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

enough
money to end up with 
not
enough
money? Why work out in the gym only once a week, just to get sore and never
see a change in your body type? Why get merely “good” at something when you
know the marketplace only rewards excellence? Why work eight hours a day at a
job where no one recognizes you when you could be a superstar—and perhaps
even run or own the place? All these examples require energy. Only your 10X
targets really pay off!
So let's return to our definition of success—a term most people have never
even looked up, much less studied. What does it really mean to have success or
be successful? In the Middle Ages, the word often referred to the person taking
over the throne. The word derived from the Latin 
succeder
(now—that is 
real
power!). “Succeed” literally means “to turn out well or to attain a desired object
or end.” Success, then, is an 
accumulation
of events turning out well or desired
outcomes being achieved.
Think of it this way: you wouldn't consider a diet “successful” if you lost 10
pounds and put on 12. In other words, you have to be able to 
keep
success—not
just get it. You would also want to improve upon that success to ensure that you
do maintain it. After all, you can cut your grass once and be successful in doing

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so, but it's going to grow back eventually. You will have to constantly maintain
the yard in order for it to 
continue
to be defined as a success. This isn't about
attaining one goal one time but rather about what we can persist in creating.
Before you start worrying that you're going to have to work at this forever, let
me assure you that you won't—that is, not if you set the correct 10X target from
the beginning. Talk to anyone who is wildly, extraordinarily successful in some
field, and they will tell you it never felt like work. It feels like work to most
people because the payoff is not substantial enough and doesn't yield an
adequate victory to feel like something that isn't “work.”
Your focus should be on the kind of success that builds upon itself—that which
is perpetual and doesn't happen only one time. This book is about how to create
extraordinary achievement, how to ensure you will attain it, how to keep it—and
then how to keep creating new levels of it without it feeling like work.
Remember: 
A person who limits his or her potential success will limit what he or
she will do to create it and keep it.
It's also vital to keep in mind that the subject of acquirement—in other words,
the goal or target—doesn't matter as much as the mind-set and actions that are
mandatory to accomplish 10X goals. Whether you want to be a professional
speaker, best-selling author, top CEO, exceptional parent, great teacher; have a
model marriage; get in great shape; or produce a movie that the world talks
about for generations, you'll be required to move beyond where you are right
now and commit to 10X thoughts and actions.
Any desirable target or goal will always suggest something you have yet to
accomplish. It doesn't matter how much you've already attained. As long as you
are alive, you will either live to accomplish your own goals and dreams or be
used as a resource to accomplish someone else's. For the sake of this book,
success can also be defined as accomplishing the next level of what it is you
desire—and in ways that will forever change how you perceive yourself, your
life, the use of your energy, and—perhaps most significantly—how others
perceive you.
The 10X Rule is about what you have to think and do to get to a point 10 times
more gratifying than you have ever imagined. This level of success cannot be
achieved by “normal” levels of thoughts and actions. That is why even when
most of those goals are attained, they don't actually provide sufficient
fulfillment. Average marriages, bank accounts, weight, health, businesses,
products, and the like are just that—average.
Are you ready for the 10X adventure?

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