The 10X Rule: Summary + Personal Thoughts

43 min readJan 16, 2024

This summary is also available on my new website dedicated to these book summaries. Check it out here: .phenyo

The Book in 3 Sentences

What success should be defined as.
How goals should be set.
What to do after your goals have been set (your actions) to achieve them.

Impressions

This book changed how I saw goal setting and the work/action needed to achieve said goals. It heavily suggests reaching for goals that are 10X your original goals in order to fall short on a goal that’s rather difficult/hard to achieve rather than falling short on a goal that’s rather average. Grant says this is how success is achieved — through forcing oneself to reach for more than they ever thought of reaching.

How I Discovered It

I first heard of this book from a YouTuber mentioning books everyone should read. I found it at my school library and almost immediately borrowed the copy.

Who Should Read It?

This book is for people who wish to improve any and all aspects of their lives greatly or achieve great success. The rule isn’t specific to any field. It can be used in the financial field, the spiritual, even physical (even when trying to get a good summer body you always wanted). It works for anyone.

How the Book Changed Me

How my life / behaviour / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading the book.

It helped me see goal setting through clearer lenses.
It helped me understand the power of pushing past what is expected into what it seen as weird or too trying, and all the rewards that come with it.
It helped me form a practical, low friction goal setting habit one can implement every day of the week.

My Top 3 Quotes

Any target attacked with the right actions in the right amounts with persistence is attainable.
It’s not enough to just play the game. It’s vital that you learn to win it.
Most people only work enough so that it feels like work, whereas successful people work at a pace that gets such satisfying results that work is a reward.

Summary + Notes

1. What is the 10X Rule?

The 10X Rule is the only thing that will guarantee you success beyond what you thought imaginable.
The 10X Rule: Setting targets 10 times what you think you want and following up with 10 times the action needed to match & meet those targets.
It works for every area of life including physical, mental, emotional, familial and financial.
The 10X rule is about pure mental domination. You should never do what others do and you must be willing to do what others aren’t willing to do. You should be able to even take actions that may seem “unreasonable”.
It’s not about controlling others — rather being a model for others’ thoughts and actions.
You are looking to dominate the whole sector, and not just some part of it. It’ll take some unreasonable actions to do so.

Mistakes People Make when Setting out to Achieve Goals:

Mistargeting by setting goals that are way too low that don’t allow for the proper motivation.
Severely underestimating what it will take in terms of actions, resources, money and energy to meet the set goal.
Spending too much time competing and not enough time dominating the sector.
Underestimating the amount of adversity, they will need to overcome in order to attain their set goal.

A person who limits his/her potential success will limit what he or she will do to create and keep it.
Commit to 10X goals and 10X actions.

2. Why the 10X Rule is Vital

Regardless of how superior your product, service or proposition is, there will be something you don’t anticipate or plan correctly. Unexpected events. Economic changes, competition, etc.
This should prepare you for the biggest opportunities to come.
10X thinking and 10X actions are what will get you through these difficult events. Money can only help, not do the job for you.
Most people (including managers) make the mistake of reducing their target when faced with adversity instead of increasing activity as a first response.
This mistake should never cross your mind as an option.
This mindset reduces morale, hope, expectations and skill, and sooner or later, everyone will start making excuses on why they can’t do something. Giving up on their dreams.
It sends the message that targets are unimportant and the only way to win is to move the finish line.
A great manager (or person) would instead push themselves & their team to do more at the risk of coming up short, not target less.
Never reduce a target, instead, increase action.
Any target attacked with the right actions in the right amounts with persistence is attainable.
Don’t misjudge the amount of effort needed to complete a goal or breach the market.
Follow through completely: The great common denominator of all winners.
You have to be in it to win it.
Success doesn’t just “happen”. It’s the result of relentless, proper action over time.

3. What is Success?

The definition really depends on where someone is in life, his/her intentions, the conditions one faces and who you focus most of your attention on.
Success can be found in any number of realms:

Financial
Spiritual
Physical
Mental
Emotional
Philanthropic
Communal
Familial or more.

However, the most crucial things to know about success is that:

Success is important.
It is your duty.
There is no shortage of success.

Success is Important

Success is vital to the wellbeing of the individual (regardless of the background), their dreams, family and group — especially for the survival of these things.
It provides confidence, security and comfort. And leadership for others in terms of what’s possible.
Without success, everything mentioned above (including civilization) would cease to exist.
Success is needed to perpetuate people, places and things.
Success should never be reduced to something not important in the mind, rather understand that it is vital.
Anyone who minimizes the idea of success has given up on their own chances of accomplishment and is trying to convince others to do the same.
You must keep succeeding, or you will either cease to exist or just be consumed by something greater than you.
It’s not enough to just play the game. It’s vital that you learn to win it.
Winning at everything you do ensures you will expand, ensuring that you and your ideas survive into the future.
Personal Input: This is an idea from “The Winner Effect” by Ian Robertson.
It is also important to the sense of self, and promoting:

Confidence
Imagination
A sense of security
The feeling of making a contribution

People who aren’t successful put themselves and their families at risk.
No one benefits from failure. But everyone benefits from success.

4. Success is your Duty.

Approach success as your duty, obligation and responsibility.
View it from an ethical standpoint. If you don’t, you won’t feel driven to fulfil your goals and live up to your full potential.
Without success, you run the risk of putting your family and loved ones in perilous situations.
Success should not be approached as a choice, but an absolute must.
Don’t opt for “little” success either. This is partially why people never create it for themselves — why most people never live up to their full potential.
Ask yourself if you are living to your full capability. You may not like the answer.
You need that “hungry-dog-at-the-back-of-a-meat-truck” mentality.
It’s also a good idea to consider success outside of work/business. Consider it with family, marriage, health, religion, future, contributions to the community, etc.

Quite Lying to Yourself

It’s common for people who don’t reach their goals to provide justifications — even lie to themselves — by minimizing the importance of success to themselves.
It’s okay to admit you didn’t get what you wanted. In fact, admitting that is the only way to help you get what you want later on.
Luck is a biproduct of those who take the most action.
The reason why successful people seem lucky is because success naturally allows for more success.
By setting and reaching your goals, you create this magic momentum that allows you to set and reach even bolder goals.
People who completely commit to their success are the ones that seem to get lucky.

“The harder I work, the luckier I get.” Samuel Goldwyn.

The more you work repeatedly to gain success, the more it becomes a habit.
Grant hates the phrase “overnight success” because it neglects all the previous work and earlier actions to attain such success.
Personal Input: This ties the whole “success becoming a habit” idea. The more you work on something, the less it feels like work and the easier it gets. The easier it gets, the more likely you will put in even more work to eventually blow up and create something valuable.
Failing to insist upon abundant amounts of success is somewhat unethical.
Failing to do our very best every day is also a violation of ethics.

5. There is no Shortage of Success

The way you view success is just as important as the way you approach it.
There is no limit to how much success can be created.
Your ability to achieve does not hamper that of the next person, and neither does theirs hamper you.
Unfortunately, people see success as something that is rare. Scarce.
They tend to think someone else’s success takes away from their own.
Success is not a zero-sum game — there can be many winners.
It doesn’t depend on already existing resources, supplies or space.
The big players don’t think like this — rather, they think without limits, a trait that allows them to reach levels others may think are impossible.
Think Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple. None of their creations stopped the others from forming and becoming relevant in their respective sectors.
Usually, the scarcity mindset is propagated by people who express envy, disagreement, unfairness and think that those who “hit it big” have some unfair advantage.
You can hear it in the news, too. Talks about shortages of jobs, money, opportunities, time, etc.
Personal Input: The news is usually full of negative events to report, which is why I rarely watch it. I only look at the news media that talks about world changing events such as new AI developments or wars or advancements in biotech, etc. Everything else is usually noise that will not bother you or me in the long run.
Even money doesn’t exist in shortages. It’s literally printed. All that really happens with it is that it merely suffers from reductions in value time to time.
Rid yourself of the idea of success being restricted & scarce.
Keeping that mindset will hinder your ability to create success for yourself.
Success for anyone or any group is ultimately a positive contribution to all people and all groups as it provides the validation of possibilities to all.
This is why others are inspired when they watch someone else succeed. It encourages them to believe they can obtain success for themselves, too.
Remember, success can be created in abundant amounts.

6. Assume Control for Everything

People who usually succeed are required to take big actions, and that’s impossible if you don’t take responsibility.
It’s also impossible to do something positive when you spend your time making excuses.
Success is not something that happens to you. Rather, it is something that happens because of you and the actions you take.
Those who refuse responsibility will not take action and hence will not generate any success.
The successful accept very high levels of accountability for creating and having success for themselves. And even when they fail to do so.
They hate the blame game and know it’s better to make something happen (good or bad) than to have it happen to them.
Anyone who uses blame as some reason for why something happened or did not happen will never accumulate any success or gain any control over their lives.
To succeed, one must adopt the mindset of “whatever happens to me — good or bad — is caused by me”.
This mindset allows you to improve your situation going forward.
E.g. when the power goes out throughout the entire neighbourhood. Don’t get mad at the power company. Instead, ask yourself why you didn’t get a backup generator for times like those. It wasn’t your fault the lights cut, but this thinking pattern will ultimately lead you to getting that generator, hence improving your situation. And think of the adverse consequences of not getting that generator: spoiled food in the fridge, not being able to cook for your family. No entertainment for your kids, etc. Get that generator.
But do not confuse this mentality for some compulsive need for control. Think of it as a high-level healthy sense of responsibility.
Taking responsibility allows you to find solutions to your problems and create even more success for yourself.
Blaming someone else simply leads to you staying in the victim mentality for longer.
Assuming responsibility and control will make sure you turn around almost every negative outcome that comes your way. Even when someone rear-ends you. You can still get back up after that sour encounter and figure out how to make sure it never happens again.
There are four constant factors present in the life of a victim (avoid these):

Bad things happen to them.
Bad things happen often.
They are always involved.
Someone or something has to take the blame.

Remember; Success is not something that happens to you. Rather, it is something that happens because of you and the actions you take.
The successful make things happen. Things don’t happen to them.

“No matter where I go, there I am.” Buckaroo Banzai.

This quote suggests you are both the problem and the solution. And hence, can solve all issues that come your way.

7. Four Degrees of Action

“The more action you take, the better your chances are of getting a break.”

The First Degree of Action

These are the people who do nothing. People who have let go of their dreams and are okay with getting whatever life throws at them.
Characteristics of people who do nothing (FD):

Lethargic
Missing purpose
Bored
Complacent

Doing nothing requires energy for them, as they have to justify why they are where they are and explain it to other people e.g. their spouses. And even more energy to explain to themselves why they are underpaid, underappreciated employees.
They’ll often find something they’ll “fourth degree” on, and spend huge amounts of energy there, instead of their primary goal, job or assigned purpose.

The Second Degree of Action

“Retreaters”.
These people would have experienced less than satisfactory results, and therefore decide to stop taking action, and rather take actions in reverse.
Retreating to their ‘safe place’.
They choose to remain operating at their current level.
They make an excuse on why they do this, and retreat. E.g. most marriages fail, so I’ll stay single, starting a business is hard, so I’ll stay a waiter.
Again, it takes energy to fabricate such stories and feed them to yourself and others around you.

The Third Degree of Action

This is the group that (on the surface), does the necessary amount of work and takes the “right” number of steps.
Their actions are considered to be “normal”.
This level of action is what creates the middle class and is the most dangerous as it’s what’s considered to be acceptable.
They do what’s acceptable, but not what’s needed to create real success.
They remain steady and predictable.
Average is less than extraordinary.
Operating below your potential hurts your soul.

The Fourth Degree: Massive Action

Massive Action is the most natural state to be in, even if it seems to be a bit odd.
Working extremely to achieve a set goal. An example of beings that take massive action are bees, the tectonic plates, the world beneath our oceans. They never stop moving, never retreat. They just keep moving.
This stage creates new problems. If you don’t have any, you aren’t truly operating in the fourth stage of action.
You can’t think of complaints or the number of hours you worked or even how much money you make in this degree.
You have to treat each day as though your life and future depend on your ability to take massive action.
Taking massive action means making unreasonable choices and following with even more action.

Indicators of massive action:

You create new problems for yourself.
Receive criticism and warning from others.

From a business perspective, the goal is to be seen, thought of, considered in some way. The issue is obscurity, not talent.
With 10X thinking and 10X Massive Actions, you can mentally dominate a space in the minds of the public.

8. Average is a Failing Formula

The “addiction to average” can kill the possibility of making your dreams come true.
Embracing the “greater than average” is what’s needed.
You are only rewarded for the success you achieve.
Use resources, personal energy and creativity to take massive action.
Undertakings that include average will fail you sooner or later.
Anything done in standard amounts will not help get the job done to 100%.
When “average” meets any sort of resistance, the project will crumble.
The best way to plan is to condition your thoughts and actions to the 10X level.
Average is a failing plan.
Do not underestimate the amount of effort it will take to move forward. You may need to place 100 calls to get 10 willing customers.
Don’t think average — think massive.
Personal Input: “Study what the average people do and prohibit yourself from doing the same.” This is what Dan Koe said, too.
Let your friends, family and associates know that you treat anything average as a terminal disease.

9. 10X Goals

People who don’t set goals big enough will never act big enough, often enough or persistently enough.
Make your goals substantial enough to keep your attention.
Grant Cardone does two things every day:

Writes his goals down.
Choose objectives that are out of reach.

This opens up full potential.
Get a book or pad or legal pad and write down your goals as if you’ve already achieved them.
Set goals and understand why you set them, so when you achieve them, nothing is wasted or taken for granted.
Goal x Goal usually yields the best results. E.g. work, start a business, make it successful to make lives better for people.
Goals fuel actions.
Take these into account when setting goals:

You are setting these goals for you. No one else.
Anything is possible.
You have much more potential than you realise.
Success is your duty, obligation and responsibility.
There is no shortage of success.
Regardless of the size of the goal, it’s going to need work.

After understanding this, write your goals down and be willing to do it every day.
Small thinking is always punished one way or the other.
It is recommended I do the following:

Set 10X Goals.
Aline them with other purpose.
Write them down every day — when you wake up and before you go to bed.

10. Competition is for Sissies

You want to be in a position of dominance, not competition.
Competiton limits the ability to think creatively, because you are constantly thinking/ watching what the other person is doing.
Forward thinkers don’t copy. They don’t compete. They create.
Stay ahead of the pack and make them want to chase you.
Set your goals to those that dominate the sector, not compete with the rest of those within it.

STEPS OF DOMINATION

Find a place to dominate.
Do what others refuse to do (this offers an unfair advantage).
Never play upon the agreed upon grounds/ norms — these are usually traps to stop innovative thinking.

Obscurity is a problem. You must do two things.

Get noticed.
Cut through the noise.

Two things happen when you take the right amount of action:

You get a new set of problems.
Your competition starts to promote you.

Do what only would and could do. Your ‘Only Practices’.

11. Breaking out of the Middle Class

Trying to break out of the middle class is the wrong goal to focus on.
Let’s talk about breaking out of the ‘Middle-Class’ Mentality.

The Incomes of the Middle Class: *

These guys earn from about:

2008, Census: $35,000 — $50,000/year.
Another set of studies: $22,000 — $65,000/year.

Not very promising numbers.
The middle class is separated into two groups: Upper & Lower Middle Class.
With the Upper Middle Class earning more disposable cash than the lower middle class, usually earning about $1mil/year.
That’s not a lot of money when you think about it.
The Lower Middle Class (LMC) usually struggles to get to where the Upper Middle Class (UMC) are, but during tough times in the economy, they all get pulled down financially.
It’s actually the class that seems to be most trapped, manipulated and at risk.
They operate on what they need, and therefore, just “get by”.
They go after what’s necessary instead of what’s big, leaving them susceptible to terrible economic crises such as rapid inflation, housing implosion and pensions falling through the cracks.
The Middle Class are not in a secure or desirable place.
To avoid this, it’s important to break out of the mentality of the Middle Class and start forming 10X Goals and actions that lead you into the higher, Upper Class. e.g. understanding investments, real estate and business.
Personal Input: Ali Abdaal recommends “The Millionaire Fast Lane” when wanting to educate yourself on this matter.
Don’t worry about rest or “too much work”. Rest days are for those who worked hard on the rest of the days.

“Sundays are for those who worked the other six days.” Grant Cardone

Don’t go after what’s necessary. Go after what’s big.
“Middle-Class” is more of a mindset than an income level.
The wealthy don’t rely on income and debt.
The middle class average annual salary is decreasing. Yearly.

12. Obsession Isn’t a Disease; It’s a Gift

Obsessed (adj.): Having or showing excessive or compulsive concern with something, or the domination of one’s thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image of desire.
This is how you must approach success.
To dominate your sector, you must first dominate your goal, dream, ambition, every interest, thought and consideration.
Obsession isn’t anything bad. It’s a requirement to get what you want.
Until the world understands you aren’t going away, you won’t get the attention and support you want.
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.
Something needs to absorb your thoughts and ideas every second of the day. That way, you become obsessed with making it work.
Make obsession your goal. And then obsess over your goals.
You need to be obsessed to make 10X Goals and to follow them up with 10X Actions.

13. Go “All In” and Overcommit

We’ve been told/ taught to ignore the risk of winning big and to protect ourselves from potential losses.
Yet the giants take that risk, regardless.
You have no limits. They only exist in your mind.
You can never hit it out of the park if you don’t initially make contact with the ball, and you will never hit it big if you don’t discipline yourself to be all in when you don’t take action.
Take for example the tortoise & hare. It teaches us to approach our goals slow and steady as that’s how the tortoise wins. Bullshit. Approach your goals in this way, relative to the story:

The speed and aggression of the hare.
The tortoise’s ability to stay through till the end.

What’s truly the worst thing that can happen to you when you go all in?
Overcommit and overdeliver.
The more energy you use, the more you intend to deliver.
Grand claims, over-commitment, extreme promises separate you from the masses, and therefore, will force you to deliver 10X Results.
You may experience the fear of not being able to deliver. This is a problem. But you need new problems to show you that you are going in the right direction. If you aren’t creating new problems for yourself, you aren’t taking enough action. Look for problems to solve, don’t avoid them.
Learn to commit, then deliver.

14. Expand — Never Contract

The mindset of reducing spending, saving, being careful and staying cautious is a self-preserving, sure-fire way of not getting what you want.
Even during economic busts, there is still a way to capitalize by expanding.
These times of tightening are the perfect opportunity to take from those who are in a defensive posture.
No matter in what state the world is in, there are still people taking massive action.
Your retreat and defend period should be short, if you ever need one.
Regroup and reinforce to attack again.
Some businesses fail not because they expanded too quickly or were too offensive, but because they don’t properly prepare themselves for expansion and cannot dominate the sector.
Constant, unwavering expansion will separate you from the pack more than any other single activity.
Repeated attacks over extended period of time will always be successful.

15. Burn the Place Down

Once you take 10X actions, you must continue to add wood to your fire until you burn the place down.
Don’t rest. Don’t stop, ever.
Don’t rest of your laurels.
More wood. More fuel. More actions.
Once this is done and maintained, it will almost become second nature. Because you are going to win.
It’s easiest to keep taking massive action when you are winning — and winning is only possible with massive actions.
When you begin “heating things up”, you’ll quickly become aware, even obsessed with the possibilities before you and will start to see new levels of positive results.
Your actions will perpetuate themselves: think Newton’s law of inertia. An object in motion stays in motion.
Once this begins, people may start offering advice. Be wary of those who tell you to take a break.
Now is not the time for rest, but for action.
Even after achieving your success, aim for bigger, brighter goals.
Success tends to bless those who take the most action/ giving it the most attention.
Imagine a garden. No matter how beautiful it gets, you always have to work on it. But if you want it to be prettier, you will do more work to make it prettier.
If you are worried about being “overexposed” to the world, don’t. There’s no such thing. The more people who know about you, the better. The brighter your fire burns, the more people it will attract. Think Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Google. Etc. More people got to know about them, and their success skyrocketed.
Remember, obscurity is the problem. Not overexposure.

16. Fear is the Greatest Indicator

You will experience fear once you begin taking new actions.
If you don’t feel scared, you aren’t doing enough.
Fear is a sign of moving in the right direction.
It pushes you to take on new levels. Once you stop being scared, you push yourself to an even high level, to experience even more fear.
The absence of concern is an indicator of you doing what’s comfortable. And that will only get you what you already have.

“Nothing changes if nothing changes.” Donna Barnes.
“If You Always Do What You’ve Always Done, You’ll Always Get What You’ve Always Got.” Henry Ford.

Does fear exist? Some say it stands for False Events Appearing Real.
Most of what you are scared of usually never comes to pass.
Fear (for the most part) is evoked by emotions, not rational thinking — and in Grant’s opinion, emotions are overrated.
Use fear as an indicator to continue going beyond. As some sort of green light.
You can only separate yourself from the pack by doing what most people aren’t doing. What most people are afraid to do.
Call on that lousy client, talk to your boss about that raise, ask your teacher for those extra lessons, etc.
Fear grows with time. Remove fear’s tastiest meal by giving it no time to grow. Just do what you know you should be doing.
The only thing that will make a difference is action.
It’s better to fail whilst actually doing something than to fail due to over-preparing because of fear whilst someone else is taking action.
When you allow fear to set you back, you lose energy, momentum and confidence. And the fear only grows.
Suffocate your fear by taking action in a very short period of time, like suffocating fire and not giving it the oxygen it needs to survive.
It doesn’t take money or luck to build a great life; rather the ability to move past your fears with speed and power.

17. The Myth of Time Management

The people who worry about time management and balance are the same people who worry about the “shortages” discussed in previous chapters.
Most don’t understand the amount of time on their hands, or the tasks most necessary to accomplish in said time.
You need to know how much time you have — how else would you balance it?
The first thing you must do is make success your duty by setting distinct and definitive priorities.
Do more of the things that create success.
Successful people think in abundance, whist unsuccessful people tend to place limits of themselves.
“If I am rich, I can’t be happy”, etc.
This is a flawed manner of thinking that neither time management nor balance will fix.
You shouldn’t be worried about “balance”. Rather, worry about “abundance”.
“How can I have it all in abundance?”
Stop thinking in terms of either/or and think of it in terms of all and everything.
Time is valuable.
Realistically, we only have roughly 3,900 weeks to live from the moment we are born (assuming you live to the approx. age of 75).
The only way to “increase” the time you have is to get more done in that said amount of time.
E.g. Answering to 15 calls in 15 mins, instead of 15 calls in an hour. This way, you have “created” 45 mins for yourself.
In this way, the 10X Rule has made it possible to multiply time.
To maximize, manage and squeeze every opportunity out of the time you have, you must first control your time — and not let anyone else do so.
If you listen in at work, you’ll mostly hear workers complaining, as if work is something to get through — but in reality, the spend very little time working.
Personal input: This part makes sense. Imagine you get 15 mins worth of work done in 60 mins. You have used all the time you could have had free (45 mins) and have done very little work for the amount of time you have used up. Another, more relatable example; A class exercise that could be done in 20 mins. If you spend a whole period (50 mins) doing it, you have effectively thrown away 30 mins and have done very little work (almost half if you do the math) for the amount of time you have used up.
“Most people only work enough so that it feels like work, whereas successful people work at a pace that gets such satisfying results that work is a reward.”
Successful people don’t call it work. For them, it’s a passion because they do enough to win.
An easy way to achieve “balance” is to work harder. This will leave you with more time, and it will feel like less work and more success.
Be grateful you get to do what you do (work, school, etc.) and see how much you can get done in the time you have. Make it a challenge. A race. Make it fun.
Decide which priorities are most important — which areas do you wish to achieve most success in?
Write these down in order of importance.
Allocate your available time to these according to rank of importance.
Personal Input: You can use Ali Abdaal’s video on Goal and System setting to help with this: How to Make 2024 The Best Year of Your Life
Another thing to do track your time. Down to the second. It’ll help you understand how you waste your time — to see the small habits and activities that aren’t productive or stall success creation.
Things will change as you get older hence goals will change, too. Hence, it is required than you also modify your priorities. E.g. You have a new child, you get married.
Make a schedule around your priorities, to fit and have all of them in abundance.
The point to this is to control your time, not struggle to manage it.
In Grant’s culture (the American culture), they are encouraged to “take it easy”, “slow down”, and to “be happy with what they have”.
This mindset makes sure one never does enough to get them out of their meagre existence, and on top of that, encourages negative traits such as: laziness, lack of urgency, sloth-like tendencies, irresponsibility, entitlement, and expecting someone else to solve your problems.
Wake up. No one is coming to save you.
The only way to make things work out well is to utilize every moment of every day at 10X levels.
This ensures you accomplish your goals and dreams.
It requires every bit of your time, which is yours — and only yours to control.

18. Criticism is a sign of Success.

Criticism (noun): The expression of disapproval of someone or something on the basis of perceived faults, mistakes or merits.
Receiving criticism is a surefire sign that you are well on your way to success.
It’s not something you want to avoid, rather something you should expect to come once you start hitting it big.
When you start taking the right amount of action and therefore creating success, criticism is often not far behind.
It is a natural result of attention.
This may be why people avoid attention entirely — to avoid being judged.
However, there is no way to achieve serious levels of success without getting some attention.
Face it, no matter what choices you make in life, there will always be someone to criticize you on the way. Usually, these are the people who don’t take any action themselves.
Better it come from people jealous of your success than your family, boss, bill collectors for not taking enough action.
Criticism can come in the form of advice from others. “Why are you spending so much time on this client? He doesn’t buy anything.” “You should enjoy life more! It’s not all work, you know.” They say this to make themselves feel better about themselves — because your abundance highlights their deficiency.
Success is not a popularity contest. It’s your duty, obligation and responsibility.
Do not let your fear of criticism and being attacked stop you from going for it (your goals, your success) completely.
Once the naysayers see you aren’t going anywhere, they’ll look for someone else to pick on.
Only the weak and overwhelmed respond negatively to others’ success.
Once you dominate territory, you attract these people.
The only way to handle criticism is to foresee it as element to your success formula. Just like fear.
Keep it up, and sooner or later, those who criticized you will be admiring you for what you’ve done and singing your praises.
Keep the accelerator on your actions at 10X. After all, what’s a better way to retaliate against criticism than to keep succeeding?

19. Customer Satisfaction is the Wrong Target

When Grant promotes the 10X rule to others, the first protest is the concern for their customers — worrying that they may damage their reputation by being overly aggressive.
Although this might be a real concern, it’s much more likely to be never seen or forgotten due to the overabundance of products and organizations today.
Do whatever it takes to find supporters, establish customers, secure investors and close deals. Lest you wish to dig a grave for your brand.
Customer service is the not the right target — increasing customers is.
Customer satisfaction is still important. Worry about generating customers first, then worry about making them happy. Increasing customer satisfaction is impossible without increasing customers.
One way to increase client satisfaction is by getting them to increase their usage of your material, systems and processes.
A customer getting a product late is a problem that should be addressed. A customer not buying your product suggests serious problems in the customer satisfaction department. Simply because you haven’t made them a customer.
The first issue is an easy fix. The second will kill you.
The attainment of the customer is paramount to customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction cannot exist without the customer.
Never forget to promote customer attainment — don’t fail to ask the customer to buy something when you have the opportunity. Never fail to follow up. Or you’ll never make a client.
And never have a subpar offering — your product not doing what you say it does. Most often than not, customers will feel cheated and immediately dispose of you.
But most people fail not because of an inferior offering, rather they just don’t have enough customers.
Most companies fail not because their products, services or offering lack quality, but because they fail to acquire the support — the client — in the first place.
You can’t satisfy what’s not there.
The point is not to negate customer satisfaction, but to shift focus from customer satisfaction back to customer acquisition. You cannot obtain quality without quantity.
However, do understand that some customers will complain (some will praise you, too). As is human nature. Treat these as opportunities to be in communication with your customers.
Understand that complains are a way for your customers to tell you how to improve your product.
Never approach complains with anxiety. You’ll never dominate your space that way.
Also, do not punish your team for receiving complaints. They happen. A lot. And don’t avoid them. They help plug up holes in your product/service.
Survey the people who don’t buy your product/service to see where the loyalty, product and services gaps are.

20. Omnipresence

Omnipresent — everywhere and anywhere all at once.
This seems impossible, but it should be your goal.
It is impossible to amass true success without thinking of expanding your ideas, products, brands, etc. to universal levels of existence.
Anything that is omnipresent is what people depend on the most. Oxygen, water, fuel. They are accessible everywhere around the world.
You must make yourself available everywhere.
People should think of you constantly. And instantly identify your face, name, logo with your offer, and the offerings made my those similar to you.
Take the necessary actions to get yourself closer to being omnipresent. Operate at 10X levels for 10X Goals.
Create an omnipresent name. “Your name is your most important asset. [People] can take everything away from you — but they can’t take your name.”
Get attention to your name. The more attention you get, the more places you’ll be; the more people you’ll be with, the more you will be everywhere.
All that improves your chances of using your good name to do good work.
Your aim should bigger than helping “just one person”. It should be to help a lot more. You can’t do that without people knowing what you represent.
This omnipresent 10X mind-set (followed by 10X actions) is what is needed to dominate your sector and become omnipresent.
Burst out of obscurity. Let the world know what you can do for it. Then do that thing relentlessly (remember your intrinsic reasons and purpose for doing so along the way).
The higher your purpose, the more fuel it will provide for 10X actions.
Lay your footprint on the planet by getting involved with your school, community, neighbourhood, local politics.
Attend events, write in the local paper, etc.
Once heard, say yes to every opportunity thrown at you after. Write about it, talk about it, get your word out.
Do everything you can to stay attractive. Let others see you, read about you, hear you, think about you.
Real success is measured by longevity. So, make omnipresence your constant goal.
In case you have those praying in your downfall, “the best way to even the score against those who have it in for you is to make yourself so well known that every time they look up — each morning when they wake and right before they go to sleep at night — they see evidence of you and your success.” Be everywhere.

21. Excuses

Excuse (noun.): Justification for doing — or not doing — something.
They are a major differentiator between whether you succeed or not.
Excuses are for people who refuse to take responsibility for their life and how it turns out.
This is about the time we should look at the excuses you’re likely to make to avoid making any progress.
Yours may be emerging right now. Don’t ignore them. Rather, confront your excuses now so they don’t distract you later.
Excuses are never the reason for why you did or didn’t do something. They’re just a revision of facts that you make up in order to help yourself feel better about what happened (or didn’t).
The first thing to understand is making excuses won’t change your situation.
The second is knowing the ones you make on a regular basis, e.g. “I don’t have the money, I have kids, I don’t have kids, I am overworked, I am underworked, too many people work here, I don’t like reading… etc.”
Then, understand the differences between making excuses and providing actual, sound reasons for events.
Successful people simply don’t make excuses. Even in failure, they refuse to justify it and any reasons they may provide are only opportunities yet to be handled.
Any rationale you give yourself gives someone else the chance to find the solution.
The quality of being rare is what makes something valuable. So, anything that is plentiful has very little worth. Excuses are one item that people seem to have an almost endless supply of. Hence, they have no value.
And since they don’t move forward your desire to create more success for yourself, they are worthless uses of energy.
Never use excuses for anything.
Don’t let your team, family or anyone in your organization to use another excuse as a reason why something didn’t come to fruition.
As the old saying goes, “If it is to be, it is up to me.”

22. Successful or Unsuccessful?

The distinctions between the successful and unsuccessful have nothing to do with economics, education or demographics.
Successful people talk, think and approach situations, challenges and problems differently compared to normal/most people — and think about their money differently, too.
Below are some characteristics of the successful.

Have a “Can Do” Attitude

People with this trait approach every situation with the outlook that it can be done. No matter what it is.
“We can do it”, “Let’s work it out”, etc. These are common phrases they use.
They talk in terms of explanations, resolving issues and communicate challenges with a positive outlook.
This is one of the ways one can accomplish 10X massive actions.
Without this attitude, you aren’t really thinking in 10X.
Incorporate this “can do” attitude in your language, thoughts, actions and responses to everyone you know.
Develop this into your company by drilling it into them on a daily basis.
Let it become the norm — and nothing else is even accepted.

Believe That “I Will Figure It Out”

This goes hand in hand with the “Can Do” Attitude.
It refers to the individual who is always looking to be responsible and solve a problem.
Even if you aren’t sure on what to do, the best response is to say/think, “I will figure it out”, and never, “I don’t know.”
No one values someone who doesn’t have the information or isn’t willing to get it. It doesn’t help the situation.
It’s admitting you are wasting their time and are no use to them (your customers, clients, investors, etc.)
You can admit you don’t know something under the circumstance of you figuring it out later on.
Communicate to yourself and others that you are willing to do what it takes to figure it out and move forward.

Focus on Opportunity

Successful people see all situations — even problems and complains — as opportunities.
Where others see difficulty, they see new problems that need to be solved, which often equates to new products, services and customers (probably financial success, too).
Success is overcoming a challenge. Therefore, you can’t succeed without some form of difficulty.
The challenge doesn’t matter. As long as you handle it adequately, you will be rewarded.
The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity.
Once you learn to see problems as prospects instead, you’ll continually come out on top.

Love Challenges

Highly successful individuals are compelled and invigorated by challenges, whereas many people hate them.
The idea of being overwhelmed is generated from not taking enough action to generate enough winning, Grant believes.
Success begets more success; losses beget more losses.
To achieve your goals, you must be in a state of mind that is fuelled by every challenge you come across.
Life can be brutal. Incur enough losses, and you’ll be at the point where you lose your mind in the face of a new challenge. But there are ways to fix this issue.
You can see challenges as opportunities to win. And understand; winning in life is vital.
The more you win in life, the higher your potential to win will be. And the more you’ll love challenges.

Seek to Solve Problems

Successful people love to find problems because they know they are universal to some extent.
Problems for the successful are like meals to the hungry.
Give them a problem, and they will solve it and may become heroes.
The bigger the problem, the more people benefit from the solution. Hence the more powerful your success will be.
You get yourself on the success list by solving problems the vast majority of people suffer from. Whatever they are, wherever they exist.
Unfortunately, the world is full of people who cause problems. One of the fastest ways to separate yourself from the masses is to establish yourself as someone who makes situations better. Not worse.

Persist Until Successful

The ability to go on until you win even in the face of major resistance is what it means to be persistent.
This trait is something children display at an early age, but eventually question due to seeing that’s not how society and/or their parents work.
This is a quality that must be developed — as it is the quality needed to make any dream a reality.
Persist with 10X actions until any form of resistance morphs into support. Or persist with so much success that any form of resistance will cease to exist.

Take Risks

We’ve been taught to play it safe, be conservative, never really “go for it” in a big way.
At some point, you have to take risks, and the successful are willing to do it daily.
Most people never go far in terms of being recognised or gaining attention.
They’d rather protect their reputation, position or already achieved state.
The successful are willing to take gambles and let the world see them. Unlike the unsuccessful.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Chaucer (c. 1374)

Remember that phrase.
Try to get your friends and family to support you in taking risks and no longer playing it safe.

Be Unreasonable

Being unreasonable requires you to act without consideration and not in accordance with practical realities.
You cannot afford to act on agreed-upon realities.
Being a 10X-er means thinking and acting unreasonably, otherwise you’ll end up like everyone else — forced to survive on the successful people’s leftovers.
You must invalidate the “sanity” of reasonable actions that will never get you where you want.
These rules and “reasonable actions” are just here to keep you moving along in bondage like a slave.
Man would do nothing exceptional if it were not for the willingness to be unreasonable: the invention of the car, internet, space travel, etc.
The unreasonable ones are usually those who make a huge difference in the world.

Be Dangerous

“Being careful” is a mantra that ultimately makes sure you avoid danger entirely.
You cease to truly live that way.
Being careful requires you take cautious actions — there is no way you can hit 10X activity by being careful.
Massive action demands you throw caution out the window, even if it puts you in danger.
Working with the powerful is dangerous in and of itself.
Personal Input: This is something Robert Greene talks about in his book, “The 48 Laws of Power”. Power is dangerous, and by extension, so are the ones who yield it.
To do big things, one must embrace danger. However, to make sure you come out of the ring unharmed & the victor, you must be sufficiently trained.

Create Wealth

The attitude towards wealth is a separator between the successful and unsuccessful as well.
Where the poor (unsuccessful) believe they must work for money and wealth, spend it on nothing of importance or horde it like crazy to protect it, the successful understand money as being already created, and work on generating it through the exchange of new ideas, products, services and solutions.
They are not bound by shortages, and know money exists in abundance and flows between those who exchange products, services and solutions.
Think in terms of creating money and wealth, not salaries and conserving funds.
Figure out how to create wealth through great ideas, services, and effective problem solving.
Income is taxed, not wealth.
You don’t need to “make” money. It’s already there. Focus on creating wealth — the thinking patterns of the successful.

Readily Take Action

The highly successful take a huge amount of action, regardless of what the action may look like or may be.
They rarely do nothing, even during their holidays or off days, they are always up to something.
The successful take consistent high-level action even before anyone has ever heard their names.
Whereas the unsuccessful talk big play & future achievements, but never really get around to doing the actions that would grant these achievements or take enough persistent and consistent action to realise their plans.
Massive action is something to rely on and is a major factor in determining your potential success. It’s a discipline that must be mastered.

Always Say “Yes”

The word “yes” has a lot of life and possibilities in it.
When given the choice to say yes or no when asked to do something, say “yes”.
You cannot live life by constantly saying “no”.
Saying “yes” will propel you to new adventures, new solutions and even new levels of success.

Habitually Commit

The successful fully & constantly commit to activities. Some of which require them to put it all on the line.
This requires you play with some risk of danger and refusing to play it safe. Going “All In”.
The unsuccessful rarely commit to anything. They always talk about “trying” and when they do commit, it’s usually to destructive habits.
To achieve success, you need to stop testing the waters and jump in.
Just go for it.
Successful people are able to keep the promises they made to themselves and others.
Do whatever it takes to make that pledge a reality and fulfil your commitment.
Show commitment to whoever you work with.

Go All the Way

“Half measures achieved us nothing.” AA.
All they do is tire you out.
Until an action is turned to success, it is not done.
You can make the potential client a client and the potential investor an investor if you go all the way.
Commit to becoming completely unreasonable and go all the way. Don’t accept excuses. No settling allowed.

Focus on “Now”

There are only two times for the successful:

The Now
The Future

They spend a lot of their time on the now. Using it to create the futures they desire in order to dominate their environments.
The unsuccessful spend a lot of their time in the past and regard the future as an opportunity to procrastinate — the ultimate weakness. Don’t be like them.
Acquire discipline, muscle memory and achievements as a result of taking massive action.
Remember; massive action allows you to design and create the future you desire.
The 10X Rule requires you not take for granted what you can do in the now, but that you take massive action on it. Immediately.
You will not gain any momentum or confidence if you don’t.
Don’t think too much. Act.

Demonstrate Courage

Courage (adj.): The quality of mind or spirit that compels one to face dangerous situations in spite of fear.
Successful people carry themselves with an air of confidence, conviction, a sense of comfort and a touch of arrogance.
They were not born this way, rather, these traits have been developed through taking action even though fear.
The more you do things that you label as “scary”, the more others will label you as “courageous” and hence, the more they will gravitate towards you.
You can train your skills and confidence, but your courage comes from taking action. From doing. Especially doing the things that you find “scary”.
Would you want to do business with a company that doesn’t act with confidence? Or support someone who readily gives into their fears?
Attack, dominate, and keep your eyes on the future. Repeat these actions and your courage will grow.
Do things that scare you, and eventually they won’t be so scary. Do them habitually and you’ll begin to wonder you were scared in the first place.

Embrace Change

Successful people love change, whereas the unsuccessful don’t.
You cannot create success without changing something.

“Nothing changes if nothing changes.” Donna Barnes

You don’t want to alter the way things work — rather, improve them and what you are doing.
The successful keep eyes out for what’s next.
They look at how the world shifts and how they can apply these changes to their operations to improve them.
They must continue to adapt, or they will not be victorious.
Change is something not to resist but embrace and get excited over.
Personal Input: An example of this can be seen with AI being integrated into businesses and personal life. The ones that do assimilate AI and other technologies into their businesses will survive and those that resist this change will eventually die out or become obsolete.

Determine and Take the Right Approach

The successful quantify what works and what doesn’t, whereas the unsuccessful focus solely on hard work.
The successful worry about working “smart” to find the right approach to handle a situation and succeed.
The unsuccessful always find work hard because they never take the time of day to improve their approach to a problem and make it easier for themselves.
The successful invest time, energy and money into improving themselves. As a result, they focus on how rewarding the challenge will be, rather than how hard it is.

Break Traditional Ideas

The successful don’t just change, they also challenge traditional thinking. They are the “thought leaders” who design the future with forward thinking.
They break what already works to make a place for themselves.
They aren’t prisoners of already established thinking ideas.
Find ways to take advantage of the traditional thinking that holds others back.

Be Goal — Oriented

Goal (noun.): Some desirable objective — typically something yet achieved — that a person needs in order to move forward.
The successful are highly goal-oriented and always pay more attention to the target, rather 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.”
Personal Input: Dan Koe talked about this in one of his videos, too. “If you don’t create a purpose, you will be assigned one. If you don’t create a career, you will be assigned one.”
Goals help one stay focused on achieving and help them not dwell on the difficulty.
Being able to stay focused on your goals is vital to success.
Keep your eyes on the bigger picture of your goals, rather than just on the task you are completing at the moment.

Be on a Mission

Successful people approach their work as if it were some sort of religious calling rather than just “a job”, like the unsuccessful do.
They see every activity they do as a part of something bigger, more important. Something that will change things significantly.
You must undergo each activity with a zealous attitude — the mindset that whatever you are doing will change the world.
If you don’t, you’ll be stuck with the mindset of your work as just “some job”. And probably think of it as one that’s not fulfilling.

Have a high Level of Motivation

Personal Input: I’m not really a fan of “motivation” as It often fades with time when the stimulus isn’t available anymore. I much prefer James Clear’s insight on the matter. Systems and disipline. He discussed this in his book “Atomic Habits”.
Motivation: The act of being stimulated towards action.
To succeed, it’s crucial one must be motivated and driven to take action.
The successful make it a point to emphasis their high levels of activity are fueled by being goal-focused and mission driven.
The unsuccessful demonstrate low levels of motivation, wandering and lack of clarity and purpose.
Elevated motivation is crucial for 10X actions and persistence.
This is the type of motivation that’s based on what you do each day to stimulate yourself anew to keep going.

Be Interested in Results

Successful people value results over effort; if they value effort at all, whilst the unsuccessful attach great importance to the time they spent working.
Picture yourself trying to get rid of the trash at home, but you only make it half way to the front door. You put in work, but your trash is still in the house, stinking up the place.
Even though most people don’t like to hear it, results are what matter at the end of the day. Not the amount of work you had put into the job.
Save your self-congratulations for when you’ve done work that yields results.
Never let go of the hook until you get results. No matter the challenge, resistance or problem. Results should always be the target.

Have Big Goals and Dreams

Successful people don’t set realistic goals. They are often immense and impossible to achieve.
They leave the realistic thinking to the masses, who fight for leftovers.
The successful people think in terms of how extensively they can spread themselves.
Realistic thinking simply won’t provide the kind of motivation you need to make your goals your reality.
Surround yourself with everything that inspires you. Think big. And then bigger than that. Achieve your full potential.

Create your own Reality.

Successful people don’t work/deal in the reality other people have made.
They are bent on creating their own reality, defining their own abilities, regardless of what others deem is possible or impossible.
All they care about is their reality. They do not submit to the agreed upon “reality”.
Most of the time, they hate agreed upon reality.
The next reality of how things will or can be is only as far away as the next person who creates it.

Commit First — Figure Out Later

Creativity and problem solving are stimulated after commitment.
Preparation and training are critical, but challenges in the market place will require you to act before you determine how to make it turn out alright.
One may even take the spoils for themselves as you try to figure out what to do before committing.
It’s not the smartest that win, but those who commit the most passionately to their cause.

Be Highly Ethical

If you don’t go to work every day — and do everything in your power to succeed, you are effectively stealing from your family, your future and the company you work for.
You have made agreements with these individuals, whether implied or spoken. The more success you create, the better you are able to take care of those agreements.
To Grant, being ethical doesn’t just mean playing by the rules set by society, but also people doing what they said they would do. And doing so until they get their desired results.
In his mind, ethical people generate so much success that their family and company can survive any storm and succeed, regardless of the difficulty.
Anything short of providing long-term success means putting everyone in your life — including yourself — at risk.
The most successful among us are driven by ethical obligation and motivation to do something significant that aligns with their potential.

Be Interested in the Group

You can only do as well as the people around you. If everyone around you is underperforming, sick and struggling, then eventually, so will you.
The “me first” attitude is what kills the group. This self serving attitude pulls from the group, and later makes it impossible for the group to survive.
And puts which was promised at peril.
The larger population’s health and well-being should be the most important thing to each individual member.
When everyone wins and improves, your game is likely to improve as well.
Because of that, you want to do everything you can to bring the rest of the team to higher levels.

Be Dedicated To Continuous Learning

The most successful CEOs are reported to read an average of 60 books and attend more than six conferences per year.
The media loves to cover the disparity between the rich and poor, but never really show the energy they (the rich) put into learning and educating themselves.
The successful make time for reading and conventions.
They see every opportunity to train and educate themselves as the most solid investment they can make.
The unsuccessful worry about the price of the book or webinar without thinking about the benefit it would provide them.

Be Uncomfortable

The successful put themselves in uncomfortable situations whereas the unsuccessful put themselves in comfortable situations.
The most important things one will ever do are most likely the things that make them the most uneasy.
Moving to a new city, cold calling, meeting new people, it’s all uncomfortable.
But be willing to put yourself in these uncomfortable situations.
Getting too comfortable, too relaxed, too familiar causes a person to become soft and lose his/her creativity and hunger to stay out front.
Be uncomfortable. It’s a sure sign you’re on your way to success.

“Reach Up” in Relationships

Make a habit of “reaching up” in relationships. Towards people who are better connected, better educated and more successful than you.
It’s rare for someone successful to say they got where they are by surrounding themselves with people just like them.
This habit is linked to the willingness to change, challenge tradition, grow and do what others can’t fathom.
Those you surround yourself with will have a great deal to do with your success.
You want to grow vertically — up — by associating yourself with people greater than yourself.
This is the only way to become better yourself.

Be Disciplined

This applies to far more than just money.
You need to be successful in all areas of life — you will not be able to compromise this thing called discipline.
Discipline (noun.): An orderly, prescribed conduct that will get you what you want. A requirement for 10X players.
Discipline is what one needs to complete any activity until this activity (regardless of how uncomfortable) becomes the new normal procedure.
Disipline is what’s needed to do the uncomfortable 10X actions over and over again one needs to succeed.
To keep success, determine what habits are constructive and disipline yourself and your group to do these things over and over again.

23. Getting Started with 10X.

All you have to do to start is look at what the list of what the successful do and determine what you need to do.
When to start: Focus some degree on the now but keep most of your attention on the future you desire to create.
Act now, and then keep acting with the knowledge that enough actions taken now will create the future.
Taking action without the extra fluff e.g. time, preparations and over analysis, is an asset (and also a deficiency).
Go all in, as hungry as a dog on the back of a meat truck.
First things first: make your initial goals list and then a list of actions that will propel you in that direction.
Personal Input: You can use the “SMARTER” goal system to do this, or you can use the systems James Clear describes in this book, “Atomic Habits”.
Then start taking those actions without overthinking — just start.
Few things to keep in mind when writing down your goals:

Don’t reduce your goals as you write them.
Don’t get lost in the details of how to accomplish them at this point.
Ask yourself, “What actions can I take today to move me toward these goals?”
Take whatever actions you come up with, regardless of what they are or how they make you feel.
Don’t prematurely value the outcome of your actions.
Go back each day and review the list.

You may feel a bit overwhelmed as you start the 10X path. But don’t be tempted to wait.
The goal has to be more valuable than the risk — or you have determined the wrong goal.
Work on what you can control when it comes to your goals.
Success is not a choice or option. It’s your duty to operate at the right level of thoughts and actions. Success is your obligation. Your responsibility. Your duty.