I co-founded a startup with 2 other people and really regret that I didn't quit before the thing kind of imploded after 2 years. I was one of the worst experiences in my life and at the beginning I thought like this guy: oh yeah, life is not tough enough, it needs to get harder so it's challenging and I get somewhere. I wish I had failed fast and left this horrible experience after 3 months.

I'd love to hear more people like you (and me :-) ) Honesty about failures (whatever the reason) lacks so much down here and is so reassuring (when the "whatever" reason is outside oneself)...

Sure, but my statement stands. Life is about balance.

For you maybe. Probably not for Elon Musk.

There are only a few people per century at the level of Elon Musk. This isn't the same discussion.

[citation needed] There are, of course, many people "at the level" of Elon Musk. (I don't mean that flippantly, either.)

Sounds like you have that citation already on hand. Give me that list of many people doing the equivalent of sending people to Mars, changing the auto industry, and building an alternative energy empire.

> doing the equivalent of sending people to Mars

Musk isn't doing that. He likes to talk about it but there are many decades of work before it becomes viable (if it ever does.)