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

31
Exercise
Success should be approached as your 
, 
, and 
.
Write in your own words how success is your duty, obli-
gation, and responsibility.
Write two examples of how you lie to yourself about 
success.
What are two things that are important to know about 
success?
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33
CHAPTER
5
There Is No Shortage 
of Success
T
he way you view success is just as important as how you 
approach success. Unlike a product that is manufactured 
and inventoried, there is no “limit” as to how much success 
can be created. You can have as much as you want, and so can 
I—and your achievement does not prevent or limit my ability to 
achieve. Unfortunately, most people look at success as though 
it is somehow a scarcity. They tend to think that if someone 
else is successful, it will somehow inhibit their ability to create 
success. Success is not a lottery, bingo, a horse race, or a card 
game that allows for only one winner. It is simply not the case. 
Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street said, “for every win-
ner, there is a loser.” Success is not a zero sum game, there can 
be many winners. Success is not a commodity or resource that 
has limited reserves.
There will never be a dearth of success because it is cre-
ated by those who have no limits in terms of ideas, creativity, 
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34
THE 10X RULE
ingenuity, talent, intelligence, originality, persistence, and 
determination. Notice that I refer to success as something 
that’s created—not acquired. Unlike copper, silver, gold, or 
diamonds—items that already exist and that you must fi nd in 
order to bring to market—success is something people make. 
Great ideas, new technologies, innovative products, and fresh 
solutions to old problems are all things that will never exist 
in shortages. The creation of success can take place all over 
the world—either at the same time or at different times and 
at different levels—by millions of people who have no limits. 
Success doesn’t depend on resources or supplies or space. 
Politics and the media perpetuate these shortage concepts 
by suggesting that there is not “enough” of certain things to 
go around—that “if you have something, I cannot.” Many 
politicians believe they need to spread this myth in order to 
energize their followers to take a stand for or against another 
politician or party. They make statements like, “I will take bet-
ter care of you than the other guy,” “I will make life easier for 
you,” “I will reduce taxes for you,” “I promise better education 
for your kids,” or “I will make it more possible for you to be 
successful.” The underlying implication of these claims is that 
only I can do this—not the other guy. These politicians fi rst 
emphasize the topics and initiatives that they know followers 
consider important—then they create the sense that citizens 
aren’t capable of doing things for themselves. They highlight 
the “scarcity” that exists and do their best to make people feel 
that their only chance of getting what they want and need is to 
support them. Otherwise, they imply, your chances of getting 
your share become even more remote. 
One of the reasons why it’s diffi cult to discuss politics or 
religion with people is because exchanges about both tend to 
suggest a shortage—which then causes inevitable disputes. For 
example, if your political beliefs win, then my politics lose. If 
one party gets what it supports, then another group must suffer. 
The same can be said for certain general attitudes and view-
points. It’s extremely diffi cult for people to “agree to disagree”; 
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There Is No Shortage of Success
35
people operate under the assumption that one person’s beliefs 
cannot be maintained if another person’s confl icting beliefs 
exist. This notion—based once again on the concept of limits 
and shortages—only increases the amount of tension we have 
with one another. Why does one person have to be wrong and 
another right? Why the need for shortages? 
The notion of competition suggests that if one person 
wins, someone else must lose. Although this might be true 
in a board game, where the goal is to produce one winner, 
this is not the reality with regard to success in business and 
in life. The big players do not think in terms of restrictions 
like this. Instead, they think without limits—something 
that allows them to soar to levels that many others consider 
impossible. Financial legend Warren Buffett’s success is not 
capped or limited because of someone else’s investment strate-
gies, and in no way does his fi nancial prowess confi ne or limit 
my ability to create fi nancial success for myself. The found-
ers of Google didn’t stop the creation of Facebook, nor did 
two decades of Microsoft’s dominance prevent Steve Jobs 
from raising Apple’s profi le with iPods, iPhones, and iPads. 
Similarly, the amount of new products, ideas, and successful 
creations by these companies over the past few years will not 
prevent others—maybe you—from generating success at even 
more astounding magnitudes.
You don’t have to look far to see the shortage myth per-
petuated by most of the population via expressions of envy, 
disagreement, unfairness, and suggestions that those who “hit 
it big” have been unfairly compensated. Then there are the 
constant reports in the media of shortages of jobs, money, 
opportunities, and even time. How often do you hear some-
one make the claim that “there isn’t enough time in the day”? 
Or someone else complain that “there aren’t any good jobs” or 
that “no one is hiring.” The reality is that even if 20 percent of 
the population is unemployed, 80 percent have jobs.
Another example of this “shortage thinking” has taken 
place right in my own neighborhood. The man who lives next 
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36
THE 10X RULE
door to me is, incidentally, one of the most famous actors in 
Hollywood; he’s a major star and an incredible actor. The 
road that separates my house from his constantly has pot-
holes that the city never seems to be able to fi x. Another 
neighbor who lives at the end of the street had the gall to 
suggest that “the movie star” fi x the street because he makes 
$20 million a movie. I was shocked by this person’s thought 
process regarding success—that just because this actor had 
created success beyond that which any of us in the neighbor-
hood had, he should foot the bill for fi xing the street. I was 
thinking that the rest of us should improve the road for him, 
since he improves the value of our neighborhood! 
When some TV personality gets a massive fi nancial 
contract, people often react by asking, “How can one person 
get paid so much money?” But money is created by man and 
printed by machines. Not even money exists in shortages; it 
merely suffers from reductions in value. Some group deeming 
a single individual worth $400 million should be an encour-
agement to you that anything is possible.
I’ve found that most—if not all—shortages are simply 
manufactured notions. The company or organization that can 
convince you that there are limited amounts of whatever you 
need or want—be it diamonds, oil, water, clean air, cool weather, 
warm weather, energy—can produce a sense of urgency, thereby 
inspiring people to support their cause. 
You must rid yourself of the concept that success can be 
restricted in any way. Operating under this notion will hurt 
your ability to create success for yourself. Let’s say that you 
and I are bidding to win a client, and I get the business. This 
doesn’t mean that you cannot be successful; after all, this 
wasn’t the only client you were bidding for. Being dependent 
on only a single thing or person for success will limit your 
chances of achievement. Although you and I are competing 
on this one contract, “Mr. Think Big—No Shortages” is win-
ning thousands of clients and showing us the real defi nition of 
success! 
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There Is No Shortage of Success
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To get beyond the shortage myth, you have to shift your 
thinking to see that others’ achievements actually create an 
opportunity for you to win as well. Success for anyone or any