One of the major take-aways from Grant Cardone’s The 10X Rule, is that it’s not really about talent or luck. It’s about habit. The habit that is present in the lives of most of the ultra-successful individuals is what Cardone identifies as the 32nd habit. Cardone’s 32nd habit of successful people: Discipline. Let’s unpack the three points in The 10X Rule that explain what disciplined individuals do. Furthermore, let me explain how adopting the habit of discipline has transformed my life.
Discipline is a way of living, not just a word. It takes commitment, no matter what. Cardone describes discipline as ‘orderly prescribed conduct that positions you to win in the game called life … It’s about doing what you have to.’
Cardone says that discipline: has to be part of your life in all areas; not just your job. If you want to be healthy, have good relationships or be wealthy, it is discipline, and it is not an option.It needs to be habitualised, carried out in a routine manner so that at some point the thing you might have felt was difficult to do becomes second nature because of repetition.
Most importantly, discipline is not just about keeping the bad habits away, but the good ones in. Those practising 10X actions, in particular those doing the extra mile, discipline is the backbone that keeps progress going when the going gets tough. 2.
The idea is not new, but The 10X Rule made it an obsession. Before reading the book, my commitment to discipline was flakey at best. I’d get passionate about a project, working in spurts of enthusiasm, yet half-assing it to the finish. Before I knew it, excuses beget more excuses; before long, procrastination would be a common practice.
Embracing discipline changed everything. Here’s how I did it:
- Daily rituals: I first established a set of daily rituals. For example, every morning I write down the three things I want to accomplish during the day. These could be anything from brain-training apps to reading and exercise programmes, not just work-related to-dos.
- No excuses: After coming up with the list of 10 attributes, the next step was perspective: I looked at my reasons for not doing something, and discovered that for every valid reason there were 10 that were self-created excuses. If I tried to approach the barrier mentally, first thinking about what I was looking for and where I would likely find it, my brain interpreted that as problem-solving – and shut down. By reframing questions from problems to solutions, it switched on.
- Repetition and Habit Formation: Repetition is repetition is repetition: There is power in repetition. In time, the 10X things that were very uncomfortable for me gradually became uncomfortable, then uncomfortable but normal, and now, it’s my routine. It wasn’t easy, but I kept repeating the actions and certain things became easy.
- Review and Revise: Lastly, I regularly check in and refine my approaches. No one’s discipline means never learning. No ‘seriousness’ means never being serious. Discipline is not following one set of instructions to the letter; discipline is shifting gears while still being true to your values.
The Impact
The impact was almost instantaneous. Everything I had once attended to became easier, my productivity went through the roof, and my experience of increased capacity fuelled further focus and discipline. It became a self-sustaining cycle in every area of my life.
Discipline, for Cardone, doesn’t mean ascetic toil, or something like that; it means distributing one’s life so that it yields stable, interminable achievement. Indeed, the discipline to maintain a balanced life — one that succeeds, not merely professionally, but as a human — is the sine qua non of success.
Why You Should Care?
But why should you care? Because discovering how to become more disciplined can be the kind of fulcrum that takes you from good to great. Talent and opportunity are important, as Cardone’s 10X Rule tells us, but without practising discipline until we succeed, we remain stressed-out amateurs instead of productive professionals.
Discipline in everything, write your goals out, create rituals, don’t make excuses, repetition.
To all of you out there who want more discipline in your life, go ahead and share your struggles and your experiences. Let’s work on this together. Let’s build prosperity and success on this platform of discipline.
Stay disciplined and stay 10X!
