Be Obsessed or Be Average

by Grant Cardone

“Grant, you post too much. I had to block you.” I replied, “Love me or hate me, at least now you know me.”

Haters are going to hate, while the obsessed are going to create.

No one creates an explosive business or the next big thing by staying inside the lines of what people expect of them.

I love knowing that all the people who have done me wrong or counted me out can see me flying private, read about me in a magazine, open Twitter or Facebook or Periscope and see me reposted and liked, or walk through an airport and see my books in the bookstore window.

I have felt the most confused in my life when I had more choices than I could handle. What I realized is that it is ultimately up to you to set rules for yourself.

break down and analyze each area of your life so that you can dominate those that are most important to you. Turn them into vital fuel for your obsessions.

Until you learn how to get rid of the negative and to focus completely on your potential and your goals, somehow you will always feel you are falling short. But when you define your real obsessions and make them the things you invest all your time and energy in, everything will start to change. You will be obsessed by choice, not by pain.

Easy: I write down the parts of my life that I want to be great in, and then I become obsessed with making time for them rather than making excuses.

I don’t manage time—I create time.

What is your money mantra? What do you think about money? How much is a lot of money to you? How much is too much money? How much is too little money? What are your negative ideas about money? Do you spend most of your time trying to save money? How much time do you spend connecting with new money? How do you act when you see the price of something in a store or at a restaurant?

What you are obsessed with will become a reality. If you’re obsessed with money problems, you’ll always have money problems. If you focus on understanding what money means to you, positively, you’ll figure out how to get more of it.

You can’t learn anything from penny savers and misers who can squeeze a quarter until the eagle cries.

It doesn’t take money to make money; it takes courage.

I take the attitude that money is everywhere. Everyone has money, and if they are treated right and provided with what they asked for (and more than that), they will happily give me their money. My battle cry is “Who’s got my money?”

focus on how much money there is and on getting in front of those people who need what you’re offering.

Be obsessed about your people doing well, and you will become a giant in their lives. Show a man or a woman how to produce more money than they ever dreamed while pursuing a greater purpose, and they will become loyal and dedicated.

what it meant to be a “sales genius.”

Being a sales genius also meant I could talk about different topics within sales,

Once I had this list, I came up with a short statement of who I am and why I dominate this particular area of expertise.

“I am the Godfather of Sales. No one is better, no one is more current, no one is more effective or relevant than me.

Next I came up with the benefits I could offer others in each of these categories to further clarify my message to the world about what I can do for people.

Can you fill up the ocean by throwing a rock into

Avoiding danger makes sense only if you want to make cents.

The only way to reduce risk is to take risk.

Comfort is your biggest threat—because in your effort to find it or maintain it, you lose out on making gains toward your potential.

Being the biggest fish in the smallest pond will be the death of your ambitions.

There is no growth in staying where you are. There is no opportunity in comfort.

If you’re not constantly connecting with new people, who are more influential and smarter, you are putting yourself in harm’s way.

“I would rather others think less of me than think less of myself.

Shift your energy into offensive spending and investing. Be obsessed with putting every ounce of your energy, time, money, and other resources into the accumulation of new income.

Return on investment is a lie you tell yourself so that you don’t think you need to spend money.

Your top line must be the priority.

When you invert the traditional “savings first” mentality and start obsessing about how much money you can reinvest, something magical happens. You are forced to go out and create, to think of new ways you can build your business up. You start to conquer new markets to get new income.

It takes guts and courage to make...

you have to embrace and become obsessed with every technology that can introduce you to unfamiliar people, strange environments, and new things.

I make a decision to own the place, the stage, or the interview. I decide what I know, what I can offer and gain, and I live and die by that.

I always play the role of someone who knows what he’s doing and who is massively successful, even if I’m not yet. I become the guy who acts as if he knows what he is doing, talks like he knows what he is doing, and knows that he can sell anyone on anything.

if I am not scared, I start to worry that I am not challenging myself with new things.

Are you expanding and re-creating who you are? If not, you are stagnating. Are you reaching for new audiences? If not, you are becoming obsolete. Are you creating new products? If not, you are uninspired. Are you developing new streams of income? If not, you are on your way to losing money. Are you the biggest fish in a small pond? If so, you are getting lazy. Are you the smartest person in the room? If so, you are asking for boredom. Are you always worried about one client? If so, your pipeline is not full enough. Are you scared at this very moment? If you aren’t, then you aren’t doing the things that are worth doing.

To make sure you are continuing to be engaged with sales, ask yourself: Is what I am doing every day making a difference for the better? Do I love my product? Do I love selling my product? Do I own my own product? Have I insisted that my family buy my product? Should people go into debt for my product? Do I continue to call people back after they have told me they are not interested? Could I charge double for my product and still make sense of the cost?

Either commit yourself to loving your product or service until you actually, truly do—as I did when I was selling cars—or change your product offering.

If you are not obsessed with closing, you won’t.

Go into every sales situation and customer interaction believing you can close the sale.

First off, you should never, ever lower a target—that is the definition of failure. Instead, push yourself and others to increased action. I don’t lower my dreams, goals, or belief in myself; I increase the pressure I put on myself.

Show me the numbers. The more important the number is, the more often I want to see it. I have some sales reported to me every hour. The obsessed sales manager wants to keep track of and see all activity: sales attempts, sales contacts, presentations, phone calls, contacts made, proposals, appointments, decisions, and closes. I collect stats on everything important to me in the sales cycle,

I don’t care if your sales meeting is a virtual meeting online, a conference call, or in person—it must be done daily. If you expect your people to be as obsessed with sales and new revenue as you are, meet with them daily and feed their vision. If you work for yourself, you should still have a sales meeting every day, even if you’re the only attendee.

Write down your goals. Keep track of your metrics. Use CRM software and keep track of your contacts, your calls, everything. Analyze your data and use the math to fuel future actions—just as you would if you had a roster of people behind you.

Before they start making calls, go over your basic sales presentation. Go over the pitch. Work it out. Have your team perform the pitch, not just tell you what it is.

Have everyone repeat it. Then cover the three or four biggest objections they might hear that day, so your team isn’t hearing them for the first time with a live customer, and talk about how to address them.

My goal every morning is to get my sales team doing one amazing thing,