The 10-10-10 rule
We all have to make tough decisions in our life - whether it is as complicated as deciding what to do when we’ve lost your job or as simple as whether to buy this expensive shoe or not. There are various approaches in dealing with these situations - the 24 hour rule, the wait $100 per day rule etc. I’m sure there are plenty more out there but what is common from all these rules is that -
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Don’t give more weight to your decisions than they actually deserve - losing a job is not the end of the world.
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Don’t let your short term emotions rule in favor of long term values and passions - giving in to a sumptuous buffet.
This blog post is about one such rule - the 10/10/10 rule by Suzy Welch. This rule is thinking about our decisions on three different time frames: How will we feel about this decision 10 minutes from now? How about 10 months from now? How about 10 years from now? For example, consider having to make the decision of having a difficult conversation with a teammate. Applying the rule -
a. 10 minutes from now - feel anxious.
b. 10 months from now - probably relieved.
c. 10 years from now - probably doesn’t even matter.
If you think that this is too cliched, all you’ve to do is to look back 10 years. When I look back, I was entering my final year in high school and there were a few things that I was worried about then - to top the school grades in high school, to get into a top college for my undergrad and I’m also guessing there were some social circle worries (woes of being a teenager). Sometimes, I was too focused on the immediate next step that I tend to miss out on the big picture.
The purpose of this rule is not to negate short term emotions but makes sure that it isn’t the only factor in our decisions. This rule helps us gain some perspective on our long term goals and in some cases makes us define them too!
Kaushik Rangadurai
Code. Learn. Explore