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

get through
, yet in
reality, they spend very little of their time even doing it. 
Most people only work
enough so that it feels like work, whereas successful people work at a pace that
gets such satisfying results that work is a reward.
Truly successful people don't
even call it work; for them, it's a passion. Why? Because they do enough to win!
An easy way to achieve balance is to simply 
work harder
while you are at the
office. This won't just leave you with more time; it will allow you to experience
the rewards of your job and make it feel less like work and more like success.
Try to take this approach: Be grateful to go to work, and see how much you can
get done in the time you have. Make it a race, a challenge—make it fun.
The first thing to do when managing time and seeking balance is to decide
what is important to you. In which areas do you most want to achieve success
and in what quantities? Write those down in order of importance. Then
determine the total amount of time you have available and decide where you are
going to allot time to each of these endeavors. Another vital thing to do: Log
how you are spending your time daily—and I mean every single second. This
will allow you to see all the ways in which you waste your time—the little habits
and activities that in no way contribute to your success. Any action that is not
adding wood to your fire would be considered wasteful—think Xbox, online
poker, watching television, napping, drinking, taking smoking breaks—the
potential list is endless. Brutal, isn't it? Yes, it is—but if you don't manage your
time, I promise that you will waste it.
Of course, things will change throughout the course of your life and career.
You get older. You achieve and then generate new goals. Different things and
people enter your world. All of these changes require that you continue to
modify your priorities. For example, I listened for years to parents who told me
that I didn't understand how to balance work with family life because I didn't

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have children of my own. Well, I recently had my first child—most assuredly an
event that demands more of my time—and was able to experience this for
myself. What I found was not a problem with balance or work but rather a
solution based on priorities.
My daughter merely gave me another reason to create success—not an excuse
to avoid working more. She is sheer motivation for me to do well because now
I'm doing it for her as well as for myself. You cannot blame your family for
keeping you from creating the success you deserve. They should be the reason
why you 
want
to succeed!
It might seem difficult, but there are ways to make it work. Get yourself and
your family members on a schedule that allows you to do those things that are a
priority for you. For example, my solution was to add one hour to each of my
days in order to spend time with my daughter. My wife and I met and created a
schedule that would allow me to have time with my daughter and my wife—and
not negatively impact the work schedule that provides for our financial success.
The first thing my wife and I did was build our daughter's sleep schedule around
our priorities. We agreed that I would get up one hour earlier each day and take
my daughter on an outing each morning. This would ensure that I would have
quality time when I'm home with my daughter before I go to the office and
become consumed by the day's events. It also would allow my wife some extra
time to sleep. I have been doing this since my daughter was about 6 months old,
and it works beautifully. I take her on errands with me—such as going to the
local grocery store each morning and introducing her to the people who work
there. When I get back from our outing, the rest of the day is mine to produce in
the business world uninterrupted. Because I get my daughter up so early, we are
then in a position to put her to bed before 7 PM. Then my wife and I are able to
spend quality time together as a couple.
We understand that this system will continue to change as my daughter grows
up and that alterations will have to be made. However, the point is that we are
controlling our time rather than just haphazardly trying to manage it. Our
decision to set priorities and commit to a solution lets us be the bosses of our
own time. The busier you become, the more you have to manage, control, and
prioritize. Although I certainly don't have some scientific formula that will
magically make this easier, I can tell you one thing: If you start with a
commitment to success and then agree to control time, you will create an agenda
that accommodates all you want.
You have to decide how you are going to use your time. You must command,
control, and squeeze every second out of it in order to increase your footprint

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and dominate the marketplace. Get everyone necessary—your family,
colleagues, associates, employees—to recognize and agree upon which priorities
are most important. If you don't do this, you will have people with different
agendas pulling you in all sorts of directions. My schedule works for me because
everyone in my life—from my wife to the people who work with me—knows
what is most important to me and understands how I value time. This allows us
to handle everything else that comes our way.
In our culture, we're frequently encouraged to “slow down, relax, take it easy,
find balance” and just “be happy” with where we are and what we have.
Although this can sound great in theory, it can be very difficult for people who
abandon every decision to be in control of their lives. Most people can't simply
“relax and take it easy”—since they never do enough to free themselves of the
meager existence that comes as a result of mediocre actions. Work should
provide a purpose, a mission, and a sense of accomplishment. These things are
vital to every single person's mental, emotional, and physical well-being. People
who promote the new age, esoteric advice to “take it slow” are encouraging a
mind-set that isn't doing anyone any good. Consider the types of traits this
thinking has created in people: laziness, procrastination, a lack of urgency, sloth,
a tendency to blame others, irresponsibility, entitlement, and the expectation that
it's up to someone else to solve our problems.
Wake up! No one is going to save you. No one is going to take care of your
family or your retirement. No one is going to “make things” work out 
for
you.
The only way to do so is to utilize every moment of every day at 10X levels.
This will ensure that you accomplish your goals and dreams. Happiness,
security, confidence, and fulfillment come from utilizing your gifts and energy to
achieve whatever you've decided is success for you. And it requires every bit of
your time, which is yours—and only 
yours
—to control.

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