I just helped one of my consulting clients address a critical business decision. It was fraught with emotion, history, regret, and the fear of making the wrong choice. All the logic in the world wasn’t helping my client reach a decision. They understood the logic, in fact they are the ones who presented it, but the very real and very immediate, painful consequences of any decision they would make had them stuck. Until we used the 10-10-10.

The 10-10-10 is simple decision making tool created by Suzy Welch. It helps you get out of the emotion of the moment and look at a decision from a distant and emotion-reduced position. This is how it works:

Whatever your decision is, ask yourself how will I feel about it in 10 minutes, in 10 months and in 10 years?

The power of this simple process, is that it acknowledges the emotional intensity of the moment. Then it forces you to consider the short term (about 1 year) and the long term (one decade) consequences.

Without this vantage point, we put the vast majority of the consideration in the 10 minutes. We focus on the pain of the moment, and discount the future. Exactly opposite of what we should be doing to make the best decision.

While the 10-10-10 doesn’t guarantee you will make the right decision every time, it does guarantee that you look at your decision far more objectively. Which will improve your decision making for sure.

If you want to read up on the entire process, I encourage you to check out Suzy Welch’s book 10-10-10.