The 10X Rule

If you could pick up just one book to change your life, then this is it! The 10X Rule is the Holy Grail for those who desire success. Not only will it teach you how to act and think to guarantee success, but it will also ensure that you continue operating with this mindset throughout your life and career. You’ll find through the 10X rule that you have more courage and less fear, you’ll eliminate procrastination and insecurities while revitalizing your life, dreams, and goals. While this may sound too good to be true, it’s not, it’s a proven method that works. Through decades of success, Grant Cardone has found the common denominator for success, and that is the 10X rule. It will show you how to define the correct goals, estimate the effort needed, discern how to approach your projects with the right frame of mind, and then determine exactly how much action to take. However, if you’re one of those people who think success is just going to come to you accidentally, then you’re in the wrong place. The 10X rule is for those who are willing to put in the hard work and dedication, those who have the discipline to do what it takes to succeed. The good news is that the 10X rule doesn’t discriminate, it can ensure your success regardless of your talent, education, financial situation, organizational skills, time management, the industry you are in, or the amount of luck you have. Once you begin to apply this rule to your own life, you’ll learn how to operate at new and higher levels than you ever thought possible!

People live their entire lives waiting for success to just “fall into their laps,” thinking it’s something that just happens to those who wait patiently. But as any successful person will tell you, success takes hard work and determination. There’s more than one way to find it, but Grant Cardone has spent his life finding a path that works. That’s where the 10X rule comes in.

The 10X mindset means that you should put forth ten times the effort of everyone around you. This may sound difficult at first, but if you aren’t willing to put in the extra effort, then you’ll never be able to stand out from your peers. For instance, for every phone call Cardone’s coworker would make, Cardone would make it his goal to make ten. By making this goal, he was putting himself in front of ten times the number of customers his coworker was. Eventually, this method showed both his boss and customers that he was a man of perseverance and determination which led to a promotion.

The 10X rule, however, isn’t just simply about putting in the effort. The second half of the rule is making your goals ten times bigger than what is considered realistic. When people set goals, they typically set attainable ones that they know they can achieve. While this may seem like a practical idea, setting these goals holds you back. At first, you may think that your goals are impossible, but that’s the point! The higher you set your goals, the harder you are willing to work to achieve them. Plus, when you fail to achieve a seemingly impossible goal, you aren’t as devasted as when you fail to achieve a mediocre one, right? For example, if your goal is to save $100,000, then set your goal to save one million dollars!

Once you’ve thought about the lofty goals that you wish to achieve, write them down at least once a day. You read that right, once a day. Most people write down their goals just once a year, which is a great start but it fails to keep your goals at the forefront of your mind. If youwrite them down once a day, you’ll cement the goals in your mind and become more likely to stay on track to achieve them.

When it comes to beginning a new project, people tend to underestimate the amount of effort it will take to achieve. This practice is normal, Cardone himself has made the same mistake before. If you find yourself in this situation, the most important thing is to keep a positive mindset and remind yourself that you can accomplish anything. You see, it is usually when people are looking at a daunting task that they adopt a “quitting” mindset; however, if you adopt the 10X rule then you’ll be prepared for even the most difficult of tasks.

The 10X rule is about being ready to confront the challenges that may come along the way. For instance, say that you are launching a new product and aim to sell 100,000 items when your competitors are shooting for only 10,000. By setting your sights on 100,000 items, you’ll be able to handle a large number of orders because you’ve planned to handle the large capacity. Many others would fail in this situation as they failed to prepare for a large influx of orders.

The 10X rule also means adopting a mindset in which you believe that there is enough success to go around. While many people believe that success is a destination, the 10X rule means understanding that success is ongoing and unlimited. There is enough room in the world for more than a few successful people, success isn’t a finite resource that will eventually run out. Others believe that if you are winning, then someone else is losing. However, this isn’t necessarily true. Instead, every single person has the opportunity to become successful as long as they put forth the effort and strive to achieve it.

Not only is success unlimited, but it is also a duty. As mentioned previously, success isn’t just casually going to arrive at your doorstep. However, it took some time for Cardone to accept this reality. For instance, when Cardone was 25 years old, his life revolved around drugs and partying. He was going through life aimlessly, without purpose. His life was unstable, and he woke up one day realizing that his lifestyle was unsustainable and unfulfilling. From that day forward, Cardone transformed his mindset about his sales job and began to devote his time to being the best in the industry.

Cardone made a second realization about success at the age of 50. It was during this time that he realized that he was becoming too comfortable in life, he needed to continue his pursuit of success in order to live a fulfilled life. So Cardone began approaching everything in his life with the 10X mindset. For instance, when it comes to parenting, Cardone and his wife believe it is an honor and a responsibility to be their best for the sake of their children. And that means never stopping in the pursuit of success.

When it comes to successful people, they tend to think big. This thinking requires taking responsibility for your actions and adopting a high-accountability perspective. When you adopt this mindset, blaming others for things that happen will only limit your future success. This means that when things go wrong, you take accountability even if it’s not directly your fault. Ifyou take accountability, you’ll better prepare yourself and ensure the same mistakes don’t happen again.

For instance, if the electricity goes out in your neighborhood and you begin to suffer from the effects, you can take responsibility and determine what you can do to prevent this situation from happening again. Taking accountability for things outside your control means understanding that even when things go wrong, you can control something in every situation even if it’s just your perspective. So stop playing the victim and begin to take responsibility for your life and forget the excuses.

So when you’re faced with an obstacle, you have four options according to Cardone: take no action, retreat, take enough action, or take extraordinary action. It’s the last of these options that is the key to success, and while it may seem like a foreign concept, you’ve been instilled to take massive action since childhood. Think of yourself as a child, you didn’t know anything but how to take massive action. When children are faced with a challenge, they run towards it headfirst. They don’t pause to think of the consequences like adults do.

It’s time to adopt the mindset of a child and begin taking massive action. When you get to this stage, you’ll find that the more action you take, the more problems you create. Don’t let this discourage you, new problems are a good sign. It means that you are taking action and it even gives you other things to apply yourself to. You may also experience critics trying to knock you down, but keep your goal in mind and keep moving forward. In fact, if you’re getting criticism, that means people are noticing, so you must be doing something right!

When you think of the word “average,” you might think of comfortability or just simply being good enough. You might think of yourself as average. Working an average amount of hours, making an average amount of money, and doing many other average things. According to Cardone, however, being average is dangerous. He even calls this the “average epidemic.” Working an average job will lead to failure, but why? Well, when the American economy shifts towards technology, those working average jobs become most susceptible to market job changes, which can have devastating consequences.

However, when it comes to the 10X rule, you shouldn’t accept average in any area of your life. Accepting an average bank account could lead to financial ruin if you aren’t prepared for an event that you can't afford. Don’t fall in the trap of believing that average is good enough, you’ll never find success if you stay in this mindset. Speaking of average, it’s also dangerous to strive for a middle-class life.

Individuals in the middle-class usually make between $35,000 to $50,000 which sounds pretty good, but if you look at some of the “best places” to live in the United States, like New York or Los Angeles, this salary is simply too small. Instead, you need to break away from the “middle-class thinking” by getting out there and doing something productive. So many people in the middle class spend their time watching TV or scrolling through social media because they are comfortable in the lives they lead. Cardone calls this the “middle-class squeeze.”

This squeeze occurs when the cost of living rises but the middle-class wages don’t. The upper class doesn’t quite feel this squeeze because they aren’t directly in the workforce, and the lower class receives government aid. In the end, the middle-class families are the ones who suffer the most, making the middle-class a dangerous place to be when the squeeze occurs. Cardone advises to stop striving for average or middle-class, instead, set your sights high and break away from just being good enough.

When you think of the word “obsessive,” you typically think of something negative, like someone obsessively stalking an ex-lover. However, Cardone argues that when you become obsessive over something, like success, you can’t go wrong! In fact, when you become obsessed with your dream, you’re far more likely to make it a reality. The best way to become obsessive is to go all-in and commit.

While you’re thinking that going all-in sounds risky, it is. Think about the game of poker, you might go all in and get nothing, but you also might take home everything. Luckily, life isn’t as risky as a game of poker. What Cardone means is that if you go all-in on your ideas, then you are simply investing the necessary time and energy. For instance, if you plan on starting a business, then you need to plan to over-commit. Spend your time and energy gaining new clients and trying to make sales. Take as many steps as needed, including sending out e-mails, posting on social media, and making phone calls. And once you’ve done all that, do it again.

Before you over-commit yourself, you’ll need to identify your goals. Make those goals lofty enough so that you become motivated to achieve them. To do this, begin choosing objectives that seem near impossible and go all-in, this means that you’ll need to be creative and think outside of the box to come up with solutions. It’s during these times that many people fail, they find the obstacles they face too hard to overcome so they simply give up. However, using every ounce of energy that you have to find creative solutions will lead to success.

At the end of the day, over-committing yourself and becoming obsessive over your goals will only help you achieve them. Once you begin to increase the appointments you make and the people you talk to, you’ll soon find that your sales are increasing by ten times. All of this can happen just because you chose to commit yourself fully and devote your time and energy into achieving your dreams.

How many times do you find yourself wondering how you’re going to do it all? In today’s world, we run around completing task after task and it feels as if there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. The solution that many people find is time management, they learn how to divide up their time to get it all done, right? Well, Cardone believes that time management is a myth, and here’s why: time management is for people who don’t believe they can have it all.

In other words, Cardone believes that setting priorities in your life is important; however, when you “manage” your time, it creates the mindset that you can’t have it all. On the other hand, once you realize that you can have everything you dreamed of, then you’ll no longer needto try and budget your time. So, instead of saying “I don’t have enough time,” start finding the time. For instance, when you go home and waste time watching TV or surfing the internet, you could be using that time more wisely.

Since it’s impossible to buy more time, you’ll need to find ways to increase what you do with your time. For instance, if you usually send about five emails an hour, aim to send ten. Similarly, if you make five phone calls, aim for fifteen. Challenge yourself to reach goals that will boost your productivity. And don’t just apply this rule to your work life, apply it to your personal life too. If you have children, work on making the time you spend with them quality time. Instead of simply watching TV together, do an activity. Not only will they have more fun, but you will too.

Once you realize that you don’t need to “manage” your time, you’ll learn how to use it more wisely and begin seeing success. When this happens, you’ll inevitably experience criticism along the way, that’s normal. You’ll experience even more criticism when you aim for omnipresence. What is omnipresence? Simply put, an omnipresent company has widespread recognition. There are many companies that achieved this goal of being everywhere. In the fast-food industry, you have McDonald’s and when it comes to social media, Facebook comes to mind. These companies are recognized by everyone which should be the goal you aim for.

To achieve omnipresence, you’ll need to increase your exposure which takes a big commitment. Don’t worry about people becoming annoyed with you and your company. If anything, those people know who you are and what your company is, so your overexposure is working! Keep pushing forward and do whatever you need to do to continue making yourself known, whether it’s scheduling more interviews or posting on social media, do anything you can to make your name known.

Now that you know how to apply the 10X rule to your life, the final question is: how do you start your journey to success? Before you can answer this question, you’ll need to decide what success looks like for you. Many believe that you can determine success by looking at a person’s educational or economical background, but that’s not true. Instead, success is a mindset.

In fact, successful people have many things in common, but most importantly, they have a “can-do” attitude. The way you approach situations is one of the most valuable skills that can lead to success. When successful people are faced with a problem, they say, “I will figure it out.” They don’t blame others or adopt a victim mindset, instead, they think creatively and find a solution. For instance, when it comes to customer satisfaction, successful people take that criticism and learn from it. They believe complaints are valuable and use them as an opportunity to improve.

Next, successful people have perseverance. You will never meet a successful person who has given up in the face of difficulty, instead, you’ll find people who kept going no matter how hard it became. Successful people have a persistence that will take them to new heights, they are willing to take risks, they don’t accept sub-par results, and they don’t “earn” money. Instead,they create wealth. So what is wealth? Wealth doesn’t just mean money, it also includes ideas, values, and services. For example, just owning a house and renting it out creates a passive income that you can use to pay your own mortgage! “Making” money doesn’t exist, money is already there, you just need to learn how to access it.

So how can you get started with the 10X rule? First, begin by looking at successful people and determine what qualities they have that you don’t. Perhaps they wake up earlier than you do, if that’s the case, you need to create a schedule in which you can wake up earlier. For example, once Cardone’s daughter was born, he began waking up one hour earlier to spend quality time with her while his wife slept in. By waking up just an hour earlier, he could have it all. He had quality time with his daughter without sacrificing the quality of his work.

Once you decide what you need to change, make a list of goals and write them down. Don’t worry about how you’ll achieve those goals just yet, simply tell yourself that they will be achieved. Then, list some actions you will need to take to accomplish these goals and start doing them! If waking up earlier is an action you need to take, then do it. Post on social media, make phone calls, do everything times ten. Once you begin to implement your actions, you’ll be on your way to operating your life under the 10X rule. Most importantly, stay focused and persevere and you’ll be able to find success too.

When it comes to the 10X rule, the key is to seek out results that are ten times better than your current situation. Once you’ve defined how to do that, you must then put in 10 times the amount of effort deemed necessary to achieve it. The most common mistake people make is underestimating what they can accomplish, so think of a realistic goal and then multiply it by ten! Shift your focus and reach for goals beyond what you think is realistically possible, then put in ten times the amount of effort you think is needed. Not only will you begin to work harder, but you’ll also begin reaching goals you once viewed as impossible. Have faith in your abilities, keep a positive attitude, and go all-in on your dreams and you’ll see how the 10X method can change your life.