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

The following is the basic series of mistakes people make when setting
out to achieve goals:
1.
Mistargeting
by setting objectives that are too low and don't allow
for enough correct motivation.
2.
Severely underestimating
what it will take in terms of actions,
resources, money, and energy to accomplish the target.
3.
Spending 
too much time competing
and not enough time dominating
their sector.
4.
Underestimating the amount of adversity they will need to overcome
in
order to actually attain their desired goal.
The foreclosure issue that America is facing right now is a perfect example of
this sequence of missteps. Those who fell victim to this situation were
mistargeting, underestimating necessary amounts of actions, and concentrating
too intensely on being competitive rather than creating a situation that would
make them invincible to unexpected setbacks. People were operating with a herd
mentality—one based on competition instead of domination—during the housing

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boom. 
They 
thought 
in 
terms 
of 
“I 
have 
to 
do 
what 
my
colleague/neighbor/family member is doing” instead of “I have to do what's best
for 
me
.”
Despite what many people claim (or want to believe), the truth is that every
person who had a negative experience regarding the housing collapse and
foreclosure mess did not correctly set his or her goals for survival. The number
of foreclosures then impacted people's home values across the country. And
when the real estate market crumbled, it negatively impacted everything—
affecting even those who weren't playing the real estate game. Unemployment
suddenly doubled and then tripled. As a result, industries were crippled,
companies were shut down, and retirement accounts were wiped out. Even the
most sophisticated of investors misjudges the correct amount of financial wealth
necessary to weather this kind of storm. You can blame the banks, the Fed,
mortgage brokers, timing, bad fortune, or even God if you like, but the reality of
the situation is that every person (including myself!), as well as countless banks,
companies, and even entire industries, failed to appropriately assess the
situation.
When people don't set 10X goals—and therefore fail to operate at 10X levels
—they become susceptible to “get-rich-quick” phenomena and unplanned
changes in the marketplace. If you had occupied yourself with your own actions
—aimed at dominating your sector—you probably would not have been baited
by these kinds of temptations. I know because it happened to me. I myself got
caught up in this situation because I had not properly set my own targets at 10X
levels and became susceptible to someone else's racket. Someone approached
me, gained my trust, and claimed to be able to make me money if I would only
join forces with him and his company. Because I didn't have enough “skin” in
my own games, I was drawn in, and he hurt me—badly. Had I set my own
targets properly, I would have been so preoccupied with doing what was
necessary to accomplish them that I wouldn't have even had time to meet with
this crook.
If you look around, you will likely see that humankind, by and large, tends to
set targets at subpar levels. Many people, in fact, have been programmed to set
targets that are not even of their own design. We are told what is considered to
be “a lot of money”—what is rich, poor, or middle class. We have predetermined
notions about what is fair, what is difficult, what is possible, what is ethical,
what is good, what is bad, what is ugly, what tastes good, what looks good, and
on and on. So don't assume that your goal setting isn't impinged upon by these
already-established parameters, too.

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Any goal you set is going to be difficult to achieve, and you will inevitably be
disappointed at some points along the way. So why not set these goals much
higher than you deem worthy from the beginning? If they are going to require
work, effort, energy, and persistence, then why not exert 10 times as much of
each? What if you are underestimating your capabilities?
Oh, you might be protesting, but what of the disappointment that comes from
setting unrealistic goals? Take just a few moments to study history, or—even
better—simply look back over your life. Chances are that you have more often
been disappointed by setting targets that are too low and achieving them—only
to be shocked that you still didn't get what you wanted. Another school of
thought is that you shouldn't set “unrealistic” goals because they might compel
you to give up when you realize you can't reach them. But wouldn't coming up
short on a 10X target accomplish more than coming up short on one-tenth of that
goal? 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?
Some people claim that expectations are the reason for unhappiness. However,
I can assure you from personal experience that you'll suffer greatly by setting
subpar targets. You simply will not invest the energy, effort, and resources
necessary to accommodate unexpected variables and conditions that are certain
to occur sometime during the course of the project or event.
Why spend your life making only