The Ten Times Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure Read online

  You'll often notice that successful people carry themselves with an air of confidence and conviction, a sense of comfort, and maybe even a touch of arrogance. Before you start thinking that they are somehow inherently “different,” you should understand that they acquired these qualities as a result of taking action. The more frequently you can do things that scare you a bit, the more others will label you as courageous—and then gravitate toward you. 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. Although you can train to increase your skills and your confidence, courage is only attained by doing—especially doing things that you fear. Who wants to do business with or support someone who readily gives in to his or her fears? Who wants to invest in a project when the people behind it don't act with confidence and courage?

  I was recently interviewed by someone who asked me, “Does nothing scare you?” The question surprised me because I know that I experience fear. I suppose that it must appear that I am not scared because I deliver fourth degree actions—and you can certainly do the same. Attack, dominate, and keep your attention on the future, and then continue to repeat your actions—and your courage will grow. 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!

  17. Embrace Change

  Successful people love change, whereas the unsuccessful do everything they can to keep things from changing. But how can you create success when you are trying to keep things from becoming any different? It is impossible. Although you never want to alter the things that are working, you should always look for ways to improve what you are doing. The successful keep an eye out for what is coming next. They seek out potential, upcoming market transformations and embrace them instead of rejecting them. The successful look at how the world is shifting and apply this to how they might improve their operations and grow their advantage. They never subsist on yesterday's successes. They know that they must continue to adapt or they won't remain victorious. Change is not something to resist; it's something that should keep you excited. Apple's Steve Jobs is a great example of this. He changes his products before a competitor can catch up or his consumers can get bored with them. The willingness to accept change is a great quality of the successful.

  18. Determine and Take the Right Approach

  The successful know that they can quantify what works and what doesn't work, whereas the unsuccessful focus solely on “hard work.” The right approach may be to institute a public relations program that softens the market, provide consumers with the right tool, or compel management to make the most powerful connections, find the best first investors, or hire the highest-quality staff. Whatever the method may be, the successful don't think in terms of hard work (even though they are, of course, willing to work hard). Instead, they figure out how to work “smart” and handle the situation by finding and using the right approach until they succeed. The unsuccessful always find work to be difficult because they never take enough time to improve their approach and make it easier on themselves. The first three years of my life as a salesperson was hard work and gave me sporadic results at best. Then I committed two years and thousands of dollars to improving my approach—and selling was no longer “work”!

  Successful people invest time, energy, and money in improving themselves. As a result, they don't focus on how hard the work is but rather on how rewarding the results are! When you are winning because you have perfected your approach, it won't feel like work; it will feel like success. And nothing tastes as good as the victory of success.

  19. Break Traditional Ideas

  The most successful of the successful go beyond the concept of mere change and challenge traditional thinking. Look at organizations like Google, Apple, and Facebook, and you will see companies that challenge traditions and create new ways of doing things. They break that which already works in order to get to a better place. 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. I built my first company on the notion of breaking traditional ideas that one industry had long accepted by showing it a better way to take care of customers. Highly successful individuals are not concerned with the way things “have always been done”; they're interested in finding new and better ways. They look at why automobiles, airplanes, newspapers, and homes have changed so little over the past 50 years and try to determine ways to create new markets. A word of warning: These people are also able to maintain their companies' existing structures while disputing conventional concepts and bringing new products to market. They don't suggest change for the sake of change; they do so in order to design superior products, relationships, and environments. The successful are willing to challenge tradition in order to discover new and better ways to accomplish their goals and dreams.

  20. Be Goal-Oriented

  A goal is some desirable objective—typically something yet to be achieved—that a person or company needs in order to move forward. Successful people are highly goal-oriented and always pay more attention to the target than the problem. They are seemingly able to bend bullets because of their commitment and focus on the goal. Far too many folks spend more time planning what they will get at the grocery store than they do setting the most important goals of their lives. 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.

  Goals are incredibly important to me. I begin and finish each day by writing them down and reviewing them. Any time I encounter failure or a challenge, I take out a legal pad and write my goals down again. This helps keep my attention on where I desire to go and the goals I want to achieve—instead of letting me dwell on the difficulty of the moment. The ability to remain focused on the goal and keep your orientation on that goal's achievement is vital to success. Although I try to stay focused on the present, I want to keep most of my attention on the bigger picture of my goals rather than on just the task I'm accomplishing at that moment.

  21. Be on a Mission

  Whereas the unsuccessful spend their lives thinking in terms of a job, successful people approach their activities as though they are on a religious mission—not as work or merely “a job.” Successful employees, employers, entrepreneurs, and market changers consider their daily activities to be part of a more important mission that will change things significantly. They are always thinking bigger and homing in on some massive target to achieve. Until you start approaching your job as though you are on a mission, it will always be reduced to “just a job.” You must undertake every activity with the zealous attitude that this endeavor could forever change the world. Approach every phone call, e-mail, sales visit, meeting, presentation, and day you spend at the office not as a job but as a calling for which you will forever be known. Until you adopt this attitude, you will forever be stuck in a job—and probably one that isn't very fulfilling.

  22. Have a High Level of Motivation

  Motivation refers to the act or state of being stimulated toward action. To succeed, it is critical that you be stimulated, excited, and driven to some action or actions. Although the definition of motivation suggests that there's a reason behind the action, the study of successful people also makes it apparent that 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 or purpose. Elevated motivation is obviously critical to 10X actions and persistence. This isn't the kind of enthusiasm that lasts for a few hours, a day, or a week; it's based on what you do each day to stimulate yourself toward actions and inspire yourself to keep going. 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. As they continue to be compelled by new reasons to move forward, they achieve these new goals and then regenerate for the next round. They are constantly stimulated to higher levels of action and achievements.

  There's one question I get in my seminars more than any other: “How do you stay motivated?” The answer? I create new reasons to keep showing up. The unsuccessful unceasingly suggest, “If I had what [that person] had, I would retire.” But I don't believe this claim for a second. First of all, they don't know if that's true, since they can't tell how they'd respond to success. It is possible—and highly probable—that the success they'd create would also include some responsibilities and obligation to continue to produce in order to keep things going. Motivation is an inside job. I can't motivate you, and you can't motivate anyone else. You can encourage, you can challenge, and you can inspire, but true motivation—the underlying reason for doing something—must come from within. I do it by setting goals daily to keep myself enthused. I look at things that seem to be out of reach for me—not just material things but other people's accomplishments and achievements—to keep my attention on the possibilities. Anything you can do to stay highly motivated will be critical to your 10X commitment.

  23. Be Interested in Results

  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. The difference here is connected to the concept of being unreasonable. Let's face it: Like it or not, the results are all that matter. If you “attempt” to take out the trash but only make it to your front hall, garbage will continue to accumulate in your home—and you will have a problem. Until you become completely, unreasonably fixated with only getting results, you will fall short of achieving what you desire. Quit patting yourself on the back for trying, and save your rewards and accolades for actual accomplishment. Drive yourself so that no one else has to. Be hard on yourself and never let yourself off the hook until you get results. Results (not efforts)—regardless of the challenges, resistance, and problems—are a primary focus of the successful.

  24. Have Big Goals and Dreams

  Successful people dream big and have immense goals. They are not realistic. They leave that to the masses, who fight for leftovers. The second question of the 10X Rule asks: How big are your goals and dreams? The middle class are taught to be realistic, whereas the successful think in terms of how extensively they can spread themselves. The greatest regret of my life is that I initially set targets and goals based on what was realistic rather than on giant, radical thinking. “Big think” changes the world. It is what makes Facebook, Twitter, Google—or whatever's coming next. Realistic thinking, small goals, and trivial dreams simply won't provide you with any motivation—and they'll land you smack dab in the middle, competing with the masses. Dream big, go big, and then figure out how to go bigger than that! Read everything you can about great people and great companies' accomplishments. Surround yourself with everything you can that inspires you to think big, act big, and reach your full potential.

  25. Create Your Own Reality

  The successful are a lot like magicians; they don't deal in other people's realities. Instead, they are bent on creating a new reality for themselves that is different from the one that others accept. They aren't interested in what other people deem possible or impossible; they only care about producing the things they dream are possible. They're never sold on the idea of dealing in others' beliefs or guidelines, and they don't submit to the agreed-upon “reality.” They want to create what they want and have a high disregard—even dislike—for mass agreement. Do a bit of research and you will see that those who have made it really big created a reality that did not exist before they came along. Whether it is a salesperson, an athlete, an artist, a politician, or an inventor, greatness is achieved by those who think nothing of being practical and are instead obsessed with the idea of creating the reality they want to make. The next reality of how things will or can be is only as far away as the next person who creates it.

  26. Commit First—Figure Out Later

  At first glance, this might be appear to be a highly undesirable—even perilous—trait of the highly successful. However, it's far less dangerous than the alternative frequently practiced by the unsuccessful. 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. Even when they do figure it out and are ready to commit, they usually find that the opportunity no longer exists or that someone else has claimed the spoils.

  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. The great companies of yesterday get so powerful and so enamored of layers of management that their staff spends most of its days in meetings—which causes them to become cautious and incapable of pulling triggers the way they did when they were taking risks and growing. Although it can be dicey to commit first and figure the rest out later, it is my belief that creativity and problem solving are stimulated only after a person fully commits. Although preparation and training are critical, challenges of the marketplace will require you to act before you determine how to make it turn out all right. It is not necessarily the smartest and brightest who win in the game of life but rather those who can commit the most passionately to their cause.

  27. Be Highly Ethical

  This is an area of confusion for many people—especially when they see supposedly successful individuals going to jail. Well, as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter how much success you amass. Going to jail would be an immediate disqualifier. Even if a criminal does not get caught, he or she is still criminal—and therefore incapable of real success. I know people who would never tell a lie or steal a penny who I don't consider ethical—because they also don't bother to fulfill their commitments as providers of security and role models for their families and friends. If you don't go to work every day—and do everything within your power to succeed—then you are stealing from your family, future, and the company for which you work. You have made agreements—either implied or spoken—with your spouse, family, colleagues, managers, and clients. The more success you create, the better you are able to take care of those agreements. To me, being ethical doesn't just mean playing by society's agreed-upon rules. I also believe that being ethical requires people to do what they have told others they would do—and doing so until they get the desired results. Making an effort without a result is not ethical because it is a form of lying to yourself and failing to fulfill your obligations and commitments. Trying, wishing, praying, hoping, and wanting aren't going to get you there. In my mind, ethical people achieve the results they desire and create so much success for themselves, their family, and their company that they can survive any storm and succeed regardless of any difficulty.

  One of the personal experiences of which I am most proud was my ability to weather two years in a severely challenging economic environment while I was confronting other, even more serious challenges in my life—and was still able to expand my company and provide for my family. Anything short of providing long-term success means putting everyone in your life—including yourself—at risk. I am not talking about “cash register” ethics here but rather the bigger concept of living up to your abilities and potential as well as your unspoken or explicit commitments. Merely agreeing to be a father, husband, entrepreneur, or business owner—or whatever role you play—brings with it implied commitments and agreements. I consider it unethical not to fully utilize the gifts, talents, and mind with which I have been blessed. Only you can decide what is ethical to you. However, I would suggest that any disparity between what you know y
ou can do and what you are achieving is an ethical issue. The most successful among us are driven by ethical obligation and motivation to do something significant that aligns with their potential.

  28. Be Interested in the Group

  You can only do as well as the people around you. If everyone around you is sick, underperforming, and struggling, then sooner or later, you will become afflicted like everyone else. For example, pensions are strangling city and state governments because handfuls of people were interested in their own situation and didn't consider the impact it would have on the group as a whole. This type of “me first” thinking—that has no regard for the group—ultimately stifles the very group upon which an individual depends for survival. This self-serving approach later makes it almost impossible for the group to survive—and puts even that which was promised at peril.

  The larger population's health and well-being should be of utmost importance to each individual member—which is something that the most successful know. You can only be as successful as the individuals with whom you involve and associate yourself. It doesn't matter what position you hold—whether you are leading a group or are part of a group—your success is limited to the ability of those around you. This does not mean that successful people aren't interested in themselves. It's just that they realize that they have to expend energy and express interest in their associates because they know that if they are not doing well, even the most well-to-do will be dragged down with them. It is actually self-serving, to some degree, to care about what happens to everyone else. You want everyone on your team winning and improving because this is likely to improve your game. For that reason, you always want to do everything you can to bring the rest of the team to higher levels.