PDF Summary:10x Is Easier Than 2x, by Dan Sullivan

What if the secret to success isn’t working harder but thinking bigger? In 10x Is Easier Than 2x, Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy argue that 10x growth is easier and more rewarding to pursue than 2x growth. They explain that, unlike 2x growth, 10x growth transforms how you approach work and life, forcing you to focus on what matters most, leverage your strengths, and think creatively to find new opportunities.

In this guide, we’ll explore the transformative power of pursuing 10x growth and practical strategies to achieve this exponential growth in your career, business, or personal life. We’ll look at how to focus your efforts, follow your true desires, and create self-running systems that drive big results. Along the way, we’ll compare Sullivan and Hardy’s approach with ideas from other self-improvement and business experts.

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Instead of looking at how far you still have to go to reach your goal, the authors recommend you look backward to see how far you’ve come. Measuring progress backward is better for two reasons:

1. Greater satisfaction: Recognizing how far you’ve come makes every step feel like a win. In contrast, when you always measure against an ideal future state, you’ll feel discouraged and unsuccessful no matter how much you achieve.

(Shortform note: While looking back can be motivating, be careful not to fall into the “I’m-Making-Progress” trap. In The Willpower Instinct, Kelly McGonigal explains this trap as when you feel so good about the progress you’ve made toward a goal that you give yourself permission to slack off. For example, after setting up a home office for your new business, you might reward yourself with a TV binge instead of working on your business. Because of this, McGonigal recommends you ask yourself “How committed am I to my goal?” instead of “How much progress have I made?” By reminding yourself of your commitment, you can maintain momentum and avoid the pitfall of using good behavior to justify procrastination.)

2. Valuable learning: By reflecting on past experiences, you can extract valuable lessons that help you toward your goal. For example, if a product launch fails, you can identify what went wrong and improve for next time. In contrast, if you measure forward against your ideal outcome, you’ll consider the launch as an outright failure and move on without reflecting on ways to improve.

(Shortform note: Gretchen Rubin’s look back/look forward exercise shows the importance of both looking backward and looking ahead. She suggests meeting with friends every year to reflect on the past year’s accomplishments and set intentions for the future. Rubin argues that while the backward-looking part is energizing, the forward-looking aspect is important for articulating goals, planning adventures, and staying focused on big projects. This balanced approach of reflecting on progress while also setting future intentions can help you stay both satisfied with your achievements and excited about what’s to come.)

Review Your Past Achievements

One way to measure backward is to review times when you’ve achieved transformative growth in the past. Sullivan and Hardy suggest you think about milestones like getting your first job, traveling abroad for the first time, or starting your career. At each stage, you grew far beyond what you could have imagined and developed new skills that are core to who you are today. Reviewing past achievements also normalizes the process of pursuing 10x growth—you realize it’s possible because you’ve done it before.

The authors suggest you also identify patterns in your growth and recognize the special strengths that consistently helped you succeed. Think about the 20% of efforts that drove your progress and the 80% you let go of to make room for growth. For example, if you transitioned from an entry-level position to team leader, your 20% might have included developing leadership skills and building relationships with colleagues. The deprioritized 80% could have been tasks that didn’t contribute to leadership, like pointless busywork such as attending unnecessary meetings or creating reports that no one reads.

Use Journaling to Aid in Reflection

Research suggests that reflection as the authors suggest can greatly improve your performance. Even 15 minutes at the end of the day can help: Research shows that after 10 days, employees who spent this time on reflection improved their performance by 23% compared to those who did not.

To make self-reflection easier, consider journaling about your achievements and the lessons you’ve learned so that you can remember them in better detail. In The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod provides suggestions for getting started: Choose a format that works for you (digital or paper), set aside time each day to write, and focus on recording accomplishments, gratitudes, and areas for improvement. By making journaling a habit, you’ll create a reliable record of your growth journey, making it easier for you to identify your 20% of high-impact efforts and the 80% you can let go of to make room for further progress.

Develop the Skills for Your Next Transformative Growth

Sullivan and Hardy write that measuring progress backward helps you recognize the qualities and abilities you want to improve in yourself to prepare for your next transformative growth. By understanding what worked in the past, you can then consciously decide on which qualities to strengthen for your future growth and commit to developing them fully. The authors explain that whatever you focus on, you become. For instance, if you want to be a great teacher, you might focus on developing creativity, empathy, and a deep knowledge of your subject. The more specific you are, the easier it becomes to take action and develop those skills.

To accelerate your growth and skill-building, the authors recommend that you envision a “dream check”—imagine a check for a large sum of money you’d like to receive in the future. Then, clarify the skills and abilities you need to develop for someone to happily pay you that amount. For example, if you aim to start a successful tech company, you might focus on improving your coding skills, business knowledge, and ability to pitch to investors.

Develop Skills Through Experimentation

Sullivan and Hardy explain how to identify the skills and knowledge you need to make your next 10x jump, but they don’t elaborate on how to acquire them. In Ultralearning, Scott Young provides guidance for learning skills quickly and effectively. He suggests experimenting with different learning approaches instead of sticking to one method. He points to Vincent van Gogh as an example: The famous painter tried hundreds of techniques, materials, and perspectives until he found what worked best for him, allowing him to develop his unique artistic style while mastering fundamental skills.

Young outlines five experimentation methods to develop new skills:

1) Replicate: Start by copying experts in your field to build foundational skills. Study how they approach problems and imitate their methods so you can learn proven strategies and identify areas to focus your practice.

2) Compare: Try two different approaches and change just one variable at a time. This gives you immediate information about the impact of that variable, helping you identify which approach is best for you.

3) Constrain: Challenge yourself with constraints, like practicing a language with people who don’t speak your native tongue.

4) Diversify: Pick up seemingly unrelated skills. Combining abilities in unique ways, like nursing and art for example, can open up niche opportunities and help you make creative connections.

5) Explore: Explore the extremes—whether that’s using bold colors in painting or tackling complex projects. Pushing the boundaries expands your experience and understanding of what’s possible.

Young asserts that the key to successful experimentation is pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone. Intentionally experimenting with techniques can help you develop the skills you’ll need to earn your “dream check.”

Manage Your Time for Productivity

Sullivan and Hardy argue that the traditional 9-to-5 workday is poorly suited for high productivity in our modern, knowledge-based economy. They contend that this outdated model, designed for early 20th-century factory systems, prioritizes busywork over creativity and innovation. To achieve transformative growth, you must focus on the value and impact of how you spend your time rather than the number of hours you work. By prioritizing high-impact activities and recovery time, you can dramatically increase your productivity and creativity.

(Shortform note: In Deep Work, Cal Newport also recommends you focus on high-value activities over simply putting in hours. He explains that deep work that creates real value (like strategic planning or creative problem-solving) requires intense focus. Most people can only handle about one to four hours of deep work per day, even with practice, so you need to intentionally schedule deep work time and protect it from distractions.)

Schedule Tasks to Maximize Productivity

Sullivan and Hardy write that if you want to perform at a 10x level, you must give yourself big blocks of uninterrupted time to do your best work. You can do this by grouping similar tasks on specific days. The authors explain that switching between different tasks like creative work and administrative tasks disrupts your focus and makes you less efficient. If you have a meeting scheduled in the middle of your creative work time, you’ll keep thinking about that upcoming meeting and struggle to focus on the task at hand.

(Shortform note: Grouping similar tasks is a productivity strategy called task batching. The benefits of task batching go beyond just getting more work done: The practice also reduces stress and mental fatigue. Research shows that frequent interruptions and context switching increases cortisol production in your brain, leading to frustration and burnout. When you batch similar tasks, you create a more manageable workload and clearer schedule. You’re less likely to feel overwhelmed by scattered responsibilities and more likely to produce higher quality work, leading to better recognition from supervisors and improved health and well-being.)

Sullivan and Hardy suggest segmenting your time into three types of days:

1) Rest days: Disconnect completely from work and engage in activities that help you relax and feel good—such as exercise, hobbies, or spending time with loved ones.

2) Prep days: Focus on preparing for your high-value tasks and staying organized. You might use these days for team meetings, planning sessions, or administrative tasks that set you up for success on your achievement days.

3) Achievement days: Do deep, uninterrupted work on your most important tasks. These are the days when you perform at your peak, doing the work that directly contributes to your 10x growth. For example, if you’re a consultant, you might use these days for client meetings and delivering presentations.

Daily Rhythms vs. Dedicated Days: Which Is Better?

Sullivan and Hardy recommend splitting your time into rest, prep, and achievement days, but research suggests it may be more effective to incorporate elements of each into every day based on your body’s natural rhythms. According to Daniel Pink in When, our energy and focus levels naturally fluctuate throughout the day in a predictable pattern of a crest, slump, and recovery period. This pattern is dictated by our individual chronotype—whether we’re morning larks, evening owls, or in-between third birds. Pink recommends you figure out what your chronotype is to strategically schedule tasks for when you’re best equipped to handle them.

For morning larks, it makes sense to tackle your most important, “achievement” work during your morning crest period when you’re feeling alert. Then, use your midday slump for more mundane tasks like answering emails or for taking a restorative break. Finally, save creative work for your evening recovery period. So while designating entire achievement, prep, and recovery days has merit, Pink’s research suggests you may get more out of each day by structuring work around your body’s natural ebb and flow of energy.

Additionally, Sullivan and Hardy suggest you tackle no more than three key objectives each day. Having too many items on your to-do list leads to shallow work instead of going deep on what matters most. These objectives should be clear, specific, and slightly beyond your current skill level to promote growth and flow—a state of high performance.

(Shortform note: In The One Thing, Gary Keller argues that you should go even smaller and focus on just one high-impact task each day. He explains that trying to juggle multiple priorities often leads to mediocre results, high stress, long hours, and missed time with loved ones. So when planning your day, consider whether you can pare down your to-do list even further to that essential “one thing” that will move you closer to your bigger goals.)

Maximize Rest

Sullivan and Hardy recommend scheduling at least 150 free days per year before anything else. They argue that time away from work makes you more engaged, creative, and productive when you return.

The authors note that as your success grows, you’ll need more recovery time since higher-stakes decisions require more mental energy and deeper thinking. You need space for your mind to wander and make unexpected connections. Your best ideas might come while taking a leisurely walk or engaging in a recreational activity, rather than while sitting in your office.

(Shortform note: In The Nature Fix, Florence Williams specifically recommends spending your recovery time in nature. She writes that our brains have two types of attention: directed attention (which we use for focused work tasks) and soft fascination (which engages when we observe beautiful or interesting things in nature). When you work too long without breaks, you become mentally tired and lose concentration and the ability to solve problems creatively. Soft fascination helps reduce stress, improve cognitive function, boost creativity, and even treat mild depression. So the next time you schedule a free day, consider spending it surrounded by trees, water, and birdsong to maximize the restorative power of your time off.)

In addition to having rest days, the authors encourage you to completely disconnect from work when you’re done with your daily tasks. Don’t work longer than necessary and avoid thinking about work once your day is complete. Instead, optimize your evening routine for high-quality sleep because the final hour of your day significantly impacts your sleep quality and performance the following day. Sullivan and Hardy suggest you put your phone on airplane mode 30-60 minutes before bed, journal about your daily wins, and plan for tomorrow. This practice helps frame each day positively and sets you up for success the following day.

(Shortform note: People who don’t disconnect from work like Sullivan and Hardy suggest often engage in revenge bedtime procrastination—staying up late and sacrificing sleep to reclaim some personal time they lost during the work day. But this attempt to gain more time comes at a cost: Chronic sleep deprivation doesn’t just hurt your next-day performance—it can lead to long-term health problems like cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s. If you’re guilty of revenge bedtime procrastination, disconnecting completely from work and establishing a healthy evening routine can help you carve out some much-needed “me time” without sacrificing your rest.)

Promote 10x Growth Within Your Company

If you’re an entrepreneur, Sullivan and Hardy suggest that you promote 10x growth within your business and build a self-sustaining company that operates smoothly without your day-to-day involvement. They explain that many entrepreneurs try to do everything themselves or micromanage the people they have working for them, which limits their company’s growth and creates bottlenecks in their business.

(Shortform note: In Clockwork, Mike Michalowicz describes three benefits to becoming a hands-off business leader: First, when employees manage day-to-day work, you can improve your company’s framework to prevent issues instead of constantly putting out fires. Second, since you’re no longer tied to urgent daily tasks, you gain the flexibility to work on your own schedule and achieve better work-life balance. Third, this freedom from constantly managing crises gives you the energy and motivation to think creatively about improving your business.)

Sullivan and Hardy provide three steps to help you get your company on track to becoming a self-sustaining business with 10x growth.

Step 1: Delegate Tasks

Sullivan and Hardy write that the first step is to delegate tasks you’re currently doing that don’t play to your strengths. Instead of trying to do everything yourself, develop your leadership skills and find people with the right skills and abilities to handle various tasks and responsibilities. For example, instead of managing every client interaction, you might hire a customer service specialist to handle those tasks.

Delegating tasks like scheduling, email management, and other logistical work gives you more time and energy to use your special strengths and explore new opportunities for your business—like researching markets, developing products, or forming strategic partnerships that were previously out of reach due to time constraints.

The authors note that once you delegate tasks, you must let go of control and trust your team members to handle tasks in their own way. Micromanaging will only frustrate them and hold you back from focusing on the activities that create the most value. While it can feel scary at first, trusting others to do things without your constant oversight helps you become a true leader rather than a bottleneck.

How to Delegate Effectively

Many leaders struggle with delegation because they don’t know how to let go of control without losing quality. In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey explains that there are two approaches to delegation: gofer delegation and stewardship delegation. Gofer delegation is when you micromanage every detail and constantly check in with the person you’ve delegated the task to—exactly what Sullivan and Hardy warn against. In contrast, stewardship delegation focuses on clearly communicating the desired results while giving people freedom to choose their own methods.

For stewardship delegation to work, Covey says you need to invest time upfront to set clear expectations in six areas: the required results, any guidelines or parameters, methods to avoid, available resources, how you’ll measure success, and the consequences of success or failure. Communicating these expectations helps prevent misunderstandings while still giving people autonomy when it comes to how they complete their tasks.

Step 2: Replace Yourself With Capable Leaders

Next, Sullivan and Hardy recommend you develop leaders who can run your company without your daily involvement. The goal is to build a team that can make decisions and solve problems independently. By developing a strong leadership team, you free yourself even more to focus on bigger-picture strategy and innovation.

Start by identifying and training key leaders who can take on more responsibility, either by promoting from within or bringing in outside talent. Provide these prospective leaders with opportunities to take on more responsibility and decision-making authority, then gradually delegate more of your duties to them while offering guidance and support. As they grow into their expanded roles, you can step back from daily management. For example, you might groom department heads to manage their areas autonomously.

Should You Promote From Within or Hire From Outside?

While it can be tempting to search far and wide for top leadership talent, research shows that promoting from within your company is better for long-term success. In Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras explain that the most successful organizations filled only 3.5% of their CEO positions with outsiders, while less successful companies hired outsiders 22% of the time. The authors reason that internal leaders already understand and believe in the company’s core values and purpose. Knowing this, successful companies start planning for succession years in advance, developing multiple internal candidates through intensive training programs.

The authors point to Colgate’s experience, which demonstrates the risks of outside hiring: When they merged with Palmolive-Peet and brought in an outside CEO, their profits dropped by more than half because the new leader made big changes that didn’t align with the company’s core philosophy.

Step 3: Encourage Everyone to Pursue 10x Growth

Once you’ve created a self-sustaining company, encourage everyone to continually refine their roles to focus on their top strengths, creating a 10x growing team. You can do this by fostering a culture of freedom where all team members feel encouraged to clarify and expand their special strengths.

As people home in on their strengths, they can delegate their other responsibilities to new hires who are excited to take them on. This allows the team to organically expand while everyone does what they do best. For example, a marketing manager might realize her true talent lies in creative strategy, so she brings on a new team member to handle the data analysis she previously struggled with.

Become a Multiplier Leader

The key to building a team that grows exponentially lies in how you view your employees’ potential. In Multipliers, the authors explain that there are two types of leaders: Multipliers who bring out the best in others, and Diminishers who suppress people’s potential. While Multipliers can access up to 100% of their team members’ capabilities, Diminishers only tap into 20-50%. This difference stems from their core beliefs: Multipliers believe people can grow and improve, while Diminishers think talent is rare and fixed.

To unleash your team’s full potential, adopt the mindset of a Multiplier. The authors found that Multipliers maintain high expectations while staying intellectually curious—they ask a lot of questions and see their team as a source of learning rather than just executors of tasks. By fostering this environment where people can discover and expand their strengths, you create the conditions for sustainable, 10x team growth.