I am not a huge fan of simplistic rules when facing a big decision, but this one is helpful and worth sharing.

The original author is debatable and I’ve read several iterations, but the gist of this rule is consistent. It asks us to ask ourselves how much something will matter in the long run. We do this to challenge how much importance we are giving a decision.

If you are trying to live your best life – be successful – have less stress – and/or work smarter instead of harder, you need to avoid getting mired in details over things that don’t matter much. Likewise, things that will have lasting consequence should be given the time and consideration they deserve.  

HOW TO USE THE 10/10/10 Rule for Decision Making

The "10/10/10" rule asks us to consider: 

Will this decision and its consequence matter in: 

10 minutes?
10 months? 
10 years?

10 Minutes 

Ask yourself: How much will this choice matter in 10 minutes or even in 10 days?  

If you need to make the decision in 10 minutes or the outcome won’t matter much in 10 days, the decision is not extremely important and you don’t need to spend much time or energy ruminating on it. 

Give it a tiny bit of thinking and go with your gut. 

10 Months: 

Ask yourself: How much will this choice matter in 10 months?  

If you will still be feeling the effects of your choice in 10 months, then you should not go with your gut. 

10 months is almost a year, and if it will impact your life a year from now, you should apply some real thought. The consequences are worth the effort to analyze your options.

10 Years:  

Ask yourself: How much will this choice matter in 10 years?

A lot can happen in a decade of your life and your business. That’s a long time, and, if the consequences of your decision will continue impacting your life in a decade, you better take the time and make the effort needed to think through the choice. 

A 10-year decision is an important decision by anyone’s standards. It should require a great deal of fact gathering and thinking. Then, after all that analysis, you should also take your gut reaction into consideration.
Unfortunately, when it comes to 10-year decisions and other matters of great consequence, this is where people hesitate the most.

When the stakes are high, people are petrified of being wrong. So, what happens?

They do nothing. 

Sometimes they get hijacked by "paralysis analysis." They get stuck thinking, rethinking, replaying, and postulating about every possible outcome to the point that taking action gets continually delayed. 

Not making an important decision creates added stress and pressure, making the decision feel even more consequential, which, of course, adds more pressure to get it right. 

When you are stuck in paralysis analysis or procrastinating because you are afraid to be wrong (and worried about the resulting consequences), what do you do?

A lot of people say you should just go with your gut. I disagree. As Malcolm Gladwell points out in his bestselling book Blink, your gut can save you….. or take you far off course. 

And as I teach in my bestselling book on HOW TO make important decisions successfully, your gut and real thinking that incorporates real data should both bring you to the same conclusion. Then you can feel confident taking action to make that decision a 10! 

If your gut and the data don't line up, investigate further and check your biases.