The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone
Review by James Lamb (August 9, 2014)
This book is amazing. Changed my life. I swear. You might be asking if that's really true. I started listening to the audiobook about 18-20 days ago. Ask my co-workers if they've seen a recent change in me. Ask my parents, my children, my wife. Seriously, this book has changed my life. I even started a business while listening to this book.
This was totally coincidental. I might even say providential. I had an email from GoodReads which recommended this book based on other books I'd read. I kept postponing the email, probably for more than a month. One night, trying to clear out some email, saw this one, figured "I'm already reading two books on my Kindle, I have three on my nightstand - I'll get this as an audiobook from the library." I'd never done that before, listened to an audiobook from the library.
The basic premise of this book is that we are not successful because we don't work hard enough. As someone who regularly saw "Does not work to full potential" on report cards growing up, this was like a kick in the pants. Cardone says that success is your duty, your obligation and your responsibility, and that if you're simply settling for average, you are being unethical.
Holy cow. Unethical? If you are not living to your full potential, you are being unethical. That's transcendant. That's not "work hard and you'll succeed." That's not "you don't have what they have because you didn't work hard enough." That's hard core. Unethical.
Dang. That's both convicting and empowering.
What really made this work for me, though, was listening to it on audiobook. Cardone, a sales motivational speaker and trainer launches into this book with an amazing amount of passion. He's reading his own words, but he brings them to life. He's excite about this topic and you can't help but be as well. He's not pitching you snake oil, he's not giving you some magical investing formula (well, he is, see below), he's not selling his business (it's way late in the book where he slips in a 1-800), he's coaching you. Made me wish my drives were longer. (He does lose a little steam passion by the end, but by then I was so hooked, I still hung on every word.)
The magic strategy? MORE TIME + OUTRAGEOUS GOAL + BELIEF IN YOURSELF = SUCCESS (again, keeping in mind that it's your duty, obligation and responsibility to succeed).
I realized as I listened to this book that all of the things I was trying to accomplish and master were small - tame my inbox, keep my to do list tidy with all the little things crossed off each day. There was so many somedays, hopefuls, eventuallys and maybes. Maybe someday I'll drive a Tesla. Get my bills paid off. Get air conditioning installed in the house. Increase my giving to church. Own a house by the beach.
Soon this book will go back to the library, and I know I say all the time "I should read this again on a regular basis" about lots of books, but this one... this one is motivation, it's fire, it's the kick in the pants I needed, right when I needed it. If you someday ask "James Lamb, why are you so awesome?" I'll answer "Oh, I've always been awesome, I was just keeping it to myself."
I really recommended the audiobook. The only downside is you'll be constantly scrambling to try to capture stuff. I don't know why #10X isn't a permanent trend on Twitter because this is an immensely quotable book. Perhaps I'll get the print copy and do a chapter-by-chapter examination at some point.
This book is amazing. Changed my life. I swear. You might be asking if that's really true. I started listening to the audiobook about 18-20 days ago. Ask my co-workers if they've seen a recent change in me. Ask my parents, my children, my wife. Seriously, this book has changed my life. I even started a business while listening to this book.
This was totally coincidental. I might even say providential. I had an email from GoodReads which recommended this book based on other books I'd read. I kept postponing the email, probably for more than a month. One night, trying to clear out some email, saw this one, figured "I'm already reading two books on my Kindle, I have three on my nightstand - I'll get this as an audiobook from the library." I'd never done that before, listened to an audiobook from the library.
The basic premise of this book is that we are not successful because we don't work hard enough. As someone who regularly saw "Does not work to full potential" on report cards growing up, this was like a kick in the pants. Cardone says that success is your duty, your obligation and your responsibility, and that if you're simply settling for average, you are being unethical.
Holy cow. Unethical? If you are not living to your full potential, you are being unethical. That's transcendant. That's not "work hard and you'll succeed." That's not "you don't have what they have because you didn't work hard enough." That's hard core. Unethical.
Dang. That's both convicting and empowering.
What really made this work for me, though, was listening to it on audiobook. Cardone, a sales motivational speaker and trainer launches into this book with an amazing amount of passion. He's reading his own words, but he brings them to life. He's excite about this topic and you can't help but be as well. He's not pitching you snake oil, he's not giving you some magical investing formula (well, he is, see below), he's not selling his business (it's way late in the book where he slips in a 1-800), he's coaching you. Made me wish my drives were longer. (He does lose a little steam passion by the end, but by then I was so hooked, I still hung on every word.)
The magic strategy? MORE TIME + OUTRAGEOUS GOAL + BELIEF IN YOURSELF = SUCCESS (again, keeping in mind that it's your duty, obligation and responsibility to succeed).
I realized as I listened to this book that all of the things I was trying to accomplish and master were small - tame my inbox, keep my to do list tidy with all the little things crossed off each day. There was so many somedays, hopefuls, eventuallys and maybes. Maybe someday I'll drive a Tesla. Get my bills paid off. Get air conditioning installed in the house. Increase my giving to church. Own a house by the beach.
Soon this book will go back to the library, and I know I say all the time "I should read this again on a regular basis" about lots of books, but this one... this one is motivation, it's fire, it's the kick in the pants I needed, right when I needed it. If you someday ask "James Lamb, why are you so awesome?" I'll answer "Oh, I've always been awesome, I was just keeping it to myself."
I really recommended the audiobook. The only downside is you'll be constantly scrambling to try to capture stuff. I don't know why #10X isn't a permanent trend on Twitter because this is an immensely quotable book. Perhaps I'll get the print copy and do a chapter-by-chapter examination at some point.
The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure (Amazon)
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