The 10/10/10 rule for becoming better at decision making

Decision making is one of the most crucial and irreplaceable skills that people require to lead a fruitful and productive life. As life is composed of a series of decisions that we make, we are constantly faced with the need to arrive at some or the other decision in life.

Let’s face it, decisions are hard to make as we constantly fear its outcome. This aspect particularly deviates us away from focusing on the process of making a decision. Rather we focus all our energy on not making a wrong decision lest we should face regret afterwards.

Business writer Suzy Welch came up with the ’10/10/10 Rule’ that is designed to help people have a forward-looking perspective while making a decision. The rule is really simple. There are just 3 questions one has to ask oneself before making a decision:

• How will I feel about my decision in 10 minutes?
• How will I feel about my decision in 10 months?
• How will I feel about my decision in 10 years?

This simple rule helps one to shun a myopic vision and think of long term consequences of their decisions.

Why does 10/10/10 rule work?

When we recall our worst decisions ever made in life, visceral emotions like anger, greed, anxiety, etc. seem to have taken over the best of us. But we shouldn’t be slaves to our emotions. When it comes to making good decisions, having a long term view can turn situations in our favour.

Our brains are intrinsically wired to look for short term pleasure. But when we learn to train our brain to look at long term consequences and ramifications, we automatically begin to make smarter decisions.

Welch says with the answer to the 3 questions will help to align your decision with your priorities or they will unravel your priorities in the process.

We should note that short term emotion is not necessarily the enemy of making better decisions. Going for the 10/10/10 rule simply ensures that we broaden our perspective so that we analyze better and not just act on our instincts.