The 10X Rule Review: A Framework to Take More Massive Action
Believe it or not you’re doing less than you’re capable of.
Our subconscious imposes limiting beliefs on us that prevents us from reaching our full potential. These beliefs are also shaped by your goals. If you don’t set a goal big enough, you won’t push yourself to overcome your limiting beliefs and reach it.
That’s the argument in Grant Cardone’s book The 10X Rule. Grant is known for his aggressive sales tactics. Through his strategies, he’s built a massive multi-billion portfolio of privately held companies and real estate investments.
The 10X Rule offers a framework that will challenge yourself to be more successful too.
This article will dive into some of the key themes from the book and what you can do to take massive action for yourself.
The 10X Rule is a strategy for you to take more action to achieve your goals.
One of the biggest reasons why you might not be as successful as you wish you were is that you’re not taking enough action to reach your goals. The more action you take, the more opportunities you create for yourself to find success.
The 10X Rule is defined in the book as:
[Setting] 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. (6)
By setting a large goal, it forces you to think differently about the goal. You have to get into the mindset of someone who doesn’t just want to achieve a goal. You become someone who believes they can achieve their goals.
In a sense, you’re shifting your perception of yourself. You have to create a new identity of who you think you are. This is something James Clear talks about in Atomic Habits. (Check out the Habit Identity Workbook for help with this).
According to Grant Cardone, if you don’t push yourself 10X more than you think you can, you impose a limit on yourself. You underestimate your abilities as a result. Creating a larger goal that might seem impossible helps you overcome your limits while also putting more skin in the game that compels you to take more action.
That’s the key. It’s not so much the outcome of the goal, it’s the goal’s ability to get you to take action you wouldn’t otherwise take.
Let’s say that my original aim was to make $100,000, which I then changed to $1 million. Which of these goals would you rather come up short on?
Success is the accumulation of events that turn into your desired outcome. The more action you take, the more opportunities you’ll have to create success.
Contrary to popular belief, success isn’t about achieving things for the sake of achieving things. Your goal in life isn’t to own a big house or drive a nice car just so you can peacock around your social group showing off your big house and nice car.
People who strive for things that make them superficially successful will never find enough in those things.
The reason for accomplishing things is more primal than that. Success is the essence of self. We do things to be successful not for the outcome but because the process of doing the thing makes us see what we’re worth. It gives value, purpose, and meaning to life where it doesn’t otherwise exist.
This is why Grant argues success itself is a duty rather than a goal. He suggests that without achieving success – striving to take more action – you wouldn’t survive. You’ll be absorbed in helping someone else achieve their goal.
The objective then, isn’t the thing that comes after success, it’s being successful so you can retain your independence, passing it on to the next generation:
Individuals and groups must actively accomplish their goals and targets in order to carry on. If not, they will either cease to exist or be consumed and become part of something else. (23)
When you frame success as a duty, it alters your perception of success. Instead of being something that is limited in quantity or only accessible to a handful of people, success becomes something that is abundant and available for everyone.
As Grant argues in the book, success is something you create. It’s not something you acquire or take.
To create success you have to first take action. Success is the accumulation of action that compounds over time. The thing that drives you towards taking more action isn’t the reward that comes from success, it’s the inherent duty you have to yourself, your family, and your community to create success for everyone to prosper in.
What actions can I take today to move me toward these goals?
To take action, you have to take responsibility over your life and become obsessed with your goals.
Success stems from action because action creates momentum that pushes you forward and keeps you going, even on the days you don’t want to do anything.
In the book, Grant argues that the amount of energy you create for yourself to achieve your goal is directly correlated to the size of it:
Making the goal too small won’t allow you to gather the right fuel or take the right amount of action to break through the resistance, competition, and changing conditions. (95)
To take action, you have to go all in on your goal and become obsessed with it. When you do, you take yourself seriously and so does everyone else around you. This reinforces your identity as someone who can achieve the goal you’re striving to achieve, allowing you to take responsibility for the actions that help – or hinder – your ability to achieve your goal.
One of the big limitations you’ll encounter when you work toward a goal is time. The more time you give yourself to take action or analyze a problem, the less likely you’ll do it. You’ll psych yourself out or convince yourself you can always do it tomorrow.
Grant suggests that when you fully commit yourself to your goal, you’ll reduce the opportunity for fear to creep in which in turn will reduce the amount of action you take:
Commit yourself entirely, remove time from the equation–and you will snuff out your fears and be able to take more action. (119)
The more responsibility you take for yourself means the more you own your goal and your life. The more ownership you have, the more of an imperative it becomes for you to achieve your goal. And the more imperative there is that you must do something, the more action you’ll take to get it done.
The 10X Rule is a framework to create bigger goals for yourself so that you can take more action. While the book focuses on entrepreneurs who are trying to build a brand and reputation for themselves, the idea of taking massive action to achieve success is applicable to everyone.
Set bigger goals. Take more action. Create more opportunities for you to see results. That’s the essence of The 10X Rule.
The book is a quick read. It’s a good reminder that success isn’t just about you and the things you can accumulate in your life. It’s how success relates to those around you and the life you live. You can find the book at your local library or order a copy for yourself on Amazon.
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