Motivation can be a fickle thing. You can start off really guns blazing, but keeping that fire alive can be tricky. In Chapter 15 of “The 10X Rule”, Grant Cardone spends some time on stoking your fire to keep it blazing every single day. Let’s look at the chapter and see how you can keep adding wood to the fire to stay motivated.
ALWAYS FEED THE FIRE
Typically, when you start getting traction, when you start getting a trend, when your actions begin producing results, you never ever get to stop and sit on your laurels, because the fire is the momentum and the fire is traction. That fire needs to be fed daily.
The only way to keep it going is you have to keep adding more wood. He learned this the hard way: When I got started and I was in the middle of some kind of success, and I created a wonderful customer base, and I created income, I sat back and took a rest.
That rest, of course, knocked the momentum out of his success. The lesson? Success takes continual effort and action.
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
That’s how I felt reading about Cardone’s experience. When I first went up, I partied a bit prematurely (and excessively). I got complacent, lost that fire, and my progress stalled. So when I read The 10X Rule and realised that I need to keep that fire stoked by adding fuel regularly, it was eye-opening. Either by literally adding more work, or skills, or just maintaining my focus on my daily goals.
SUSTAINING MOTIVATION IN DAILY LIFE
- Celebrate Wins, but Keep Moving: Celebrating a win is fine. But don’t let the celebration get in the way of the next step. With any win, you need to turn around immediately and set the next goal. Climbed 1,000 feet of vertical? Great. With the energy you gained for that, set your next climb goal at 1,200 feet. In other words, don’t stop to look at the view for too long, or you’ll lose the energy that brought you there in the first place.
- Surround Yourself with Passion: Your fire has to be so hot that there’s nothing that’s going to put it out: not the competition, not market shifts. And with that in mind, you better love what you’re doing. When you’re passionate about something, persistence becomes natural. In my case, it was a matter of immersing myself in the culture and people of my passions, and reading, watching and listening to the things that I cared about. Getting into the presence of fellow near-fanatics can be like kindling for your own fire.
- Stay Obsessed with the Result: According to the dictionary, to be obsessed means to think continually or compulsively about something. Although we usually do not use the term in a positive context, Cardone argues that to be obsessed is the key to greatness. This does not necessarily mean to forsake all other parts of your life, but it does mean constantly focusing on the part of your life you want to excel in.
- Learn and Adapt Continuously: A second approach is to continually add wood to the fire. There are many opportunities out there that you can learn to do, read about, and get good at – especially if you include both professional opportunities and passions. The more you learn, the more potential paths you can open up for yourself. Whether it’s a book on a subject you’re interested in or a class you sign up for that gives you a new set of skills, the more you learn, the more potential there is for continuing to grow and add value.
MY TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS WITH CONTINUOUS ACTION
And to keep that fire burning I have to keep throwing on new little bundles of fuel. Some months ago, I started the blog Time Well Spent, and at first I didn’t really have to find any rationale for what I was doing. The novelty of it – and the pride of following through on an intention – was enough to keep me going through the first dozen articles.
Then, while I was still calling myself a writer, I started to feel the tedium of writing. I was writing actions on an empty page.Now, I look for new sources of inspiration. I read more, I watch interviews with successful bloggers, I sign up to webinars. Once I have a new idea of how to improve things, I feel the logs being stacked back onto the fire.
OBSTACLES ARE JUST STEPS TO TRIUMPH
It’s the action that perpetuates the success – and it starts perpetuating on its own, like a flywheel. Sooner or later, though, you’ll hit another obstacle.
If you internalise it, you’ll find it paralysing. But if you can see an obstacle as a challenge, to be worked through on your way around – perhaps by adapting, or by changing your approach from obstacle avoidance to obstacle use – then it can be deeply motivating.
Whenever I hit a roadblock, I remind myself to think back to the fire analogy. You’re building a fire and two things happen: you try some wood and it’s damp, or the wind blows. That’s nothing to do with you – that’s what happens. You either work around the problem, or you work through it; either way, you keep going.
SUMMARY
Learn to enjoy your wins, but then keep adding wood. Keep the embers of passion guttering along and keep learning because the effort to do this helps keep your inner flame roaring and ensures that the success your hard work has earned is durable, enduring.
These steps from The 10X Rule have helped me change the way I work, and I’ve noticed a huge increase in my productivity levels as a result.
There’s always more that can be done to stay lit. Every action you take should be about increasing, rather than maintaining, your fire.
