10-10-10 Rule
Updated 2026-08-05
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A decision heuristic popularised by Suzy Welch in her book 10-10-10. Before committing to a difficult choice, you ask how you will feel about it in ten minutes, ten months, and ten years, and let the longest horizon discipline the shortest. The rule does not replace analysis; it exposes when a decision is being driven by transient emotion. It draws on the psychology of hyperbolic discounting, in which immediate feelings are weighted far more heavily than distant consequences of equal or greater size.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Horizon shift: Re-evaluate a decision you are about to make under the influence of the moment. - Emotion triage: Separate a short-lived reaction from a durable consequence before acting. - Regret preview: Test a choice against the version of yourself who lives with it longest.
Anchor fast decisions
Human discounting is hyperbolic rather than exponential, so the pull of the present is disproportionately strong and future costs are systematically underweighted. Naming three explicit horizons forces the long-term consequence into the same comparison as the immediate one. Because the future perspective is generated deliberately rather than felt, it can override an emotional spike that would otherwise decide the matter on its own.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- mindmax.mehttps://mindmax.me/mental-models/decision-making/10-10-10verified
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