In The 10X Rule Grant Cardone says that the key to success is to multiply your goals, actions, and consistency by an order of 10.
Contents
Bullet Summary
- 10X your goals
- 10X your actions
- 10X your consistency
10X Summary
Grant says success rests on three beliefs’ pillars.
You must believe that:
- Success is important
- It’s your duty to be successful
- There’s an abundance of success possibilities
And he adds that you need a mindset of Extreme Ownership, meaning that whatever happens in your life is your responsibility.
Nothing happens to you. Everything happens because of you
The 10X Rule In One Sentence
The 10X Rule says that 1) you should set goals that are 10X greater than what you believe you can achieve and 2) you should take actions that are 10X greater than what you believe is necessary to achieve those goals.
The biggest mistake most people make is setting goals that are too small, and not taking enough action.
Taking massive action is the only way to fulfill your true potential.
Ethics of Success: Win-Win & Responsibility
Grant embraces the “enlightened cynic” view of life and success.
He says that the world is not a zero-sum game, and because you win, it doesn’t mean someone else has to lose. You both can win.
Most of all I liked his take on success:
You should consider it unethical not to live up to your potential.
And now let’s see what exactly you should 10X:
10X Your Thinking
Cardone says that humans tend to underestimate their capabilities.
And since not maximizing your potential is the ultimate sin, you need to counter-balance that natural “underestimation bias”.
Hence, to avoid leaving any potential on the table, multiply your goal by 10 times. Huge goals will motivate you and force you to come up with creative thinking to achieve them.
Are you worried that huge goals will set you up to lose? That’s not an issue. Grant says it feels much better to fall short of a lofty goal than to fall short on a mediocre one.
10X Your Effort
Achieving your goals probably takes 10x what you think it takes.
So start by multiplying your estimate by 10. If it will take less, great, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
10X Your Action
Most people live in a limbo between no action and average action.
To reach your full potential though, you need massive action.
Cardone says that massive action takes actually no more effort than average action.
That is because people who take average action busy themselves with excuses, busy work, and playtime.
Massive action zeros in on your goals (your “One Thing”), and doesn’t stop until you get there.
10X Your Consistency
Action is great, but bursts of action may not be enough.
What really gets you to success is the consistency of that action over time.
It’s a message similar to what books such as “The Slight edge” and “The Compound Effect” also espouse. Both books also state that it’s only consistent effort that will add up over time to major success.
Consistency has also been explored by actual psychologists and researchers, and many agree that it’s indeed a key contributor to success.
For example, Angela Duckworth coined the term “Grit” and, in what frankly seems a bit of a “psychology in search of fame” claim, says that it matters more than innate talent (also see “pop psychology myths“).
10X Your “Fear Resilience“
Everyone who seeks success must contend with some fears.
Cardone says that fear doesn’t act alone, and that the biggest ally fear has is… Time.
Such as, the more time you spend pondering over what could go wrong, the more fear increases.
Successful people use fear instead as an indicator for action.
Such as, whenever you feel fear, you want to take immediate action.
Cardone’s message here is similar to Mel Robbins’ “5 Seconds Rule“, and what the early pick-up artists called the “3 seconds rule”.
CONS
The Power Moves criticism of “The 10X Rule” includes:
Could Be Briefer: A Blog Post, Rather Than A Book
Cardone applies the “10X rule” across several domains of work, mindsets, and personal success.
Yet, albeit those concepts can be enlightening for some, they’re also relatively simple and may be summarized in a blog post.
No How To Book
The book is useful to instill some work ethics and a “dream big mindset”. However, it doesn’t go into details of either how one can install that mindset, or how to actually do anything that would make one successful.
Hard Work Alone Not Enough: Working Smart Matters
Hard work is important.
All else being equal, the person who works hardest will achieve more success.
However, good strategic -or even Machiavellian– thinking are also important. Such as, work hard yes, dream big.. But also work smart.
Hard Work Can Burn You Out
For a period in the self-help space there was a trend of hyping up hard work.
Someone referred to it as “hustle culture” or “porn hustle”, with Gary Vaynerchuck being one of the most ardent supporters.
I think it’s an important caveat to make that success is often built in the long run. You cannot -and probably should not- sprint the whole time.
As Ray Dalio says, you can look at yourself like a machine.
Machines need good keep-up and care as well.
PROS
Some Interesting, Potentially Helpful Concept
The concept of going for bigger goals is the same as the “moonshot” of Peter Diamandis in Bold and the popular self-help book “The Magic of Thinking Big“.
And while many entrepreneurs and narcissists do not need that reminder, many people do need to hear that.
It’s also very useful to help you not leave any potential on the table, since you may fall short of your 10Xed goal, but you will most likely maximize your potential in the process.
Grant Cardone Review
Without mincing words:
We’re not the biggest fans of Grant Cardone here.
We see typical guru/followers dynamics, talking down on the audience with teacher/pupil frames, and a lot of marketing without equally good content.
The 10x conference also seems a case of lots of sizzle and little steak, and it seems to be structured like a typical upsell event where you get very little value, much hyping up of the next product, and lots of selling for that next product (and the cycle continues with that next product).
All in all, albeit you can certainly learn something from Grant Cardone, we believe there are better people to learn from -including, probably, learning the real estate business-.
10X Review
The 10X Rule has the typical Grant Cardone style: loud, and somewhat repetitive.
We gotta be honest and preface it by saying that we’re not the biggest fans of either Grant Cardone, or of this book.
Cardone didn’t look too good after his spat with Jordan Belfort, the author of “Straight Line Persuasion“.
However, we’re not saying that one cannot learn from the guy -or like him-.
And if you like Cardone and his exuberant style, you will like the 10X book -whether liking is also equivalent with “good for you”, we’ll leave that up to you to decide-.
But if Cardone he’s too over the top for you, then you can take a look at our best books list, and our full free book summaries repository.
Overall the 10X Rule is easy to read and tackles some basic mindsets for success.
Most of all, we liked the concept that maximizing your potential is your ethical duty.
