If I came out of a magic lamp offered you the opportunity to double your business/income/results over the next year, chances are you would probably bite my hand off, or think it was too good to be true, or more likely a combination of the two.
In fact, you may have dreamed of double digit growth or even succeeded in achieving it to a certain extent.
So you’re probably wondering how 10x growth could possibly be easier, if not contrary to everything you’ve been taught to believe. After all, just doubling your business would require superhuman effort, hustle and hard work.
And chances are, you feel like you are already maxed out on all three.
All the books and gurus talk about SMART goals, small steps, measurable progress, the power of compound interest when it comes to effort and on the surface, it seems to make perfect sense!
But here is the thing: conventional wisdom leads to conventional success.
If you’re here on this site, chances are you are looking to make a quantum leap.
But the reason for your disbelief is that you are thinking of all the things you currently do in your business, and wonder how on earth you can possibly do ten times that.
While at first, aiming for 10x growth rather than 2x growth seems like it would be much more work, the truth is that it’s actually easier. This is because it requires you to break your current cognitive models and the lens with which you view your business, and create new ones from scratch, that start with the end goal of a 10x quantum leap and work back to understand how to get there.
Working towards 10x growth requires a paradigm shift in your thinking rather than an incremental change
It demands transformation rather than simple progression – because you are initial impression was correct, there is no way to get there just by doing more of what you’re doing now.
In life and business the quality of your questions determine your results.
So the first shift I want you to make is changing your mental vantage point.
Rather than asking how to 10x what you currently do, ask what you should be doing if you wanted to 10x your results.
Here is why:
Working harder and longer doesn’t work
It’s just not possible to work 10x harder and 10x longer to achieve 10x growth. There aren’t enough hours in the day to go about it this way. You could work twice as hard and twice as long to achieve 2x growth, but that’s a small payoff for that much effort. And while you might double your income by going about things in this way, you certainly wouldn’t be doubling your free time or your enjoyment of your work.
2x growth doesn’t force enough change.
2x is not enough growth or enough of an incentive to really make a difference in your life. With 2x growth, an increase in income means an increase in time and effort. You’d be working longer and harder, but not smarter.
You will simply stretch your existing thinking, time, and resources to achieve it, and potentially run yourself to the ground.
You would be relying on motivation, which will prove to be fleeting, rather than inspiration.
Inspiration is limitless, but it requires being driven by an inspiring goal.
This is why exceptional people are able to achieve awe inspiring results.
Your 2x goal will always lack the power to fuel you and your results will suffer as a result.
10x growth, on the other hand, will require you working less than you are now. It will necessitate real change in the way you operate. It means totally transforming and rethinking how you run your business in order to include more teamwork, automation and more delegation so that you’re personally freed up to focus on what you do best: innovating and providing the vision for your company.
When you’re freed up from the tasks and activities that simply use up your time but don’t give you energy, and your team takes over all the day-to-day tasks that keep the business running and bringing in predictable cash flow, you’re able to concentrate on improvements to your company and creating greater value for your clients and customers.
You’re able to focus on the innovations that will be game changers in your business and industry. This is how real growth happens.
Here is another secret:
Whether you realize it or not, you’ve done it before
Even though the idea of 10x growth might seem too difficult or even impossible, it’s important to look back and realize that you’ve done it already. Simply look back to a time when your business was only one-tenth where it is now. You were able to grow your business 10x to where it is today, and your current level of growth feels normal.
Chances are your business today looks nothing like it did back then.
Your operations are different, your systems are different and your belief about what is possible is different. But all of it has become your new normal. Your brain is so familiar with the current state that it no longer considers it noteworthy. Once you reach that next level of growth, it, too, will feel normal.
Knowing you’ve gone 10x before can provide you the confidence to do it again.
It’s not impossible—you’ve done it.
Show your team (and more importantly yourself) how you’ve gone from one-tenth of your business in your past to your current levels to get their buy-in for joining you in pursuing your new 10x goal.
Those team members who are keen to multiply their growth and their contribution to the company will be eager to join you. Those who aren’t will leave. Either way, this is a win for you. You’ll have the right team on board.
You might have heard the phrase: “It’s lonely at the top.” I’m going to offer a different interpretation to this; there is far less competition for the biggest achievements in life than the average ones.
This is the inertia that keeps us stuck at lower levels of success, its familiar and we have company. The truth is breaking free of the pack is actually easier than slogging endlessly to keep up.
Keeping up is exhausting.
Breaking free requires you to think differently rather than conforming to what others are doing and counterintuitively offers more opportunity because you’re not competing with hordes of others.
By the laws of nature, most people in the world are average. Average intelligence, average ability, average resources. And, unfortunately, they use that fact to set their ambitions as well. By taking on average challenges you lump yourself into the group with the most competition by default.
What if, instead, you took a risk and set your sights even higher? By stepping up your game, you put yourself into a group with better competition, but much less of it. In fact, you don’t even have to rise to the top when you’re playing in the big leagues. Just putting yourself there improves your odds of success.
When you are in pursuit of an audacious goal, more people will happily help you compared to if you were doing something something small
When Elon Musk wants to put man on Mars, or Bill Gates wants to end malaria, they will find hundreds of thousands of people who come out in support.
Steve Jobs was known as a horrible boss, yet he’s worshipped by Apple employees and people endured his harsh managerial style just to be part of his vision.
If they were focused on growing YoY by 25% rather than something visionary, chances are they wouldn’t have attracted the same caliber of people or inspired their customers in the same way.
Remember that it’s not just the extent of your vision, but also your ability to communicate it that ensures that your business becomes a magnet for success.
You cannot achieve a 10x vision yourself. You need the support of others, and this is a good thing
Everyone is busy. Why would they sacrifice the precious little time they have dedicated to their own goals to help you work on yours? Remember, when you try to do “normal” things, the competition is fierce. To most people, you’re the competition. Not directly, but for their time. The people you need help from are not going to find your thing interesting or inspiring enough to set their own things aside and join up.
But when you up your game and place yourself in a higher field of competition, that’s unique and interesting. People want to be a part of something big, and your work to recruit good folks to help you with it becomes easier.
10x growth is not impossible. It’s not an unreachable ideal. You’ve done it before, and you can do it again. Not only that, but to keep up in today’s constantly evolving and advancing society, 10x is a necessity. But don’t simply push yourself and your team to work more. Going 10x requires greater capabilities, confidence, teamwork, and vision. It means being smarter and more strategic. It means aiming not just for 10x greater income, but 10x greater freedom, as well.
Here is a practical exercise to help you figure out 10x looks like for you
Here are five questions to ask yourself to get on the right track:
- What if I multiplied my goal by 10? What would it look like then?
- Am I competing with a lot of average people or with a few top players?
- What can I do to make this inspiring to a lot of people instead of just me?
- What do I currently spend my time on?
- What does my 10x goal require me to spend time on?
By stepping up your game, you’ll find it’s easier to focus on the important things, ignore the trivial ones, and recruit the help you need.
When in doubt, think bigger.