With so many things competing for attention in our lives and so many decisions to make, it can be challenging to gain clarity on important relationship, family, career, and financial matters. I recently got this super-helpful tip from Chip and Dan Heath in their book, Decisive. They call it the 10, 10, 10 rule, and you use it by considering how you’d feel about a decision 10 minutes from now, 10 months from now, and 10 years from now. You can use these simple fill-in-the-blanks to apply it:
If I choose to ______, how will I feel 10 minutes from now? How will I feel 10 months from now? How will I feel 10 years from now?
If I choose not to ______, how will I feel 10 minutes from now? How will I feel 10 months from now? How will I feel 10 years from now?
If ______ hasn’t happened 10 minutes from now, how will I feel? How about 10 months from now and 10 years from now?
This simple tool helps to overcome our natural tendency to overemphasize what we’re experiencing right now and access a broader perspective. The book Decisive has a few other simple tools like this that can help you make life-giving decisions, so I highly recommend it. Until next time, live well! -Caleb