This a review of the book “The 10X Rule” by Grant Cardone. This review is unpaid, and has no affiliate links.
I was surprised to find that “The 10X Rule” was at my local library and skim read the entire book in about 2 hours, took some notes and decided to check it out, and re-read it again.
Cardone argues that the key to your success is scaling up your thinking and actions by 10X. Under the 10X Rule, set goals 10 times bigger than the average, then work 10 times harder than average to achieve them.
He adds that people don’t approach success the right way. “First, they don’t set high enough goals due to average thinking. They don’t want to be unrealistic or risk failure, so they set seemingly attainable goals…” and surmises this into that it takes extraordinary thinking and effort to achieve extraordinary success.
The entire 10X rule concept into one sentence: Write big goals. Take massive action. Do the work.
There are however some useful reminders in the book, such as the tenants of
- Success is important
- Success is your duty
- There is no shortage of success.
I felt chapter 22, success or unsuccessful has useful headlines to remind yourself to have a can do attitude, to focus on the opportunity, to have a “figure it out” attitude, to love challenges, to seek to solve problems, to take risks, be unreasonable in your vision and other phrases. Most of which I’ve added to my own Apple notes as reminders.
However, I do have some critiques.
The book is very repetitive and doesn’t seem to move onto execution at all.
It’s not until you get to page 70 where he outlines some examples of 10x goals, and it’s not until chapter 23 (page 187) where he actually starts talking about how to get started with 10x. The instructions are only a few paragraphs spread over pages 188, 189; where you write your goals and to rewrite your goals daily.
Most of the book is very useful, but there is little on the actual execution once you’ve done your goals.
Cardone’s approach in this book will not resonate with everyone. It’s aggressive, unapologetic and obtuse; which can be motivating for some but off-putting for others.
There is no doubt Cardone is a very polarising figure in the world of sales. His background, demeanour can be very off-putting to many, including myself. Whether its the psychological tricks garned from cults or scummy sales practices, or whether its because he contradicts himself from one video to another, there are valid reasons for the reception Cardone receives. Despite this, he has cultivated a significant following.
I take a more pragmatic approach: take what works and disregard the rest.
Although I was initially disappointed that the book lacked execution instructions, was repetitive and lacked any depth once 10X was explained, I did feel there were parts of the book that are actually good and act as useful reminders to anyone that they should not become complacent, that setting and regular revisiting of your ambitious goals and a keen reminder that you aren’t doing enough, and must push to chase your dreams.
Overall, my biggest take-away this book is volume, volume, volume.
Overall: 6/10.