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

by Grant Cardone

The 10X Rule is based on understanding how much effort and thought are required to get anything done successfully.

The following is the basic series of mistakes people make when setting out to achieve goals: 1. Mistargeting by setting objectives that are too low and don't allow for enough correct motivation. 2. Severely underestimating what it will take in terms of actions, resources, money, and energy to accomplish the target. 3. Spending too much time competing and not enough time dominating their sector.

4. Underestimating the amount of adversity they will need to overcome in order to actually attain their desired goal.

It feels like work to most people because the payoff is not substantial enough and doesn't yield an adequate victory to feel like something that isn't “work.”

A person who limits his or her potential success will limit what he or she will do to create it and keep it.

When you have underestimated the time, energy, and effort necessary to do something, you will have “quit” in your mind, voice, posture, face, and presentation. You won't develop the persistence necessary to get your mission accomplished.

When you miscalculate the efforts you need to make something happen, you become visibly disappointed and discouraged.

A great manager will push a person to do more at the risk of coming up short, not target less.

Never reduce a target. Instead, increase actions. When you start rethinking your targets, making up excuses, and letting yourself off the hook, you are giving up on your dreams!

The 10X Rule assumes the target is never the problem. Any target attacked with the right actions in the right amounts with persistence is attainable.

success does not merely “happen.” It is the result of relentless, proper actions taken over time.

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.

That is why people become so inspired when they witness some great victory or performance. Seeing success in action invigorates us all and reduces our belief that our ability to accomplish something is “impossible.”

The moment you start thinking someone else's gain is your loss, you limit yourself by thinking in terms of competition and shortages.

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

Do not confuse this with some compulsive need for control; rather, it's simply a high-level, healthy sense of responsibility and a way for me to generate effective solutions.

Everything that happens in your life comes as a result of your own responsibility, not merely some outside force.

willing to take actions at massive levels, assume control, and take responsibility for every outcome.

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.

When average actions hit any resistance, competition, loss or lack of interest, negative or challenging market conditions, or all of these, you will find your project tumbling down.

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

success is your duty, obligation, and responsibility. And since there is no shortage of success, any apparent limitations you are experiencing might simply be the result of thinking and acting average.

When you are setting a goal, be sure you are clear about what you want it for, and then tie it to a greater purpose.

we see how obsession is a natural human state. It doesn't become a “problem” until a parent, caretaker, teacher—and eventually, society as a whole—begins suppressing this fixation.

I suggest that you become obsessed about the things you want; otherwise, you are going to spend a lifetime being obsessed with making up excuses as to why you didn't get the life you wanted.

It's interesting, however, that once the obsessed finally do become successful, they're no longer labeled as crazy but instead as geniuses, exceptions to the rule, and extraordinary.

Overcommit your energy, resources, creativity, and persistence.

you are not creating new problems for yourself, then you aren't taking enough action.

One of the major differences between successful and unsuccessful people is that the former look for problems to resolve, whereas the latter make every attempt to avoid them.

“I would rather die in expansion than die in contraction. I would rather fail pushing forward than in retreat.”

FEAR stands for False Events Appearing Real, which aptly implies that most of what you're afraid of doesn't ever come to pass.

Fear, for the most part, is provoked by emotions, not rational thinking.

The time is always now—and when you experience fear, it's a sign that the best time to take action is at that very moment.

Successful people think in terms of “all,” whereas unsuccessful people tend to place limits on themselves.

determine the total amount of time you have available and decide where you are going to allot time to each of these endeavors.

Log how you are spending your time daily—and I mean every single second. This will allow you to see all the ways in which you waste your time—the little habits and activities that in no way contribute to your success.

Receiving criticism is a surefire sign that you are well on your way.

When you start taking the right amount of action and therefore creating success, criticism is often not far behind.

This criticism can come in many forms. It may first show up as advice from others:

That is what lower performers do; they make others wrong for doing what is necessary in order to make themselves feel okay about doing nothing! The highest performers—the winners—respond by studying successful people and duplicating success.

The attainment of the customer is paramount to customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction cannot exist without a customer!

Brands that truly deliver customer satisfaction do not talk about customer service; they focus on customer acquisition.

I want everyone to have my products, not just some people. I want masses of people—not just a few—to know about me and my products. I won't be satisfied until 6 billion people do. I want everyone to purchase from me over and over, and I want to be on their minds so regularly—and make such an impact on them and their companies—that they never even think about using anyone else.

You want people to see you so often that they think of you constantly and instantaneously identify your face or name or logo with not just the offering you represent but even the offering made by those similar to you.

People of fame and influence achieve this status because they are compelled to fulfill their purpose by writing books, doing interviews, blogging, writing articles, accepting speaking engagements, and saying yes constantly to get attention for themselves, their companies, and their projects.

To do so, you have to get involved with your community, school system, neighborhood, and local politics. You have to attend and be seen at events, write in the local paper, and get connected to the players in your community.

“The best revenge is massive success.”

Excuses are never the reason for why you did or didn't do something. They're just a revision of the facts that you make up in order to help yourself feel better about what happened (or didn't).

a very distinct dissimilarity is that successful people simply don't make excuses.