The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone
About
Making big promises is what Grant Cardone does. So it comes as no surprise when he tells us that his 10X rule will guarantee success beyond our wildest dreams. But this is not some cheap gimmick or shortcut. The 10X Rule requires you to rethink everything you thought you knew about business and life management.
Cardone is on a mission to help people bust out of the confines of “average” “normal” and “practical”. In order to achieve the massive results he promises, you must be prepared to start taking massive action. This means setting sky-high goals and busting your butt to reach them. It means doing 10 times more than your colleagues and competitors, in order to not only rise above, but set the example for all others to follow. The big ideas from this book will also teach you how to banish fears, excuses and procrastination by showing you how to assume control over all aspects of your life, even the things you imagine are beyond your control. Cardone will show you how to say goodbye to being a victim of circumstance, and say hello to becoming the master of your life.
Here’s what you’ll learn about in this summary:
- Why setting your targets at seemingly impossible high levels is the necessary first step towards beginning to take massive action.
- Why you need to assume responsibility for everything in your life – even situations that seem entirely down to bad luck – hurricanes, bad economy, illness, etc.
- Why it is crucial that you are prepared to overcommit and then obsess about following through.
Links
- Podcast: The 10X Rule | Free on Apple Podcasts
Downloads
- Book Summary (PDF) | Download with a subscription »
- Audiobook Summary (MP3) | Download with a subscription »
Crucial Quotes
”This is the focus of the 10X Rule: You must set targets that are 10 times what you think you want and then do 10 times what you think it will take to accomplish those targets.”
“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.”
“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.”
Tweetable Summary
- Set massive goals. Back them up with massive action. Learn how to dominate your field and don’t rest until everyone knows your name.
Summary: The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
1. Aim 10X higher and do 10X more.
“A person who limits his or her potential success will limit what he or she will do to create it and keep it.”
Whatever we seek to accomplish – writing a book, losing weight, achieving the perfect relationship with our significant others – Cardone tells us that the desire to achieve those goals is the crucial element to achieving them. But too many people try to set limits on their desire. They tell themselves and others that they don’t need wild success. But this kind of thinking is dangerous because when we limit the scope of our desire, we limit the scope of what we are willing to do to reach our goals. Cardone pleads with us to forget ideas of practicality and reasonableness and adequacy. The only way that we will achieve any measure of success is to reach for the stars, and to take 10 times as much action as anyone else to reach them.
While some insist that setting impossible goals kills motivation, and that it is better to underpromise and overdeliver, Cardone retaliates that this line of thinking is foolish. Lofty targets will only spur you on harder, to do more and try more than anyone else. And that even if we fall short, it is better to fall short from a massive target than fall short or even reach a puny target. Cardone set a goal at the same time he was writing this book to start his own TV show. Countless people told him that such a goal was foolish and that he had no chance. But by the time he wrapped up the book, he had multiple production companies interested in producing his show and had lined up companies who were tripping over themselves to be part of his program. A target most called impossible had been achieved.
But setting the high target is only the first step. The second step is to take 10 times the amount of action you think is necessary to reach that target. For Cardone, when he was first starting his consulting business, this meant making 10 times the number of cold calls in a day than he thought necessary or even reasonable. It meant pushing himself to his outer limits to achieve his goals.
And Cardone insists that the magic of his rule is that the more action you take, the more energized you become to do even more.
When we’ve got puny, uninspiring goals, we tend to feel lethargic and unmotivated to achieve them.
On the flip side, when we’ve got huge and ambitious goals, we feel empowered and invigorated to take action towards achieving them.
Bottom line? Set massive goals. Take massive action.
2. Approach success as your duty, responsibility and obligation.
“Treating success as an option is one of the major reasons why more people don’t create it for themselves – and why most people don’t even get close to living up to their full potential.”
Many people live “mere existences”, according to Cardone. They drift along without trying for success because they view success as not that important and as a matter of happenstance. But Cardone insists that success is actually an ethical issue – that we have a duty to strive for success. Just as a parent considers it their duty to give their child the best opportunities in life, so it is the duty of each and every one of us to give ourselves the best opportunity possible. None of us live in a vacuum – we have friends, family, colleagues and even employees who want–and even depend upon–us to succeed. We owe it to them and ourselves to commit to achieving success.
In addition, Cardone tells us to break from the myth that success is a zero-sum game, when the reality is that there is no shortage of success. One person’s success does not limit the amount of success that someone else can achieve.
On the contrary, success breeds success.
When we surround ourselves with people setting those high targets and taking massive action, it energizes us and gives us good examples to follow. And in turn, our success spurs others on.
