The 10x Rule – Grant Cardone

Today’s letter will explore The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone. We will begin by looking at who Cardone is and then the 5 key takeaways from his book. All the while, we will indicate how you can apply these lessons to further advance your trading and investing.

There is a wealth of literature on trading and investing. So much wisdom and value add to be extracted but many of us struggle to find the time to read a book.

What’s more, this generation is accustomed to instant information access and gratification; think the internet, siri and how frustrated we instinctively get when a web page takes longer than 5 seconds to load.

That’s why we take the time to read books and summarise the key takeaways for you. We do this so that you don’t have to. You will find many examples in our archives ?. Looking for a good place to start? Check out our summary on Nassim Taleb’s ? The Black Swan.

Now that we have discussed the rationale, let’s get on to the good stuff.

Why Should We Listen to Grant Cardone? 

There are many people out there with many (often conflicting) opinions. When we are trying to decide who’s advice to follow, a good starting point is considering their own success. After all, if their advice is so good, why didn’t it achieve big success for them? 

Success is subjective, so you should take advice from someone who has whatever it is you are reaching for.

So let’s sense check the merits of the 10x rule by considering Cardone’s own success.

Cardone is a real estate mogul who built a $1.9 billion portfolio of multifamily properties. I hear you ask: was there a certain silver spoon involved? Answer is no. He built it from scratch.

So, with our trader and investor caps on, we can appreciate that Cardone has the level of financial success we might aspire to ?

We are now ready to explore his 5 key takeaways.

1. Set 10x Goals 

Accomplishing our goals is usually harder than first anticipated.

People have a tendency to underestimate the time, effort and money that goes into making their goals a success ⏰. Again, this can be attributed to our generation: we are surrounded by a film industry that thrives by dramatising success. We like to watch movies that make the step from rag to riches look like an overnight miracle.

This is precisely why you should set your goals higher than what you might be comfortable with.

Are you incentivised by money? Maybe $10,000 through crypto trading by the end of 2021 is what you have in mind. Sounds reasonable but imagine you set the target at $100,000. That is a big target (10x to be precise). If you miss your target, which goal would you rather come short of? The bigger number of course, that way you have made much more money.

You want a big margin of safety to bootstrap your success. The point is that this way your actions will be aligned with your 10x goal. 

✅ Set targets so high that even if you come up short, you will still be a winner.

2. Imagine 10x Actions 

As discussed, we tend to miscalculate the amount of effort required to reach our goals. When this is the case, it becomes obvious very quickly. Consequently, people become visibily disappointed and discouraged. 

We create a scenario in our minds where there is a wall or barrier between us and our goals that we cannot push through. The target becomes unattainable and soon we give up.

You can avoid this by also setting your perception of the required actions or effort to 10x. Anticipate needing to work 10x harder than you initially expect.

To achieve greatness, your amount of action needs to be great.

3. Be the Master of Your Own ‘Luck’

We have explored two inputs: 10x goals and 10x actions. Let’s solve for the output:

(10x Goals) x (10x Actions) = 100x Opportunities

Having 10x goals and 10x actions will create 100x opportunities and you will be better prepared to seize those opportunities. 

Many people will perceive your success from this formula as luck. What they don’t see is the amount of actions that got you there in the first place. We can rarely attribute significant success to luck. Just like a calculation, your input of tremendous amounts of work and effort leads to the desired outcome. 

When this doesn’t seem to be the case, it’s probably because you aren’t aware of what went on behind closed doors. Many people glamorise Warren Buffet’s trading success but they leave out the number of hours he spends reading due diligence and annual reports.

Next time you read about a successful trader or investor, look for the truth: the real way they got where they are today.

4. Fear Is A Competitive Tool

“Life Shrinks or Expands in Proportion to One’s Courage” – Cardone

Cardone’s fourth key takeaway is an invitation to challenge our perception of fear.

Fear is more often an emotional response than it is a logical one. It is also a great indicator of what we should focus on. An absence of concerns suggests you are in your comfort zone. While you are in your comfort zone, you will not achieve 10x goals nor will actions within your comfort zone be of the calibre required for success.

When it comes to your goals, use this frequently avoided feeling as a green light for what you should do ?

Let’s return to the goal of making $100,000 this year in crypto. Many people are afraid of applying technical analysis. They deem it to be too complicated and they worry they do not have the mathematical competency to be good at it. This is all the more reason to push yourself to learn and explore it. You can use my free ? technical analysis course ? as a place to start.

Make this a habit and you will be amazed at the impact it has on your life.

Everyone fears something in life. It might be placed in different things but everyone has it. What distinguishes us is what we do with our fear. In that way, it can be used as a competitive tool. A free and for the most part not utilised tool. 

? Start to look for and use fear as a tool for your progression.

5. Be More Persistent Than You Are Talented

? Cardone uses the story of the tortoise and the hare for his next takeaway.

It is a simple story. In a race between the tortoise and the hare, the tortoise wins because he takes his time. The hare rushes, becomes tired, and misses his opportunity to win. 

Cardone mixes things up by adding a third player: if there were a player with the speed of the hare and the steadfastness of the tortoise, it would outperform them both with no competition.

The suggestion here: approach your goals like the tortoise AND the hare. Attack them ruthlessly from the beginning and stay with them throughout the journey.

Be more persistent than you are talented by putting in 10x more energy than others consider reasonable. You will achieve great results no matter the field because no one will be able to keep up. Not even Black Swan events will be able to put your fire out ?

Conclusion

To reach your full potential, you need to set 10x goals. With your understanding that we tend to underestimate the amount of effort required, plan for 10x actions. People might deem your success as luck but this is misplaced. Challenge your fears. Leverage the speed of the hare and the rigour of the tortoise and there will be no stopping you. Hopefully reading our summary was 10x less effort compared to reading the whole book.