don’t rest. You don’t pause. You don’t admit limitations or hand things off. You over-index. You overreach. You work 120 hours per week. You try to be the most valuable person in every room—whether or not you belong there.

That’s all I see here. Insecurity.

Some people see a brilliant, world-changing innovator. And he is. I’m not here to bash Elon. I’m here to try to understand what drives him (and I will get to his gifts in a moment). But through the lens of the Primal Question, I see a wounded, insecure boy from South Africa who’s still wondering if he's enough.

Elon Musk is in his Scramble.

Why else would you exaggerate impressive statistics to make them sound even more impressive?

• In 2018, Musk tweeted that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share. He didn’t. The SEC fined him $20 million and Tesla another $20 million [9].

• For almost a decade, Musk has claimed that Tesla will have self-driving cars within years or even months. [10]

• He recently boasted that DOGE cuts saved $55 billion—but independent audits found the real number was nowhere close to that [11].

Again, I’m not here to throw anyone under the bus. I’m curious about what’s motivating all this. What’s the why behind these puffed-up claims?

Why not just tell the truth?

When you’re scrambling to be enough, you inflate your value because you fear your value as a human isn’t enough on its own. You exaggerate. You stretch. You perform.

But here’s the paradox:

Musk’s Primal Question is also an incredible gift.

The Scramble is a problem, but the Primal Question is not.

Every Primal Question has a superpower attached to it. For a Q6, that gift is:

The Value Creator.

You see potential where others see problems and value where others see scraps. You unlock possibilities, build what’s never been built, and drive excellence with uncommon intensity. You’re wired to make things better—for people, for companies, for the world.

This is Elon’s gift.

SpaceX launched a record-breaking 61 rockets in a single year [12]. Tesla scaled production by 40% in 12 months to deliver 1.31 million cars [13]. Starlink is bringing internet access to remote villages across the globe [14]. That is real, tangible value creation.

Say what you want about Elon, but his contribution is undeniable.

He has brought value to the world in ways no one else can.

Why? Because he’s wired to spot it. When you spend you’re whole life wondering if you’re good enough, it’s like you have X-Ray glasses for spotting value in hidden places.

That’s Elon Musk’s true gift. And when it’s offered from a place of peace—not panic—it’s unstoppable. But when it’s offered from the scramble, it also leaves a wake of pain in its path.

So, what’s the takeaway for us?

If you find a little of yourself in Elon’s story—if your life has become one long audition for worthiness—let me say this:

You are already good enough.

You were good enough before the grades.
Before the promotions.
Before the platform.
Before the applause.
Before the rejection.
Before the pain.

You don’t have to hustle for your worth. You don’t have to inflate your value. You don’t have to achieve your way into acceptance.

Your value is settled. Your worth is secure. Your gift is real.

So the question isn’t, “How do I prove I’m good enough to the world?”
The question is, “What would change if I believed it for myself?”

This week, I invite you to take 10 quiet minutes and ask:

Where in my life am I still scrambling to prove I'm good enough? Where am I still hustling for my worth?

Then write this somewhere you’ll see it:

“I am already good enough. I don’t have to earn it. I get to live from it.”

Imagine all the good you can unlock in the world. Imagine all the value you can create when you operate from the truth that you are worthy instead of scrambling to find what you already have.

To your growth,
Mike Foster

P.S. Do you know your Primal Question? If not, take the free quiz to discover the question that subconsciously drives your life.

Sources:
[1] Biography.com, Elon Musk Biography, https://www.biography.com/business-leaders/elon-musk

[2] Simon & Schuster, Walter Isaacson's Elon Musk Biography, https://about.simonandschuster.biz/news/walter-isaacson-elon-musk

[3] People, Elon Musk Opens Up About His Difficult Childhood, https://people.com/human-interest/elon-musk-errol-musk-relationship

[4] The Guardian, "Elon Musk’s father says he isn’t proud of his son," August 1, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/01/elon-musk-father-interview-not-proud-errol-family

[5] CNET, "Tesla Reports Record Revenue for 2022 with 1.31 Million EVs Sold," https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/tesla-reports-record-revenue-for-2022-with-1-31-million-evs-sold/

[6] Starlink Official Website, https://www.starlink.com/

[7] Spaceflight Now, "SpaceX Launches Falcon 9 Booster for Record-breaking 16th Flight," July 16, 2023, https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/07/16/live-coverage-spacex-tries-again-to-launch-falcon-9-booster-making-16th-flight/

[8] Forbes, "Elon Musk Net Worth," Forbes Billionaires List 2022, https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/

[9] The Guardian, "Elon Musk says $40m tweet was 'worth it’," October 28, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/oct/28/elon-musk-says-40m-tweet-tesla-was-worth-it-fines

[10] Consumer Reports, "Timeline of Tesla's Self-Driving Aspirations," https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/autonomous-driving/timeline-of-tesla-self-driving-aspirations-a9686689375/

[11] NPR, "DOGE Savings Audit Finds Savings Far Below Musk's Claims," March 1, 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/03/01/nx-s1-5313853/doge-savings-receipts-musk-trump

[12] Space.com, "SpaceX Celebrates Record-breaking 61 Launches in 2022," https://www.space.com/spacex-celebrates-2022-61-launches

[13] Tesla Investor Relations, "Tesla Vehicle Production & Deliveries Q4 2022," https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-vehicle-production-deliveries-and-date-financial-results-webcast-fourth-quarter

[14] Starlink, "Connecting the Unconnected," https://www.starlink.com/connecting-the-unconnected