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Be Unreasonable in Pursuing Your Goals There is no law of attraction, just the law of action.

By Grant Cardone

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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I'm not the smartest guy out there. When I can't beat you in words, I can beat you in work. A lot of you spend too much time thinking, reading, planning and strategizing, yet you never get busy with work. I keep things simple at my office. Success involves a simple process. You lose me if it gets too complicated.

Spending time "figuring it out" is code that you're procrastinating. You have to get busy with high levels of activity, so much so that you don't even know what day it is. If you know what day it is, you don't work hard enough. I don't even set the time on my watch. I just wear one because I like the way it looks. Make a commitment right now to stop thinking about days and weeks -- think about surges of activity.

A lot of people avoid the work. They omit doing the things that make them uncomfortable, like making a sales call, giving a presentation or networking. Work saved my life. It's not easy to be successful. There is no overnight success. I don't like being broke so I get to work.

Related: You're Thinking About Sales All Wrong

Your job is to do things that make you uncomfortable. People who are comfortable are short-changing their true potential. Would you agree that someone that has a goal to create a massive life will help and influence more people? The people who settle for average are not living up to their potential. They struggle to get by, barely making a mark on the planet.

Like Steve Jobs suggested, your goal is to make a dent in the Universe.

The more money you have, the more people you can help. Start building your income -- put all your attention on it. Don't settle for less anymore. You have to start breaking every agreement. Cut out the labels and quit being a specific thing or a title: father, sister, banker, salesman, marketer, entrepreneur -- these are a bit limiting, don't you think?

I'm not a salesman, author or entrepreneur, I'm doing my LIFE. I'm not a bunch of things. You have to stop giving yourself a title and start acting like you did when you were a kid -- excited about life and touching everything. It was back then when you were fearless and went directly towards what you wanted. Kids are the best example of being unreasonable. When they want something, they don't think about it, they go after it immediately. What you want in life will be hard to get, but it's going to be a lot harder if you don't go for it. Everything is hard.

Settling is hard.

Getting by is hard.

Making it is hard.

You might as well get what you want. Living on $58,000 a year is hard. How can you even do that? You need to expand by focusing on expansion activities.

Related: 3 Unconventional Sales Tactics That Will Close More Deals

Sales is an expansion activity. Every disappointment in your life is the result of you not making a sale. I talked about this in Sell or Be Sold. You need to get sold on your purpose. Selling yourself is the hardest sale that you will make. If you're not sold, then you won't be able to sell. Get sold and put your full attention on new income.

Let me tell you a story about a quarter....

When I was a kid, my dad gave me and my twin brother, Gary, each a quarter. I was so proud to have one. We went out of the house to go buy something in town. I had the quarter in my pocket -- stroking it, shining it, imagining all the things I would buy. I took it out to admire it, and in my excitement, I dropped it in a drain. Can you imagine how panicked I was? I could see it there, just out of reach with no way to get it back.

I had to go home empty-handed and face my dad's disappointment. When he asked me what I got, I had to tell him I lost it. I felt the disappointment wash over me. My grandfather took me aside and told me an important lesson -- never go anywhere with just one quarter. I learned how bad it hurts to lose what you have, but more importantly, it's even worse not having enough to replace it.

The point is that you need a lot of quarters. You can't rely on one of anything. Big dreams start with money because it's measurable. Your parents told you to be reasonable, to play it safe. Rich people do not say "money is not everything."

Don't be a victim. Don't appoint blame to anyone other than yourself. Quit making excuses. Get your heart in the deal all the time. Have enough so that nothing can stop you. Embrace this thing called sales. Every business I ever started was built on making sales. No sales equal no business.

You don't need therapy, you need to take action. You don't need to write a business plan or organize your address book. Without money coming in you're dead in the water. The healing is in the doing, not the thinking.

Related: 10 Most Innovative Movers and Shakers in Sales Leadership

Sales is about doing. It's the ask, the follow-up. Were you told not to be too persistent when you were a kid? Money doesn't grow on trees is code for I don't know how to bring money in. Replace the excuses with the truth. The truth is you're lost when it comes to income. You were taught that it takes money to make money but that's not true. It takes courage.

You need big problems and big dreams. I don't alter my dreams. They were here long before my wife and kids came along. If you hate sales, you hate income. Everyone you seek has to be on board with you being a maniac. Make the time. Spend all the money on expansion. Use debt to blow up your business.

This isn't about the law of attraction, it's about the law of action. Don't do a job, do your life!

Grant Cardone

International Sales Expert & $1.78B Real Estate Fund Manager

Grant Cardone is an internationally-renowned speaker on sales, leadership, real-estate investing, entrepreneurship and finance whose five privately held companies have annual revenues exceeding $300 million.

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