"THE 10X RULE: THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE" by Grant Cardone

• The first thing that has to happen is for you to adjust your thinking to 10X levels and your actions to 10X quantities.
• Another component that's required for success is the ability to estimate the right amount of effort necessary for you—and your team—to achieve a goal.
• The 10X Rule is based on understanding how much effort and thought are required to get anything done successfully.
• Extraordinary by definition means anything outside the realm of what most normal people can and do achieve.
• Remember: Success is the degree or measure of attaining some desired object or end.
• Almost every problem people face in their careers and other aspects of their lives—such as failed diets, marriages, and financial problems—are all the result of not taking enough action.
• 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.
• Massive thoughts must be followed by massive actions.
• The 10X Rule is about pure domination mentality. You never do what others do. You must be willing to do what they won't do—and even take actions that you might deem “unreasonable.”
• 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.
• If you look around, you will likely see that humankind, by and large, tends to set targets at subpar levels.
• Only your 10X targets really pay off!
• “Succeed” literally means “to turn out well or to attain a desired object or end.” Success, then, is an accumulation of events turning out well or desired outcomes being achieved.
• Any desirable target or goal will always suggest something you have yet to accomplish.
• 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.
• Any target attacked with the right actions in the right amounts with persistence is attainable.
• Regardless of the timing, the economy, the product, or how big your venture is, the right acts done to the right degree over time will make you successful.
• Assume that every project you attempt will take more time, money, energy, effort, and people than you can imagine. Multiply every expectation you have by 10, and you will probably be safe.
• And always remember to follow through completely: That is the great common denominator of all winners. They see every action through to completion.
• I know you've probably heard this before, but success does not merely “happen.” It is the result of relentless, proper actions taken over time.
• The more actions you take, the better your chances are of getting “lucky.”
• the most crucial things to know about success—in order to have it and keep it— are the following: 1. Success is important. 2. Success is your duty. 3. There is no shortage of success.
• If you quit caring, then you quit winning; quit winning long enough, and you will just plain quit!
• Ask yourself how close you are to your full capability. You might not like the answer very much.
• If you don't consider it your duty to live up to your potential, then you simply won't.
• The reason why successful people seem lucky is because success naturally allows for more success.
• Success always comes as a result of earlier actions—no matter how seemingly insignificant they are or how long ago they were taken.
• You must constantly demand success as your duty, obligation, and responsibility.
• The way you view success is just as important as how you approach success.
• 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.
• people who typically succeed are required to take big actions—and it is impossible to take big actions if you don't take responsibility.
• You must understand—as I've already stated countless times—that success is not something that happens to you; it's something that happens because of you and because of the actions you take.
• To get where you want to go in life, you must adopt the view that whatever is going on in your world—good, bad, or nothing—is something caused by you.
• 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.
• The 10X Rule refers to massive amounts of action taken persistently over time.
• Until a person is done being a victim, he or she is unable to create solutions and success.
• There are no shortcuts. 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.
• Taking normal action is the most dangerous of the levels, because it is the most accepted by society.
• Massive action is actually the level of action that creates new problems—and until you create problems, you're not truly operating at the fourth stage of action.
• Cold “visiting” companies taught me more about taking massive action than any other activity I have ever done and has proved more valuable to me in my other ventures.
• People don't know you or about your new product—and the only way to burst through obscurity is by taking massive action.
• Taking massive action means making somewhat unreasonable choices and then following these up with even more action.
• The second you start hitting it big, you will immediately be judged by the mediocre.
• And in order to deliver at that level of massive action, you must take every opportunity that comes your way.
• Your only problem is obscurity, not talent.
• Massive action can never hurt you and will always help you.
• Money and power follow attention, so whoever can get the most attention is the person who takes the most action and sooner or later will get the most results.
• Anything conducted in standard amounts simply won't get the job done.
• So take it from me—you cannot plan on everything, and people will try to take from you what they are unable to create themselves.
• Succeed so big that no one person or event or series of missteps can take you down!
• Don't think average; think massive.
• Prepare for massive, persistent action, and you will win!
• Surround yourself with exceptional thinkers and doers.
• Remember, average anything will never get you to an extraordinary life.
• To maintain your enthusiasm, you have to make your goals substantial enough that they keep your attention.
• A good idea is to word your goals as though you've already accomplished them.
• 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.
• Realistic thinking is based on what others think is possible—but they are not you and have no way of knowing your potential and purposes.
• Many people find themselves on the path they're on simply because they're doing what other—average—people have done.
• “Small” thinking has and always will be punished in one way or another.
• Forward thinkers don't copy. They don't compete—they create. They also don't look at what others have done.
• Never make it your goal to compete. Instead, do everything you can to dominate your sector in order to avoid spending your time chasing someone else.
• How do you dominate, you may wonder? The first step is to decide to dominate. Then the best way to dominate is to do what others refuse to do. That's right—do what they will not do. This will allow you to immediately carve out a space for yourself and develop an unfair advantage.
• I want an unfair advantage if I can create one.
• The rules, norms, and traditions of any group or industry are usually traps that prevent new ideas, higher levels of greatness, and domination.
• never underestimate how much activity it takes to be noticed and to maintain attention in your space.
• Like every other aspect of growing your business, you have to keep showing up over and over and make it obvious that you are not going away.
• Your biggest problem is obscurity—other people don't know you and aren't thinking about you.
• The marketplace is brutal and will punish anyone and everyone who does not take the right amounts of action.
• The middle class is, in large part, a goal that will not provide you with what you truly want.
• To dominate your sector, your goal, dream, or ambition, you must first dominate your every interest, thought, and consideration.
• Most people make only enough effort for it to feel like work, whereas the most successful follow up every action with an obsession to see it through to a reward.
• 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.
• The most valuable chips you have are your mind-set, actions, persistence, and creativity.
• You can go “all in” with energy as many times as you want—because even if you fail, you can keep going all in!
• Most of society discourages the all-in mentality because we are taught to play it safe and not to put everything at risk.
• There are certain things in life that have limits, but you don't unless you impose limits on yourself.
• You can fail or succeed as many times as you want and then do it over and over again.
• Remember: There are no shortages of how many times you can get up and continue! There is no failure unless you quit!
• You have everything to gain and nothing to lose; you simply have to rethink your approach.
• Overcommit and overdeliver!
• Grand claims, overcommitment, and extreme promises will immediately separate you from the masses—and therefore force you to deliver at 10X levels.
• Learn to commit first, and figure out how to show up later.
• Simply put: If 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.
• So remember: Overcommit, be all in, and take massive levels of action followed up by massive amounts of more actions.
• Most companies fail not because they stay on the offensive but because they don't properly prepare themselves for expansion and cannot dominate the sector.
• Repeated attacks over extended periods of time will always be successful.
• You never want to blindly follow the masses; they are almost always wrong.
• Instead of following the pack, lead them!
• If you allow the economy to determine your choice, you will never be in control of your own economy.
• You want to expand with the goal of dominating your sector and getting attention by taking massive action.
• Keep taking action until you can't stop your forward momentum.
• Even after achieving successes along the way, continue to take more actions in order to exceed your goals.
• One of the problems with success is that it demands continuous attention. Success tends to bless those who are most committed to giving it the most attention.
• Remember: If you don't know (or know about) me, then it doesn't matter how good my product is or how low my price is.
• Sooner or later, you will experience fear when you start taking new actions at new levels. In fact, if you aren't, then you're probably not doing enough of the right things.
• Fear isn't bad or something to avoid; conversely, it's something you want to seek and embrace. Fear is actually a sign that you are doing what's needed to move in the right direction.
• I know it feels real when you are experiencing it, but admit it: Most of the time, what you fear doesn't even occur.
• Fear, for the most part, is provoked by emotions, not rational thinking.
• The 10X Rule compels you to separate yourself from everyone else in the market. And you do that by—as I emphasized earlier—doing what others refuse to do. Only in this way will you distinguish yourself and dominate your sector.
• Nothing happens without action.
• Now, the only thing that will make a difference is action.
• All the excuses in the world won't change one simple fact: that fear is a sign to do whatever it is you fear—and do it quickly.
• Taking massive action quickly and repeatedly will ensure that you appear fearless in the marketplace.
• The person who takes action on whatever he or she fears the most will be the person who advances his or her cause the most.
• Learn to look for and use fear so that you know exactly what you need to do to overcome it and advance your life.
• If you aren't experiencing fear, you are not taking new actions and growing. It's as simple as that.
• Successful people think in terms of “all,” whereas unsuccessful people tend to place limits on themselves.
• The moment you achieve one goal you've set for yourself, then it's time to establish a new target.
• Quit thinking in terms of either/or and start thinking in terms of all and everything.
• Most people have no clue what they are doing with their time but still complain that they don't have enough.
• The only way to increase time is to get more done in the time you have.
• You must first take control of your time—not allow others to do so.
• An easy way to achieve balance is to simply work harder while you are at the office.
• 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.
• You cannot blame your family for keeping you from creating the success you deserve. They should be the reason why you want to succeed!
• The busier you become, the more you have to manage, control, and prioritize.
• Wake up! No one is going to save you.
• Receiving criticism is a surefire sign that you are well on your way. Criticism is not something that you want to avoid; rather, it's what you must expect to come your way once you start hitting it big.
• When you start taking enough action, it won't be long before you're judged by people who aren't taking any.
• Laying low in order to avoid attention (and consequently, criticism) probably means that you're holding yourself back to some degree.
• Weak and overwhelmed individuals respond to others' success by attacking it.
• The highest performers—the winners—respond by studying successful people and duplicating success.
• Customer service is the wrong target; increasing customers is the right target.
• Make your primary focus commanding attention and generating customers before you worry about making them happy.
• The biggest problem with companies is that they never make a customer in the first place!
• Most people fail because they never get enough customers!
• Remember, customer satisfaction cannot exist without a customer first.
• The more people you serve, the better your chances are of interacting with quality customers.
• Domination of market share tends to trump all other things.
• You can't keep everyone happy all the time. It's a mistake to be scared of complaints.
• Complaints are your customers' very direct way of telling you exactly how to make your product better.
• If you truly want to find out what your organization's customer acquisition and loyalty weaknesses are, then survey the people who you do not acquire.
• Unless people know who you are, no one will pay attention to what you represent. You have to get people to know you, which means that you have to get attention. The more attention you get, the more places you will be; the more people you are with, the more you can be everywhere. And all of this will improve your chances of using your good name to do good work.
• You must think in terms of being everywhere at all times.
• The first thing you have to do is burst through obscurity and let the world know what you can do for it—and then do it relentlessly.
• You are capable of much more than you're doing now.
• Once involved do everything possible to stay active, have people see you, read you, hear you, and think about you. Say yes to every opportunity to get your word out.
• “The best revenge is massive success.”
• All powerful companies, ideas, products, and people are omnipresent. They can be found everywhere. They dominate their sector and become synonymous with that which they represent.
• Making excuses won't change your situation; only getting to the real reason behind it can do this. Excuses are for people who refuse to take responsibility for their life and how it turns out.
• The first thing to know about excuses is that they never improve your situation. The second thing to know is which ones you use on a regular basis.
• An excuse is just an alteration of reality; nothing about it will move you to a better situation.
• This book focuses on the many differences between the successful and the unsuccessful—and a very distinct dissimilarity is that successful people simply don't make excuses.
• Remember what I've said time and again throughout this book: “Nothing happens to you; it happens because of you.”
• Successful people talk, think, and approach situations, challenges, and problems differently than most people—and they definitely think about money differently.
• The only way to be successful is to take the same actions that successful people take. Success is no different than any other skill. Duplicate the actions and mind-sets of successful people, and you will create success for yourself.
• Even if you're not sure how to do something, the best answer is “I will figure it out”—not “I don't know.”
• Communicate to yourself and others that you are willing to do what is necessary to figure it out!
• Successful people see all situations—even problems and complaints—as opportunities.
• Remember: Success is overcoming a challenge. Therefore, you can't succeed without some kind of difficulty.
• Challenges are the experiences that sharpen successful people's abilities.
• Successful individuals love to seek out problems because they know that almost every problem is universal in some way or another.
• The bigger the problems—and the more people who benefit from the solution—the more powerful your success will be.
• One of the fastest and best ways to separate yourself from the masses is to establish yourself as someone who makes situations better, not worse.
• The ability to persist on a given path regardless of setbacks, unexpected events, bad news, and resistance—to continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, or course of action in spite of conditions—is a trait common to those who make it.
• Life is not a great deal different than Vegas; you must put something into the game in order to get a return. At some point, you will have to take a risk, and the successful are willing to do so daily.
• The successful are willing to take gambles—to put it all out there and know, regardless of the outcome, that they can go back and do it again. They allow themselves to be criticized, looked at, and seen by the world—while the unsuccessful hold back and play it safe.
• Being unreasonable requires that you act without rational consideration and not in accordance with practical realities.
• Being a 10X-er requires thinking and acting unreasonably.
• Most of the world is playing in accordance with some set of stupid, useless, reasonable rules that only ensure that you continue trudging along in bondage as a mere slave.
• Man would do nothing exceptional if it were not for the willingness to be unreasonable. So be one of the unreasonable ones.
• Massive action demands that you throw caution to the wind, even if it puts you in the path of danger.
• To do something big, you have to embrace danger. The way to ensure that danger doesn't kill you is to be sufficiently trained so that you can get into the ring and come out the victor.
• Attitude toward wealth is an especially significant distinction between the financially successful and the unsuccessful. Poor people believe they need to work in order to make money and then spend their lives either spending it on nothing of importance or conserving like crazy in order to protect it. The very successful know that the money is already created. They think in terms of generating wealth through the exchange of new ideas, products, services, and solutions.
• Think in terms of creating money and wealth, not salaries and conservation of funds.
• Income is taxed; wealth is not.
• The highly successful take unbelievable amounts of action.
• Your ability to take action will be a major factor in determining your potential success—and is a discipline that you should spend time on daily.
• Action is necessary in order to create success and can be the single defining quality that will enable you to make the list of successful people.
• To really go at it in life and in business, you have to say yes to everything.
• When given an option to do or not do something, always say yes!
• Give this a try: Say yes for now until you become so successful that you are forced to add “no” to your arsenal and start managing your time and efforts. Until then, make “yes” part of your successful habits.
• The successful fully and consistently commit to activities—some of which require them to put it all on the line.
• Unsuccessful people rarely commit to anything entirely.
• Commitment is actually one of the things of which there is a shortage.
• To acquire success, it is vital that you quit testing the water's temperature and simply jump in!
• Until an action is turned into a success, it is not done.
• Commit to being completely unreasonable and going all the way. Don't accept any excuses! No settling allowed!
• There exist only two times for the successful: now and the future.
• “Now” is the period of time that successful people utilize most often to create the futures they desire in order to dominate their environments.
• The successful understand that they must keep taking actions now. They're well aware that procrastination is the ultimate weakness.
• You will be amazed how much you can get done when you quit thinking, calculating, and procrastinating and just get on with it and make a habit of acting now.
• Action is necessary—and there is no time more valuable than now.
• Courage is that quality of mind or spirit that compels people to face dangerous situations in spite of fear.
• Courage comes to those who act, not to those who think, wait, and wonder. The only way to hone this trait is by taking action.
• Do things that scare you more frequently, and they will slowly begin to scare you a bit less—until they become so habitual that you wonder why you ever feared them in the first place!
• Successful people love change, whereas the unsuccessful do everything they can to keep things from changing.
• Although you never want to alter the things that are working, you should always look for ways to improve what you are doing.
• The willingness to accept change is a great quality of the successful.
• The unsuccessful always find work to be difficult because they never take enough time to improve their approach and make it easier on themselves.
• Successful people invest time, energy, and money in improving themselves.
• The most successful of the successful go beyond the concept of mere change and challenge traditional thinking.
• The most successful are looking to create traditions—not follow already established ones.
• Do not be a prisoner of the thinking agreed upon by others. Figure out ways to take advantage of the traditional thinking that holds others back.
• The successful are called “thought leaders” who design the future with forward thinking.
• Highly successful individuals are not concerned with the way things “have always been done”; they're interested in finding new and better ways.
• The successful are willing to challenge tradition in order to discover new and better ways to accomplish their goals and dreams.
• Successful people are highly goal-oriented and always pay more attention to the target than the problem.
• If you don't stay focused on your goals, you will spend your life achieving the objectives of other people—particularly those who are goal-oriented.
• Highly successful people continually seek and uncover reasons to stay perpetually provoked to new levels of success. This may be why successful people are never satisfied.
• Successful people don't value effort or work or time spent on an activity; they value the results. Unsuccessful individuals attach great importance to the time they spend at work and their attempts at getting results—even if nothing happens.
• Let's face it: Like it or not, the results are all that matter.
• Until you become completely, unreasonably fixated with only getting results, you will fall short of achieving what you desire.
• Be hard on yourself and never let yourself off the hook until you get results.
• Successful people dream big and have immense goals. They are not realistic.
• “Big think” changes the world.
• Most people assume that they have to figure everything out first and will commit once they do; however, they never seem to get around to it.
• Committing first means getting 100 percent behind whatever it is you are committing to before you figure out every detail. This is what allows small companies and wild entrepreneurs to outmaneuver other bigger, richer competitors.
• You can only do as well as the people around you.
• You can only be as successful as the individuals with whom you involve and associate yourself.
• You want everyone on your team winning and improving because this is likely to improve your game.
• Successful people make time for conventions, symposiums, and reading.
• The most successful people I know read everything they can get their hands on.
• The successful constantly talk about having people around them who are smarter, brighter, and more creative.
• The people with whom you surround yourself will have a great deal to do with whether you achieve your goals—or not.
• You have to interact with people who are better than you. It's the only way to become better yourself.
• Act now and then keep acting with the knowledge that enough actions taken now will create the future.
• When I get involved in something, I am completely unreasonable with the actions I take until I get the results I want.
• Start with first things first; make your initial list of goals, then a list of actions that will propel you in that direction. Then—without overthinking it—start taking those actions.
• Remember: Successful people embrace fear and discomfort!
• The goal has to be more valuable than the risk—or you have determined the wrong target.
• Remember: Successful people commit first and figure the rest out later.
• Be constantly prepared for success so that you can grab the opportunity when it comes along!
• Remember: Never quit adding wood and taking action, regardless of what others are doing.
• Fear is an indicator that you are moving in the right direction.
• Remember: Your only real problem is obscurity.
• No economy, no matter how bad, can hold down a goal that is followed by enough action.
• Training and learning are absolutely critical to your follow-through and the development of courage, persistence, unreasonable thinking, and especially discipline.
• Big thinking, massive actions, expansion, and risk taking are necessary for your survival and future growth. Staying small and quiet are just ways to continue being small and quiet.
• Commit to 10X thinking and 10X action. This is the major difference between success and the alternative.
• So the first thing to do, the secret to applying the 10X Rule, is to always understand the words and phrases of the subject you are learning. This has been a key point of my own success.