The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure
Grant Cardone, 2011
Why do some goals come true while we quietly cut others down to “realistic”? Grant Cardone, a sales trainer and entrepreneur, believes the cause is almost always a wrong estimate: people underestimate how much needs to be done. Here you’ll find his rule of a tenfold margin, his four degrees of action and his way of setting and writing down goals. You’ll also get his view of fear, excuses and obscurity: for Cardone, they tell you what to do next.
Who it is for
For anyone whose goals have stood still for years, even though they seem to put in plenty of effort. And for anyone starting their own business or working in sales who wants to know how much action a result really takes.
Anyone who tells you to take less action is either not your friend or is confused!
Everything takes more effort than you think
Imagine you decide to lose weight, find a better job or start your own business. You estimate how much effort it will take, and you begin. A couple of months later there’s almost no result. And then most people do the same thing: they decide the goal was too bold, and they lower it.
Grant Cardone has trained salespeople and entrepreneurs for many years. He says more than three thousand people have gone through his mentoring. He is sure that what lets people down is not a lack of brains, money or luck. What lets them down is a wrong estimate: almost everyone underestimates how much needs to be done.
That is where the 10X Rule comes from, the rule the book is named after. Set a goal ten times higher than the one that first came to mind. Then do ten times more than seems enough.
Cardone writes loudly, argues with common sense and softens almost nothing. What he says about success and money is his personal view. It grew out of his own experience, not out of research. But behind all that pressure is a clear plan of action, and it’s worth seeing it whole.
Next, you’ll learn why Cardone’s first business only got on its feet after three years, and which four degrees of action he tells apart. You’ll also see how he writes down his goals, what he does with fear, and why a beginner’s biggest problem is not competitors at all. Let’s start with his own mistake.
Three months that stretched into three years
Cardone opened his first company at 29. He expected that within three months he’d be earning as much as he had made in his salaried job. In reality it took almost three years, twelve times longer than he had planned. Just three months in, he nearly gave it all up, and not because of money, but out of disappointment.
He even made a list of reasons why the company couldn’t work: clients have no money, the economy is down, the timing is wrong, he is too young. One day he went to a friend and said he’d had enough. Only later did he realize he had gone wrong at the very start. Nobody knew him, there was no money for advertising, and he was taking far too little action for a task like this.
So he stopped looking for reasons to close the business and increased his effort tenfold. Instead of two or three calls to clients a day, he started making 20 to 30. The market began to respond. By his count, ten times the effort gave him four times the result.
That story is where the rule came from. Cardone believes everyone carries an excuse calculator inside. When a plan isn’t met, this calculator quickly finds someone to blame: the market, the clients, the economy. But it doesn’t check how much action you’re taking. And yet the real cause, in Cardone’s view, is almost always the same: the person misjudged how much needed to be done.
There will always be surprises: a crisis, a lawsuit, an illness, a competitor, a product that isn’t quite finished. Cardone compares starting out without spare effort to going into battle without an army or supplies. That’s why he advises multiplying every estimate by ten: how many people and calls you need, and how much time and money. Better to be pleasantly surprised if you don’t need that much than bitterly disappointed if it isn’t enough.
Year after year, he saw the most common mistake in sales departments. Halfway through a reporting period, the target looks out of reach, so it gets lowered to keep the team’s spirits up. Cardone calls this a serious mistake: it teaches the team that the only way to win is to move the finish line closer.
If your plan is stalling, first recount how many steps you are really taking, and take more of them, but leave the goal as it is.
About the author
Grant Cardone is an American sales trainer, entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author. He says he owns three companies that he built without any startup funding.
All books by this author: Grant Cardone
Terms from the book
- John
- 10X Rule: The book’s central idea, Cardone’s own: set goals ten times higher than your first ones and do ten times more than seems enough. It is his view, not a scientific law.
- El Paso: A city in the south of the US state of Texas, on the border with Mexico.
- Massive action: The fourth and highest degree of action in Cardone’s scheme: so much effort that it looks excessive to the people around you. It is the author’s image, not a scientific term.
- Public relations: Work that helps a person or a company get the attention of the press and the goodwill of the public. Often shortened to PR.
- Harley: Harley-Davidson, an American company that has made motorcycles since the early 20th century and sells them through its own dealerships.
- Mystery shopper: A way of checking stores: the checker comes in posing as an ordinary customer and watches how they are served.
- Obscurity: The state of nobody knowing about a person, a company or a product. Cardone sees it as the main difficulty of any new venture.
All terms
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