The sad but true fact is that most people don't even get in the neighborhood of building a bonfire. They're either miseducated, socially programmed to settle for less, or fear that their actions will somehow get “out of control.” I promise you that this will not happen. You must build your fire so big and so hot that you not only burn the house down but incinerate everything in your path. Go all the way—and then keep going until your fire burns so hot that people stand in admiration of your ability to take action. Don't worry about the resistance you're afraid you'll face from either the market or your competitors. They'll get right out of your way once they see that you're a force to be reckoned with.
Chapter 16
Fear Is the Great Indicator
Sooner or later, you will experience fear when you start taking new actions at new levels. In fact, if you aren't, then you're probably not doing enough of the right things. Fear isn't bad or something to avoid; conversely, it's something you want to seek and embrace. Fear is actually a sign that you are doing what's needed to move in the right direction.
An absence of concerns signals that you are only doing what's comfortable for you—and that will only get you more of what you have right now. As strange as it may sound, you want to be scared until you have to push yourself to new levels to experience fear again. In fact, the only thing that scares me is a complete lack of fear.
What is fear anyway? Does it exist? Is it real? I know it feels real when you are experiencing it, but admit it: Most of the time, what you fear doesn't even occur. It's been said that FEAR stands for False Events Appearing Real, which aptly implies that most of what you're afraid of doesn't ever come to pass. Fear, for the most part, is provoked by emotions, not rational thinking. And in my humble estimation, emotions are wildly overrated—and the scapegoat many people use for their failure to act. But regardless of whether you agree with my opinion on emotions, you must reframe your understanding of fear and use it as a reason to move forward rather than as an excuse to stop or retreat. Use this frequently avoided feeling as a green light to signal you to what you should do!
Chances are that when you were a child, you found fear in irrational things—the boogeyman under the bed, for example. It was an indicator to check your closet and the dark corners of your room to see what was lurking. But as all children eventually find, the boogeyman does not exist anywhere except in your head. Adults have their own “boogeymen”—the unknown, rejection, failure, success, and so on. And these boogeymen should be a sign to take action as well. For example, if you're afraid to call on a client, then it's a sign that you should call that client. Fear of speaking with the boss is an indication that you should march into his office and ask for a moment of his time. Fear of requesting the client's business means that you must ask for the business—and then keep asking.
The 10X Rule compels you to separate yourself from everyone else in the market. And you do that by—as I emphasized earlier—doing what others refuse to do. Only in this way will you distinguish yourself and dominate your sector. Everyone experiences fear on some level, and because the marketplace is composed of people interacting with both products and one another, the market will face fear in the same way that you and your peers do. But rather than seeing fear as a sign to run—as most other people in the market will do—it must become your indicator to go.
I handle this dilemma myself by omitting time from the equation—since time is what drives fear. The more time you devote to the object of your apprehension, the stronger it becomes. So starve the fear of its favorite food by removing time from its menu. For example, let's say that John needs to make a call to a client, a task that immediately causes him to feel anxiety. So rather than picking up the phone and making the call immediately, he gets a cup of coffee and thinks about what he is going to do. His lengthy contemplation only causes his fear to grow, as he imagines all the ways the call could go badly and all the potentially terrible things that could happen. If confronted, he's likely to claim that he needs to “prepare” before he makes the call. But preparation is merely an excuse for those who haven't trained properly—and who use it as a reason to justify their last-minute reluctance. John needs to take a deep breath, pick up the phone, and just make the call. Last-minute preparation is just another way to feed the fear that will only get stronger as time is added. Nothing happens without action.
Fear doesn't just tell you what to do; it also tells you when to do it. Ask yourself what time it is at any point in the day, and the answer is always the same: now. The time is always now—and when you experience fear, it's a sign that the best time to take action is at that very moment. Most people will not follow through with their goals when enough time has passed from the inception of their idea to actually doing something about it; however, if you remove time from your process, you'll be ready to go. There's simply no other choice than to act. There's no need to prepare. It's too late for that once you've gotten this far.
Now, the only thing that will make a difference is action. Everyone has had the experience of failing to do something they wanted to do. Perhaps by the time you got yourself “ready” to do something, someone else had taken action—and now you're regretting it. Failure comes in many forms; it occurs whether you act or not. Regardless of the outcome, I would say that it's far preferable to fail while doing something than to fail by over-preparing while someone else walks up and scoops up your dreams.
This scenario occurs in business every day. People give their fears much more time than they deserve. They wait to make the personal visit or phone call, write the e-mail, or present their proposal because they're afraid of the outcome. Countless individuals share the same excuses for why it is “not a good time” to take action. The client is leaving town. The client just got back into town. It's the end of the month or the beginning of the month. The clients have been in meetings all day. They are about to go into meetings. They just bought something. They don't have the budgets. They are cutting back. Business is bad. There's been a change in management or staff. I don't want to “bug” them. They never return my phone calls anyway. No one else can sell them. They are unrealistic. I don't know what to say. I am not ready yet. I just called them yesterday . . . and on and on.
All the excuses in the world won't change one simple fact: that fear is a sign to do whatever it is you fear—and do it quickly. My wife tells me all the time that I “seem fearless.” The truth is actually quite the contrary; I am scared most of the time. However, I refuse to feed my fear with time and allow it to get stronger. I opt instead to get things done quickly. I've learned that it's simply better for me to take this approach. You will experience the same when you're finally able to take the plunge and do what you fear. In fact, you'll be amazed at how much stronger you become and how much more confident you are to do new things.
Taking massive action quickly and repeatedly will ensure that you appear fearless in the marketplace. The person who takes action on whatever he or she fears the most will be the person who advances his or her cause the most. Let the rest of the marketplace submit to anxiety and prepare unnecessarily for False Events Appearing Real. You've got a job to do.
Fear is one of the most disabling emotions a human being can experience. It immobilizes people, and often, it ultimately prevents them from going for their goals and dreams. Everyone fears something in life; however, it's what we each do with that fear that distinguishes us from others. When you allow fear to set you back, you lose energy, momentum, and confidence—and your fears will only grow.
Have you ever watched some kind of performer “eat fire”? It appears that the trick here is to completely exhaust the oxygen that the fire requires for life. Pull away too early, and oxygen refuels the fire—which will then, of course, burn you. The same is true with fear. If you back off from it even the slightest bit, you give it the oxygen it needs to stay alive. So commit yourself entirely, remove time from the equation—and you will snuff out your fears and be able to take more action.
> Eat your fears; don't feed them by backing off or giving them time to grow. Learn to look for and use fear so that you know exactly what you need to do to overcome it and advance your life. Every successful person I know of has used fear as an indicator to determine which actions will provide the greatest return. I use it in my own life, every chance I get, to remain aware that I am growing and expanding myself. If you aren't experiencing fear, you are not taking new actions and growing. It's as simple as that. It does not take money or luck to create a great life; it requires the ability to move past your fears with speed and power. Fear, like fire, is not something from which you should pull away. Rather, it should be used to fuel the actions of your life.
Chapter 17
The Myth of Time Management
I should begin this chapter by admitting that I do not consider myself a great manager by any means. Neither have I been a great planner. In fact, I've never even written a business plan. However, I've always been able to effectively manage myself well enough to build multiple companies from scratch. Time management has never been something that I considered valuable, even though I do spend time on those things that I think are most valuable.
I often receive questions about time management and balance in my seminars. I have found throughout my career that the people who are most concerned with time management and balance in their lives are the ones who believe in the notion of “shortages” that we discussed in an earlier chapter. Most don't even know how much time is available to them or what tasks are most necessary to accomplish in that time. If you don't know how much time you have—or need—then how on earth can you expect to manage and balance it?
The first thing you must do is make success your duty by setting distinct and definitive priorities. I can't do this for you, of course; everyone's priorities are different. However, if success is a main concern for you, then I would suggest you spend most of your time doing things that will create success. Of course, I don't know what success means in your life. It could involve a variety of people and things: finances, family, happiness, spirituality, physical or emotional well-being—or, if you're like me, all of them! And remember—it can be all of them. I personally am not interested in balance; I am interested in abundance in every area. I don't think I should have to sacrifice one in favor of another. Successful people think in terms of “all,” whereas unsuccessful people tend to place limits on themselves. They may believe that “If I am rich, I can't be happy” or “If I thrive in my career, then I won't have time to be a good father, husband, or spiritual individual.” In fact, it's interesting to notice that the people who put limits on what is available to them are also most inclined to talk about “balance.” However, this is a flawed manner of thinking that neither time management nor balance will resolve.
As far as I'm concerned, it's pointless for people to worry about time management and balance. The question they should be asking is “How can I have it all in abundance?” Successful people have attained the things they desire in quantities so great that no one can take them away. And how can a person consider him- or herself successful if he or she isn't happy? What happiness is there in being unable to pay the bills or provide for your family or worry about your future? The moment you achieve one goal you've set for yourself, then it's time to establish a new target. Quit thinking in terms of either/or and start thinking in terms of all and everything.
As I was writing this, a client sent me a message asking, “Do you ever rest?” I jokingly wrote him back within seconds, “NEVER!” I do, of course—like every other human being. However, I also know how much time is available to me, what my priorities are, and that it is my duty, obligation, and responsibility to go after them in the time I have. I challenge you to keep track of how you're spending your available time, perhaps in a journal. Most people have no clue what they are doing with their time but still complain that they don't have enough.
Every single person has 168 hours in a week, and based on a typical 40-hour work week, the average U.S. employee is only productive 37.5 of those 168 hours (30 minutes for lunch each day). And it's pretty unlikely that most people actually work this entire 37.5 hours. In fact, the average individual spends 22.3 percent of his or her available time at work, 33.3 percent asleep, and then 16.6 percent in front of a TV or online—and those comparisons assume that the person spends 100 percent of his or her time at work actually working! Then these very same people worry about balance and time management. But an imbalance is always going to occur when you don't do enough with the time you have.
While most people claim to value time, many don't seem to know very much about it. Who creates time? Do you create your own time, or does someone else do that? What can you do to create more time? What does the expression “time is money” mean? How do you treat time to make sure your time is money? What is the most important thing that you should do with your time? All of these questions are worthy of consideration and require your attention in order for you to maximize time.
Let's assume that you have 75 years to live; that's approximately 657,000 hours, or 39,420,000 minutes, in this lifetime. Take any given day of the week; you have an average of 3,900 Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, etc. Now—here's the scary part—if you are 37 years old, then you have only 1,950 Wednesdays left. What if you had only $1,950 left to your name? Would you watch it slip away, or would you do whatever you could to increase it? I believe that I can do more with 1,950 hours than most people can. The only way to increase time is to get more done in the time you have. If I get 15 phone calls done in 15 minutes and you get 15 calls done in one hour, then I have essentially created 45 minutes for myself. In this way, the 10X Rule makes it possible to multiply time. If I hire someone and pay that person $15 an hour to make 15 calls every 15 minutes, then I just duplicated my efforts—and my time becomes money.
To really understand, manage, maximize, and squeeze every opportunity out of the time you have, you have to fully understand and appreciate how much of it you have available to you. You must first take control of your time—not allow others to do so. If you listen to people discuss the topic of time—especially in regards to the amount they have at work—you'll probably hear a lot of complaining. People act as though work is something to get through, yet in reality, they spend very little of their time even doing it. Most people only work enough so that it feels like work, whereas successful people work at a pace that gets such satisfying results that work is a reward. Truly successful people don't even call it work; for them, it's a passion. Why? Because they do enough to win!
An easy way to achieve balance is to simply work harder while you are at the office. This won't just leave you with more time; it will allow you to experience the rewards of your job and make it feel less like work and more like success. Try to take this approach: Be grateful to go to work, and see how much you can get done in the time you have. Make it a race, a challenge—make it fun.
The first thing to do when managing time and seeking balance is to decide what is important to you. In which areas do you most want to achieve success and in what quantities? Write those down in order of importance. Then determine the total amount of time you have available and decide where you are going to allot time to each of these endeavors. Another vital thing to do: Log how you are spending your time daily—and I mean every single second. This will allow you to see all the ways in which you waste your time—the little habits and activities that in no way contribute to your success. Any action that is not adding wood to your fire would be considered wasteful—think Xbox, online poker, watching television, napping, drinking, taking smoking breaks—the potential list is endless. Brutal, isn't it? Yes, it is—but if you don't manage your time, I promise that you will waste it.
Of course, things will change throughout the course of your life and career. You get older. You achieve and then generate new goals. Different things and people enter your world. All of these changes require that you continue to modify your priorities. For example, I list
ened for years to parents who told me that I didn't understand how to balance work with family life because I didn't have children of my own. Well, I recently had my first child—most assuredly an event that demands more of my time—and was able to experience this for myself. What I found was not a problem with balance or work but rather a solution based on priorities.
My daughter merely gave me another reason to create success—not an excuse to avoid working more. She is sheer motivation for me to do well because now I'm doing it for her as well as for myself. You cannot blame your family for keeping you from creating the success you deserve. They should be the reason why you want to succeed!
It might seem difficult, but there are ways to make it work. Get yourself and your family members on a schedule that allows you to do those things that are a priority for you. For example, my solution was to add one hour to each of my days in order to spend time with my daughter. My wife and I met and created a schedule that would allow me to have time with my daughter and my wife—and not negatively impact the work schedule that provides for our financial success. The first thing my wife and I did was build our daughter's sleep schedule around our priorities. We agreed that I would get up one hour earlier each day and take my daughter on an outing each morning. This would ensure that I would have quality time when I'm home with my daughter before I go to the office and become consumed by the day's events. It also would allow my wife some extra time to sleep. I have been doing this since my daughter was about 6 months old, and it works beautifully. I take her on errands with me—such as going to the local grocery store each morning and introducing her to the people who work there. When I get back from our outing, the rest of the day is mine to produce in the business world uninterrupted. Because I get my daughter up so early, we are then in a position to put her to bed before 7 PM. Then my wife and I are able to spend quality time together as a couple.
The Ten Times Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure Page 11
