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

Quit Lying to Yourself
It is fairly common for people who don't get what they want to provide
justifications—and even lie to themselves—by minimizing how valuable success
is to them. It's easy to spot this trend in our society today within entire
demographics and population segments. You can read it in books, hear it in
church, and see it promoted in schools. For example, children who can't get what
they want will fight for a little while, cry for a bit, and then convince themselves

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that they never wanted it in the first place. It is entirely okay to admit that you
wanted something that didn't come to fruition. In fact, this is the only thing that
will help you eventually reach that goal—despite the obstacles you'll encounter
along the way.
Even the most fortunate and well-connected people among us must do
something to put themselves in the right places at the right times in front of the
right people. As I mentioned at the end of a previous chapter, luck is just one of
the byproducts of those who take the most action. The reason why successful
people seem lucky is because success naturally allows for 
more
success. People
create magical momentum by reaching their goals, which compels them to set—
and eventually reach—even loftier goals. Unless you are privy to the action, you
don't see or hear about the number of times the successful went for it and failed;
after all, the world pays attention only when they're winning. Colonel Sanders,
who made Kentucky Fried Chicken famous, pitched his idea more than 80 times
before anyone bought the concept. It took Stallone only three days to write the
script for 
Rocky
, and the movie grossed $200 million, but when he wrote it, he
had no money to his name, couldn't afford to heat his apartment, and even had to
sell his dog for $50 just to be able to buy food. Walt Disney was laughed at for
his idea of an amusement park, and yet now people all over the world spend
$100 a ticket and save up their whole lives just to have a family vacation at
Disney World. Don't be confused by what looks like luck to you. Lucky people
don't make successful people; people who completely commit themselves to
success seem to get lucky in life. Someone once said, “The harder I work, the
luckier I get.”
We can even take this one step further: If you are able to repeatedly attain
success, it becomes less of a “success” and more of a habit—almost everyday
life for some people. Successful people have even been described as having a
certain magnetism—some “x factor” or magical charm that seems to surround
and follow them. Why? Because successful individuals approach success as a
duty, obligation, and responsibility—and even a right! Let's say that there's an
opportunity for success in the vicinity of two people. Do you think it will end up
with the person who believes success is his or her duty—who reaches out and
grabs it—or the one who approaches it with a “take-it-or-leave-it” attitude? I
think you know the answer.
And despite the oft-used phrase, there is no such thing as an “overnight
success.” Success always comes as a result of earlier actions—no matter how
seemingly insignificant they are or how long ago they were taken. Anyone who
refers to a business, product, actor, or band as an overnight success neglects to

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understand the mental stakes that certain individuals have made in order to forge
this path. They don't see the countless actions taken before these people actually
created and acquired their much-deserved victory.
Success comes about as a result of mental and spiritual claims to own it,
followed by taking necessary actions over time until it is acquired. If you
approach it with any less gusto than your ethical and moral duty, obligation, and
responsibility to your family, your company, and your future, you will most
likely not create it—and have even more difficulty keeping it.
I guarantee that when you, your family, and your company begin to consider
success to be a responsibility and an ethical issue, then everything else will
immediately start to shift. Although ethics are certainly a personal issue, most
people would agree that being ethical is not necessarily limited to telling the
truth or not stealing money. Our definition of ethics can certainly be expanded
from that—perhaps even to include the notion that we are required to live up to
the potential with which we've each been blessed. I even suggest that failing to
insist upon abundant amounts of success is somewhat unethical. To the degree
that electing to do our personal best each and every day is ethical, then failing to
do so is a violation of ethics.
You must constantly demand success as your duty, obligation, and
responsibility. I am going to show you how to guarantee that this happens—in
any business or industry, at any time, despite all obstacles, and in whatever
volumes you desire!
Success must be approached from an ethical viewpoint. Success is your
duty, obligation, and responsibility!

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