
Because we can always learn from the successful journeys of others, here are three more books that you might find helpful in your desire to be more productive.
The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure
By Grant Cardone – Willey – 2011 – 240 pages.

Admittedly this book has an odd tile and for some time I passed on reading it because I didn’t understand what the author, Grant Cardone, wanted to convey. The premise of the book is that the 10X rule will help anyone seeking success. It states, “You must set targets that are 10 times what you think you want and then do 10 times what you think it will take to accomplish those targets. Massive thoughts must be followed by massive actions. There is nothing ordinary about the 10X Rule. It is simply what it says it is: 10 times the thoughts and 10 times the actions of other people. The 10X Rule is about pure domination mentality. You never do what others do. You must be willing to do what they won’t do—and even take actions that you might deem ‘unreasonable.’
Cardone writes that we have four choices of action when it comes to any project, idea or opportunity. We can (1) do nothing, (2) retreat) (3) take normal levels of action or (4) take massive action.
So, in order to be very successful, we must have 10x goals.
By Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz – Free Press – 2003 (256 pages)

Consultants Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz share tools that will help ‘corporate athletes’ perform at the highest level. They say that “Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance.”
The book focuses on the four principles of full engagement:
Principal 1: full engagement requires drawing on four separate but related sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
Principle 2 because energy diminishes both with overuse and underuse, we must balance energy expenditure with intermittent energy renewal.
Principle 3: to build capacity we must push beyond our normal limits, training in the same systemic way that elite athletes do.
Principal 4: positive energy rituals like high-specific routines for managing energy, are the key to full engagement and sustained high performance.
The ONE Thing: The Surprising Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
By Gary Keller and Jay Papasan – Bard Press – 2012 (239 pages)

There are many great concepts in this short book. The authors attempt to get us to refocus many of the lessons we have been taught about achieving great results. For example, they write, “long hours spent checking off a to-do list and ending the day with a full trash can and a clean desk are not virtuous and have nothing to do with success. Instead of a to-do list, you need a success list – a list that is purposefully created around extraordinary results..
Memorable Quotes:
When you want the absolute chance to succeed at anything you want, your approach should always be the same. Go small.
Going small is ignoring all the things you could do in doing what you should do. It’s recognizing that not all things matter equally and finding the things that matter the most. It’s a tighter way to connect what do you do with what you want. It’s realizing that extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus.
The way to get the most out of your work and your life is to go small as possible. When you go as small as possible, you’ll be staring at one thing. And that’s the point.
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