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What is massive action? Why is massive action needed for extraordinary success?
In The 10X Rule, everything you do and aim for is multiplied by ten. This means that the action you pursue should be massive action.
Read more about massive action and The 10X Rule.
Only Massive Action Is Enough
There’s no formula for calculating how much action it will take to reach a specific goal. But in general, the more effort you put in, the better your chances of success. Your actions must be both consistent and persistent.
Applying enough effort is more important than having the right idea or business plan. Most people fail because they don’t do enough (take sufficient action) to succeed. Everyone opts for one of these four action levels, but only the fourth brings success:
1) Not doing anything
2) Retreating
3) Taking an average amount of action
4) Taking massive action
We’ve all acted at each of these levels, depending on the situation. You might put extreme effort into your career, but back away from acting in another situation, such as a relationship or exercising for your health.
Typically, people do nothing, retreat, or put in an average amount of action. Doing nothing and retreating result in failure. Taking average action produces no better than average results. Only extreme action guarantees success.
Taking Massive Action
Constant action is the normal state for people and nature. Children are always acting unless something’s wrong or adults are telling them to calm down. In nature, there’s always action, whether under the earth’s crust, in the ocean, or in a colony of insects.
Applying extreme action is the only way to get extreme success. However, in the shorter run, be aware that approaching any task with extreme action creates problems—for instance, more work or more clients to service—but it leads to more success. If you’re not creating problems, it’s a sign you’re not putting in enough effort.
What This Looks Like
1) When you’re going all out, you don’t count the hours you work or expect to have a routine.
For example, when Cardone first launched his seminar business, he worked from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. He made cold calls, sometimes visiting 40 companies a day to promote his training programs and presentations. He didn’t sign up every company he visited, but he generated more new business than he would have by taking less action and contacting fewer potential clients. His mindset of approaching each day as if his future depended on his actions became a habit—and he got big results. In fact, extreme action generates bigger results than anything you learn at a training program.
2) You may be called obsessive, a workaholic, or never satisfied by people taking average levels of action or doing only what others think is necessary. When you succeed in a big way, expect to be labeled by others because they feel inadequate by comparison or feel threatened.
But no one who is more successful than you are will denigrate your extreme effort, because they know what it takes to excel.
3) Taking massive action means taking steps that seem unreasonable or over the top to others—then following up these steps with even more action. You’ll know you’re on the right track when you create new problems and receive criticism and warnings from others to slow down. Even your manager may discourage you from putting in so much effort. But stay the course—extreme action breaks the spell of mediocrity that paralyzes others, and you’ll stand out in terms of both effort and results.
4) Extreme action means seizing every opportunity that comes your way. Extreme action will always help you, especially if you and your product or service aren’t widely known. For example, Cardone urged his wife, an actress, to accept every invitation to audition, whether or not she felt the part was right for her. The important thing was to be noticed; if one role didn’t pan out, she might be offered a different one later.
When you take massive action to get attention, results such as greater business success will follow. Attention leads to money and power. No one else will step up to make your dreams come true or to promote your company to the rest of the world. You must take extreme action to become so well known that when people think of the service you provide—in Cardone’s case, business training programs—they think of you.
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Here's what you'll find in our full The 10X Rule summary :
- How to set goals that are 10 times bigger than average
- How to use extraordinary thinking to achieve extraordinary results
- The 3 myths that will sabotage your chances of success if you let them
