The 10x rule ffirs indd I 3/14/11 10: 22: 47 AM ffirs indd II 3/14/11 10: 22: 47 am the 10x rule The Only Difference Between Success and Failure Grant Cardone John Wiley & Sons, Inc

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THE 10X RULE
Exercise
How much time are you at work each day?
How much time do you spend on wasteful activities 
every day (e.g., watching television, smoking, drinking, 
oversleeping, getting coffee, having lunches or meetings 
with no business opportunities)?
What are some of your own time wasters?
What has this chapter taught you about time?
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CHAPTER
18
Criticism Is a Sign 
of Success
A
lthough getting criticized is certainly not the best feeling 
in the world, I have great news: Receiving criticism is a 
surefi re sign that you are well on your way. Criticism is not 
something that you want to avoid; rather, it’s what you must 
expect to come your way once you start hitting it big. 
Criticism is defi ned as the judgment of the merits and 
faults of the work or actions of one individual by another. 
Although “criticizing” does not necessarily mean “to imply 
fault,” the word is often taken to mean prejudice or disap-
proval. The dictionary fails to include the following helpful 
bit of information: When you start taking the right amount of 
action and therefore creating success, criticism is often not far 
behind.
Of course, most people don’t like being criticized. 
However, I’ve found that it comes as a natural result of getting 
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attention. This may be why some people avoid attention in 
the fi rst place—as an attempt to dodge judgment. However, 
there’s no way to achieve serious levels of success without 
getting some attention. Yes, people will eye you and make it 
clear that they disapprove of what you’re doing. Let’s face it: 
No matter what choices you make in life, someone is going to 
criticize you somewhere along the way. Wouldn’t you rather 
receive it from people who are jealous of your success than 
from your family, boss, or bill collectors for not taking enough 
action?
When you start taking enough action, it won’t be 
long before you’re judged by people who aren’t taking any. 
If you’re generating substantial success, people will start to pay 
attention to you. Some will admire you, some will want to 
learn from you, but unfortunately, most will envy you. These 
are the people whose excuses for not doing enough will morph 
into reasons why what you are doing is wrong.
You need to expect and anticipate this as one of the signs 
of success. It will come when you start really cranking at 10X 
levels—often before your accomplishment is even evident. 
Beware: This criticism can come in many forms. It may fi rst 
show up as advice from others: “Why are you spending so much 
energy on that one client? He never buys anything” or “You 
should enjoy life more! It’s not all work, you know.” These are 
the kinds of things that people say to you to make themselves 
feel better—because your abundance highlights their defi ciency. 
Remember: Success is not a popularity contest. It is your duty, 
obligation, and responsibility.
A buddy of mine who is in the fence business in 
Louisiana once admitted to me, “Grant, I don’t want atten-
tion. The minute I get it, competitors start coming after me. I 
want to fl y under the radar so no one knows what I’m doing.” 
Although that’s certainly one way to approach success, you can’t 
“fl y under the radar” for too long and expect to ever make it 
to the top. Laying low in order to avoid attention (and conse-
quently, criticism) probably means that you’re holding yourself 
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Criticism Is a Sign of Success
131
back to some degree. Your fear of being attacked is keeping 
you from going for it completely. However, once the naysayers 
realize and acknowledge that you aren’t going away—and that 
your success is something they should imitate, not judge—they 
will give up and fi nd someone else to pick on.
Weak and overwhelmed individuals respond to others’ 
success by attacking it. The moment you elect to dominate 
or acquire territory, you run the risk of becoming a target for 
these people. You see this in politics constantly; when neither 
side has a real solution, they merely criticize and lay into one 
another—and that doesn’t do anyone any good. Criticism of 
any individual or group should signal to the recipient that the 
person fl inging mud is threatened by the entity he or she is 
belittling. People who habitually disparage others like this 
usually do not have solutions to their situation—except to 
degrade other players.
The only way to handle criticism is to foresee it as an 
element of your success formula. Much like fear, it’s a sign 
that you are making the right moves in the right volumes, get-
ting enough attention, and making enough of a splash. One 
of my clients recently called my company to complain that 
my staff had been following up with him too aggressively. I 
called to ask him what the problem was. After listening to him 
malign my employees for doing what was essentially their job, 
I said, “Knock it off. They’re simply doing what they know is 
right because they know we can help you. The fact that you 
haven’t made a decision to move forward and pull the trig-
ger is what should be criticized here—but I will refrain from 
doing so because it won’t do either of us any good. Now, let’s 
stop the negativity and do something positive to move your 
company forward.” I then rewarded my staff for aggressively 
following up with the client. Receiving complaints about “too 
much follow-up” is an indication that my staff is moving in 
the right direction. I refused to allow this client’s protests to 
stop us and supported my staff in their efforts. We all under-
stand that criticism is part of the success cycle, and I won’t 
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apologize for any employee of mine who is seeking success. 
And in case you were wondering—we did close the deal. This 
very same client now tells people with admiration and praise 
that “those guys follow up like maniacs.”
When I fi nished college, I got a full-time sales job rather 
than taking a position in the area in which I had received 
my degree. Within a couple of years, my sales results had 
taken me to the top 1 percent of all the salespeople in that 
industry—and way ahead of the people with whom I worked 
directly. And if you think they didn’t criticize me—well, think 
again. Of course they did! They made jokes about me, poked 
fun, tried to distract me, and even tried to convince me to 
cease the very actions that had gotten me to where I was. 
That is what lower performers do; they make others wrong 
for doing what is necessary in order to make themselves feel 
okay about doing nothing! The highest performers—the 
winners—respond by studying successful people and duplicat-
ing success. They train themselves to reach top performers’ 
levels. Because the lower performers are not willing to step up 
and take responsibility to increase their production, they can 
only seek to tear down those who are performing at higher 
levels. 
When my book If You’re Not First, You’re Last hit the 
New York Times best-seller list, some of my supposed competi-
tors immediately began criticizing me. One person called the 
book’s title “arrogant.” Another asked, “Who does Cardone 
think he is?” Yet another suggested that I was “getting too big 
for [my] own good.” One person even called me to tell me to 
get a new editor because he claimed that the grammar was 
wrong. Did I pay attention to any of these comments? Not for 
a second. I had a New York Times best-seller!
From what I can tell, criticism precedes admiration and—
like it or not—goes hand in hand with success. Keep pouring 
on the success, and sooner or later, the very same people who 
were putting you down will be admiring you for what you 
have done. Those who initially judged your actions will later 
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be singing your praises—just as long as you take the criticism 
as a sign of your growing success and keep the accelerator 
on your actions at 10X. After all, what better way to retaliate 
against criticism than to keep succeeding? 
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