What My Grandmother Taught Me About Hard Work | Elon Musk

👵 What My British Grandmother Taught Me About Hard Work (While Cleaning Houses for Food) – Elon Musk
My Nana, Cora Amelia Robinson, cleaned houses during the Great Depression so her family could eat. She was one of those poor working-class girls with no one to protect her. What she taught me about work shaped everything I’ve built since.
Her Story:
Born into poverty in England, bombed during WWII, cleaned wealthy people’s houses to survive. Never spoke about it with shame – to her, it was honest work that served a purpose.
What She Taught Me:
💪 “There’s no such thing as work that doesn’t matter if it’s done with dignity”
⚡ Excellence is a habit, not a destination
🎯 How you do anything is how you do everything
❤️ When you take someone’s money, you give them your best effort
How It Shaped Me:
When I was stuffing envelopes at my first startup, feeling like I was wasting my talent, I remembered Nana scrubbing floors with pride. If she could clean houses with excellence, I could do ANY work with excellence.
The Lesson That Built Tesla & SpaceX:
You can’t turn excellence on and off like a switch. The same attention to detail she brought to cleaning houses is what we bring to building rockets. Every component matters. Every detail matters.
For Women 60+:
This honors the invisible labor that built families and shaped generations. The housekeepers, cleaners, and working women whose dignity and strength echo through time.
The Truth:
Work isn’t just about what you produce – it’s about who you become through the process. Cora Amelia Robinson never built companies, but she built something more important: character.
💬 What did your grandmother teach you about work and dignity? Share her wisdom below.