--- title: "Polytopia life lessons" description: "Strategy-game maxims that Kimbal and Shivon Zilis drew from playing Polytopia with Musk, and how he applies them to running companies." canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/elon-musk/polytopia-life-lessons/ updated: 2026-11-03 --- # Polytopia life lessons > Strategy-game maxims that Kimbal and Shivon Zilis drew from playing Polytopia with Musk, and how he applies them to running companies. Walter Isaacson's framework, from Elon Musk, pp. 500 to 510. Framework 5 of 7 from [Elon Musk](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/elon-musk/index.md) by Walter Isaacson. Category: Growth and strategy. ## The steps 1. **Empathy is not an asset.** When you remove empathy from play you see how Musk thinks; Kimbal says his empathy gene has hurt him in business. 2. **Play life like a game.** Treat the world as a strategy game, as if you had been playing as a kid and never noticed the plug was pulled. 3. **Do not fear losing.** Losing hurts the first fifty times, then you play with less emotion, take more risks and become more fearless. 4. **Be proactive.** Set the strategy yourself rather than reacting to what everyone else does, which Zilis found mirrors her work behaviour. 5. **Optimize every turn.** You get a set number of turns in life, so do not let any slide, or you will never get to Mars. 6. **Double down.** Keep pushing the edge of what is possible and put everything back into the game to grow. 7. **Pick your battles.** If six tribes swipe at you and you swipe back at all, you run out of resources; Zilis calls it front minimization. 8. **Unplug at times.** The game can wreck a marriage or fill your dreams, so step away, a lesson Musk never mastered. ## Where it comes from From chapter: Chapter 69: Politics: 2020–2022, pp. 500–510 COVID mandates inflame Musk's anti-authority streak: he keeps the Fremont plant open in defiance of county orders, sues and wins, and tweets cryptic politics such as take the red pill. His politics shift from Obama fundraiser to railing against the woke-mind virus, partly because of his daughter Jenna's break with him, and in 2022 he says he will vote Republican, while describing himself as a centrist with a libertarian streak. A close circle of libertarian friends reinforces the drift. The chapter closes on his Polytopia obsession, whose life lessons include empathy not being an asset, double down, pick your battles and unplug. ## The animation 24 seconds, 4:5, no sound. - MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/elon-musk/polytopia-life-lessons.mp4 - MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/elon-musk/polytopia-life-lessons-dark.mp4 - Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/elon-musk/polytopia-life-lessons.png - Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/elon-musk/polytopia-life-lessons-dark.png