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

The Fourth Degree: Massive Action
Though it might sound far-fetched, massive action is the most natural state of
action there is for all of us. Look at children; they're in constant action, except
when something is wrong. This was certainly true about me for the first 10 years
my life. It was nonstop massive action except when I was sleeping. Like most
kids, I was full-out, all the time—with people frowning and hinting that maybe I
should bring it down a notch or two. Did that happen to you? And have you done
it to your own children?
Until adults started telling me otherwise, I didn't know anything else other than
massive action. Even the most basic elements of the universe in which we live
support massive amounts of action. Dive beneath the surface of the ocean and
you will see constant and massive amounts of activity taking place. Just beneath
the crust of the planet on which you walk is tremendous movement that never
stops. Look inside an ant mound or into a beehive, and you will see colonies of

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living beings generating massive amounts of action in order to ensure their
survival into the future. Nowhere in any of these environments are there signs of
retreat or no activity or anything close to what would be considered normal
levels.
My dad was a very hard worker and very much a strong disciplinarian who
was definitely willing to take massive action. Unfortunately, he died when I was
10, which really hammered me. I look back now and realize that this event
caused me to immediately begin retreating from areas of life in which I needed
to take action. Meanwhile, I was expending 
a lot
of energy in areas that really
shouldn't have received any of my attention: drugs, alcohol, and a whole list of
other useless activities. This continued throughout high school and then college,
with a few more losses along the way. I continued to progressively retreat from
those things that were good for me and continued concentrating on more
destructive areas. I wasn't necessarily lazy or unmotivated; I simply didn't have
the proper direction and was being misinformed about how to attack life.
I spent most of this time bored, without purpose, and gravitating to areas in life
in which I could expend a lot of energy but not produce constructive results. I
think this is something that most people endure at some time in their lives; I just
happened to encounter it early on.
As I mentioned in a previous chapter, I experienced a major wakeup call at the
age of 25. I knew that I had to get redirected or else I would pay the ultimate
price. I made a decision to make the same commitment to the creation of
success. Since it was already hard work 
not
succeeding, I just changed the focus.
Despite the fact that my father had been gone for 15 years, he still provided a
great role model for me. He believed in a strong work ethic, was willing to do
whatever it took to provide for his family, and went after success as though it
was truly his duty and calling. I am sure he enjoyed the financial rewards and
sense of personal accomplishment that came with his achievements; however, it
was also clear to me that he thought it to be his responsibility to his family,
church, name, and even God. He just ran out of time!
Once I finally woke up from my period of misdirection and misinformation, I
committed all my energy to my career. Ever since the age of 25, the one thing I
did right—whether it was in my first sales job or the first company I built—was
to approach whatever task was before me with massive amounts of action. It was
never retreat, no action, or even average amounts; it was constant, persistent, and
immense attack on the target.
Massive action is actually the level of action that creates new problems—and
until you create problems, you're not truly operating at the fourth stage of action.

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When I started my seminar business at the age of 29, I employed the 10X Rule
to create a name for myself. I would start my day at 7 AM and not get back to
my hotel until 9 PM. I spent the day cold calling companies and offering to do
presentations to their sales and management teams. I would visit as many as 40
organizations in a single day. I remember being in El Paso, Texas—a city where
I had never been, knew no one, and no one knew me. Within two weeks, I had
seen every business in that market. Although I was unsuccessful in making every
one of them a client, I certainly secured more business by taking massive action
than I would have otherwise.
A real estate agent once traveled with me to observe firsthand how I was
growing my business. After three days of shadowing me, he admitted, “There is
no way I can do this for another day. I am only 
riding
with you, and I'm
exhausted.” I approached every day like my life depended on the actions I took. I
refused to leave the city without knowing I did everything possible to meet every
business owner there. Cold “visiting” companies taught me more about taking
massive action than any other activity I have ever done and has proved more
valuable to me in my other ventures.
When you are taking massive action, you aren't thinking in terms of how many
hours you work. When you start operating at the fourth degree of action, your
mind-set will shift and so will your results. You will end up instigating
opportunities that you will have to address earlier, later, and in a different way
than you would on a “normal” day, so a routine day will become a thing of the
past. I continued this commitment to massive action until one day it was no
longer an unusual activity but a habit for me. It was interesting to see how many
people would ask me, “Why are you still out this late at night?” “What are you
doing calling on us on a Saturday?” “You never quit, do you?” “I wish my
people worked like this.” And even— “What are you 
on
?” I was on something; I
was treating success as my duty, obligation, and responsibility, and massive
action was my ace in the hole. Signals that you're taking massive action are
having people comment upon and admire your level of activity.
However, you can't think in terms of compliments or how many hours you
work or even how much money you're making when you're operating at this
degree. Instead, you have to approach each day as though your life and your
future depend on your ability to take massive action. When I started my first
business, I 
had
to make it work; there was simply no two ways about it! If I
wanted people to know about me and about what I represented, then I was going
to have to 
do
a lot—period. The problem wasn't competition; it was obscurity.
No one even knew who I was. This has been the single biggest problem I've

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encountered in every business I have built, and I imagine that it's one most
entrepreneurs face. People don't know you or about your new product—and the
only way to burst through obscurity is by taking massive action. I didn't have
money to invest in advertising, so I spent all my energy on phone calls,
traditional mail, e-mail, cold calls, return calls, visits, and more calls. This level
of massive action may sound—and is indeed—exhausting at times. However, it
will create more certainty and security for you than probably any other education
or training you will ever receive.
I have been called a lot of things due to my commitment to action—a
workaholic, obsessive, greedy, never satisfied, driven, and even manic. Yet every
time I have been labeled, it's always been by someone operating at less than the
fourth degree of action. I have never had someone who is more successful than I
am considering my excessive action to be a bad thing—because successful
people know firsthand what it takes to achieve this kind of success. They know
themselves how to get where they want to go and would never identify massive
action as undesirable in any way.
Taking massive action means making somewhat unreasonable choices and
then following these up with even more action. This level of action will be
considered by some to be borderline insane, well beyond the agreed-upon social
norm—and will always create new problems. But remember: If you don't create
new problems, then you're not taking enough action.
You can also expect to be criticized and labeled by others when you start
taking massive action. The second you start hitting it big, you will immediately
be judged by the mediocre. People who operate at the other three levels of action
will be threatened by your activity level and will often make it seem somehow
“wrong” in order to make themselves right. These people cannot stand seeing
others succeed at these levels and will do everything to stop them. Whereas a
sane person would step up to your level, a mediocre person will tell you that you
are wasting your time, this won't work in your industry, it is a turnoff to your
clientele, no one will want to work with you, and so on. Even management
occasionally discourages employees from putting forth this kind of substantial
effort. You will know you are stepping into the realm of massive action when
you (1) create new problems for yourself and (2) start to receive criticism and
warning from others. But stay strong. This activity will break you out of the
hypnotic state of mediocrity that you've been taught to accept.
And in order to deliver at that level of massive action, you must take every
opportunity that comes your way. For example, my wife is an actress. I tell her
all the time to say yes to every audition, regardless of whether she is prepared or

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whether she thinks the part is right for her. It's better to suck and be seen than not
to be seen at all! “But what if I bomb?” my wife asks me. I tell her, “Hollywood
is filled with terrible actors that are still somehow working.” Maybe they won't
pick you for the part you went up for but will see that you're perfect for some
other part. The goal is to be seen, thought of, and considered—in one way or
another. Your only problem is obscurity, not talent. In order for the endeavor
you've chosen to work out for you, you have to make constant, relentless effort.
Massive action can never hurt you and will always help you. This is also one
place where quantity is more important than quality. Money and power follow
attention, so whoever can get the most attention is the person who takes the most
action and sooner or later will get the most results.
No one is going to come to your house and make your dreams come true. No
one is going to march into your company and make your products known to the
world. In order to stand out from the crowd—and for customers to even consider
your products, services, and organization—you must take massive action. I
talked about the importance of domination in my last book,