I was scrolling on LinkedIn yesterday when I came across an interesting document called “Elon Musk’s Company Building Principles”.

It’s a list of 11 principles his staff are expected to follow.

Surprisingly, there weren’t any principles about working 20 hours a day, sleeping under your desk or using memes to fire your staff. They were much more sensible than that. 

Take Principle #2 for example:

The only rules are the ones dictated by the laws of physics. Everything else is a recommendation. 

Is it just me or is Elon basically describing The Subtraction Method here?

Yes, I know Elon created this principle to help his staff build better rockets, not to help them navigate their career dilemmas. 

But this principle is still exactly where people go wrong at work.

See, most constraints aren't real. They're made up assumptions or someone's random thought turned into a belief and then hardened into a rule.

But unless it’s a law of workplace physics, it’s not true. It’s just a recommendation.

I never thought I could go back to a job I quit two years earlier. I never thought that job could feel light. I never thought I could leave the office at 5pm guilt-free. And I never, ever thought I could write a daily newsletter and build a coaching practice using my day job as fuel.

But none of these are rules of workplace physics. They’re just rules I’d made up.

So if you’re facing a situation at work where it feels like there’s no way out, it might be worth asking yourself this question:

What’s actually real?

Once you’ve done that, subtract anything that isn’t. 

If you'd like help putting this into practice, you might like my coaching. 

At the moment, I have a waiting list. My coaching sits alongside my day job, writing these emails, moving house and hanging out with Lauren & Baby Grundy. So I can only work with two or three people at any one time. 

But if you join the waiting list, you'll be first to hear when a spot opens up.

If you'd like to read more about my coaching and hop on the waiting list, here's the link: 

https://waitinglist.followingfulfilment.com

To fulfilment,

Tom