The 3 Fundamentals of "10x" Growth | 10x Is Easier Than 2x | Series - EP 1

Introduction

• Dr. Benjamin Hardy introduces himself as an organizational psychologist and best-selling author of multiple books, including "Be Your Future Self Now" and "10x Is Easier Than 2x."

• He mentions that "10x" is becoming a significant concept in psychology and discusses the importance of future self and its impact on personal growth and success.

• Dr. Hardy also mentions his collaboration with Dan Sullivan, a renowned entrepreneurial coach, and introduces his book as the third installment in the trilogy they co-authored.

"Future self is going to be a part of that... I am nothing but grateful for Dan for that whole experience." -- Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Overview of the Book

• Dr. Hardy explains that the book "10x Is Easier Than 2x" offers a different perspective from Grant Cardone's popular book "The 10X Rule."

• While Grant Cardone emphasizes doing more and taking intense action, this book focuses on a framework for achieving 10x results by doing less.

• Dr. Hardy claims that the book provides clear frameworks for continuous 10x growth by operating from the future self and implementing the 80/20 principle.

"This book is counter-intuitive to Grant's concept... This teaches a framework for entrepreneurs and people in general to actually go 10x by doing less." -- Dr. Benjamin Hardy

Core Models of 10x Psychology

• Dr. Hardy presents two core models: the 10x psychology model and the core model of the book.

• The 10x psychology model emphasizes three internal factors that contribute to 10x growth: identity, time, and leadership.

• Identity comprises one's narrative of the past and future and the standards to which they are committed. Dr. Hardy emphasizes reshaping the narrative of the past and operating from the future to achieve 10x results.

• Time is described as attention and focuses on the ability to direct and manage attention effectively.

• Leadership refers to the ability to take ownership and responsibility for one's choices and actions.

"Identity is your story and your standards... 10x as an idea is a concept of operating exponentially from your future, not from your past." -- Dr. Benjamin Hardy

10x Growth is Easier Than 2x Growth

• To achieve 2x growth, you only need to make minor improvements or do a little bit more of what you're already doing.

• You can keep 80% of your current strategy and only need to change 20% to achieve 2x growth.

• 2x growth is linear and operates based on the past to determine the present and the future.

• To achieve 2 million book copies, for example, you can keep 80% of your current approach and use it to determine your strategy for the future.

"If you want to go for 2x, you can keep the 80. You can keep 80% of what you're doing, and you're going linear. 2x is not transformational."

10x Growth is Operating from a Seemingly Impossible Future

• 10x growth means operating from a seemingly impossible future that you feel called to.

• The concept of 10x growth relates to the idea of the hero's journey and the call to adventure, where you pursue a challenging and seemingly impossible goal.

• If you want to achieve 10x growth, you need to let go of 80% of your current life, as it represents your past and present self but not your future self.

• Your future self should be the filter for everything you do in the present.

"2x means that you're operating from the past. 10x is the opposite. 10x means that you're operating from a seemingly impossible future which you feel called to."

Let Go of the 80 and Go All-In on the 20

• To achieve 10x growth, you need to let go of the 80% of your life that doesn't align with your 10x future self.

• You have to focus on the core 20% that has the most relevance to your 10x future self.

• It's important to go deep and transform the 20% that has the most intrinsic motivation and connection to your future goals.

• Every level of 10x growth will have a different 20% core focus, depending on the specific goal.

"To go 10x, you have to let go of the 80, and you really have to 10x the quality of the 20."

Michelangelo's Approach to 10x Growth

• Michelangelo's approach to creating his masterpieces, like the David, was to strip away everything that was not the essence of his vision.

• 10x growth works similarly by identifying your 10x future self (the essence) and letting go of the 80% that doesn't align with it.

• Focus on going all-in on the 20% that represents your 10x future self.

"I stripped away everything that was not David. That's really how 10xing works."

Defining the 20 and 80

• The speaker wanted a six-figure book deal with a major publisher.

• To achieve this, he started asking a lot of questions and interviewed professional authors and book agents.

• They showed him that he needed to get really good at blogging and build a large email list.

• He clarified his "20" as blogging and went all in on it.

• Over a period of two to three years, he became the number one blogger on medium.com.

• He wrote hundreds of blog posts that were read by over 100 million people and grew his email list to over 100,000 subscribers.

"The 20, for me, was I need to get really good at blogging. I needed to actually build an audience, I needed to get a big email list."

Letting go of the 80

• To focus on his "20" of blogging, the speaker had to let go of his "80" which included beliefs and fears about putting his ideas online.

• The speaker explains that the 80 is largely our psychology and identity, but it also includes external systems such as relationships and lifestyle.

• For the speaker, letting go of his university position and paying for his own tuition was part of his 80 that he had to release.

"The 80 will defend itself and try to keep things in place so that you don't essentially ruin things - your psyche and your subconscious want things to be stable, but so do your relationships."

Going 10x on the 20

• The speaker went 10 times deeper on his "20" of blogging to achieve exponential growth.

• He became 10 times better at blogging, with over 100,000 email subscribers.

• This led him to his 10x goal of a six-figure book deal.

• However, once you go 10x, a new 80 and a new 20 emerge.

• The old 20, such as blogging, becomes part of the new 80.

"Once you go 10x, it's no longer about continuing to grow your platform or your blogging. Blogging went to my 80, and so did many other things."