1: “Most people reach for just a little bit more—a promotion, a little more money, a new personal record,” Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy write in 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less.
“Going for incremental progress is a 2x mindset,” the authors observe, “which at a fundamental level means we’re continuing or maintaining what we’re already doing.”
2x is a linear mindset. We aim to double our output by doubling our effort. We let our past, what we’ve done before, define what we do and how we do it. We just do it faster and harder.
“2x is exhausting and soul-defeating,” they note.
There is a better way.
“By contrast, 10x is so big and seemingly impossible that it immediately forces us out of our current mindset and approach,” Dan and Ben write.
Because we can’t work 10x harder. We can’t work 10x longer. ” Brute force and linear methods won’t get us to 10x,” they observe.
“10x has become a trendy concept thrown around in entrepreneurial, financial, and self-help circles,” Dan and Ben note. “Yet, most people radically misunderstand what 10x means and what it can do.
“In fact, most people understand 10x literally and exactly backward.”
Why? Their pursuit of 10x leads them to seek the wrong thing: An unending race for more, more, more.
“10x isn’t about more,” the authors suggest. “It’s about less.”
Which is something the world’s greatest artists and entrepreneurs understand: The difference between 10x and 2x thinking.
Yesterday and Tuesday, we looked at the work of the amazing artist Michelangelo.
“When the Pope asked about the secret of his genius,” they write, “particularly in regard to the statue of David, Michelangelo explained, ‘It’s simple. I just remove everything that is not David.'”
To go 10x, we must concentrate our focus on the core essential. Then, we remove everything else.
What is another crucial ingredient of 10x? Quality. Not quantity.
“It’s not the quantity of work he did that makes Michelangelo legendary,” Dan and Ben note, “but the almost unfathomable quality of what he did. Each time Michelangelo went 10x, he reached a near godly level of mastery and expression.”
Did Michelangelo do a lot? Sure. “But so do a lot of people,” the authors write. “Many are busy yet unproductive. They do a lot but ultimately achieve little.”
When we are in a 2x mindset, we focus on quantity. We “add a zero and do more of what we’re doing. It’s linear and non-creative,” they write. “It’s brute force, not higher intelligence and leverage.”
10x is a different way of showing up. An altogether different way of living our lives.
It’s the difference between crawling and walking. “From not knowing the alphabet to reading,” they observe. From “horse and buggy to a car…a non-linear change has taken place.”
2: How does this transformation occur?
“The most fundamental qualitative change is internal, our vision and identity,” Dan and Ben observe. “By changing these, everything else we’re doing simultaneously changes as well. We take our internal and emotional evolution and externalize that in the form of refined standards and results.
“10x becomes our perceptual filter for everything we do.
“Everything becomes either 10x or 2x.
“Anything that’s not 10x doesn’t meet the filter and gets released from our attention,” they note.
What is the greatest obstacle holding us back? Our attention.
Constraint theory tells us that our attention is our most limited and valuable resource. Even more than our time. “Indeed, the quality and depth of our attention determines the quality of our time,” the authors write.
Instead of being scattered and distracted, we become exceptionally focused.
3: Lastly, 10x is not about a specific outcome. It is a capability. A vehicle to transform ourselves and our lives. Dan and Ben believe we can use 10x to:
- Dramatically expand our vision and standards
- Simplify our strategy and focus
- Identify and remove non-essentials
- Develop mastery in unique areas
- Lead and empower others who share our vision
To go 10x is to operate from “a seemingly impossible and imagined future,” the authors write.
“Every time we commit to 10x, that commitment takes us on a journey,” they note. “That journey is the peeling away of more layers of the onion, discovering the essence of who we are. Each layer we peel away is the letting-go of our former self, transforming us increasingly into our truest selves.”
More tomorrow.
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Reflection: Think back on a time I experienced a 10x mindset. What allowed me to access this mindset? How did it feel? How can I do it again?
Action: Journal about my answers to the questions above.