The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure

by Grant Cardone

Unlike a product that is manufactured and inventoried, there is no “limit” as to how much success can be created.

I've found that most—if not all—shortages are simply manufactured notions.

Being dependent on only a single thing or person for success will limit your chances of achievement.

Success for anyone or any group is ultimately a positive contribution to all people and all groups as it provides validation of the possibilities to all.

Erase any concepts you might have that success is limited only to some and only in certain amounts.

it is impossible to take big actions if you don't take responsibility.

It is equally impossible to do something positive when you are spending your time making excuses.

success is not something that happens to you; it's something that happens because of you and because of the actions you take.

People who refuse to take responsibility generally don't do well at taking much action and subsequently don't do well in the game of success.

Successful people hate the blame game and know that it is better to make something happen—good or bad—than to have it happen to you.

No game in life is truly enjoyable without first accepting control over your understanding of the game, how you play the game, and then the outcome of the game.

Once you decide to take control and increase responsibility, you will start to find successful solutions to making your life better!

Never take the position that things just happen to you; rather, they happen because of something you did or did not do.

Assuming control will cause you to start to look at what you can do to make sure negative events don't take place so that you can improve the quality of your life and reduce the occurrence of seemingly random unfortunate events.

Good things don't happen to victims; bad things do—quite frequently—and all you have to do is ask them.

Begin to ask yourself after every unpleasant encounter or event, “What can I do to reduce my chances of it happening again—or even ensure that it doesn't happen again?”

Until a person is done being a victim, he or she is unable to create solutions and success. That person only has problems.

It was only until I truly started to believe that nothing happens to me; it happens because of me that I was able to start operating at 10X levels.

I started to believe that although I may not always have a say in what happens to me, I always have a choice about how I respond to it.

The more action you take, the better your chances are of getting a break.

Disciplined, consistent, and persistent actions are more of a determining factor in the creation of success than any other combination of things.

Your four choices are: 1. Do nothing. 2. Retreat. 3. Take normal levels of action. 4. Take massive action.

Someone who takes average actions but is capable of much more is really electing to do some variation of doing nothing or retreating.

Signals that you're taking massive action are having people comment upon and admire your level of activity.

the only way to burst through obscurity is by taking massive action.

I have never had someone who is more successful than I am considering my excessive action to be a bad thing—because successful people know firsthand what it takes to achieve this kind of success.

But remember: If you don't create new problems, then you're not taking enough action.

You will know you are stepping into the realm of massive action when you (1) create new problems for yourself and (2) start to receive criticism and warning from others.

that you are never safe to move to normal levels of involvement and activity. Once you do so, I assure you, what you have and what you dreamed of will start to disappear. This holds true for your health, marriage, wealth, and spiritual condition. Normal gets you just that—normal.

Anything that you give only average amounts of attention to will start to subside and will eventually cease to exist.

Average is also the reason why most new companies fail.

Most people are building business plans based on average considerations and ways of thinking, not the massive amounts of action that are necessary to push through.

Average assumes—incorrectly, of course—that everything operates stably.

People optimistically overestimate how well things will go and then underestimate how much energy and effort it will take just to push things through.

Don't think average; think massive.

Prepare for massive, persistent action, and you will win!

Average never yields anything more than average and usually much less.

Rid yourself of every concept of average.

I believe that one of the major reasons why people don't stick to their goals and fail to accomplish them is because they fail to set them high enough from the beginning.

The reality is that if you start small, you are probably going to go small.

People's failure to think big enough usually means they will never act big enough, often enough, or persistently enough!

Your goals are there to fuel the actions you will need to take—so make them big and make them often and then tie them in with your other greater purposes.

Ask yourself whether the goals you have set are equal to your potential.

Never set realistic goals; you can get a realistic life without setting goals for it.

Realistic thinking is based on what others think is possible—

You—and your goals—are manipulated by your surroundings.

You have much more potential than you realize.

However, in the business world, you always want to be in a position to dominate—not compete.

“If competition is healthy, then domination is immunity!”

Don't set your goals at a competitive level. Set them at a level that will overshadow and dominate your sector completely.