Three clocks for every decision

The writer Suzy Welch called it the 10-10-10 rule, and it's one of those tools that fits on a napkin: faced with any decision, imagine its consequences over three time spans. How will I feel in 10 minutes? In 10 months? In 10 years?

The trick is that each clock sees something different. The 10-minute clock measures impulse: the rush of firing off that angry reply, the relief of cancelling the plan, the craving. The 10-month clock measures habits and relationships: what accumulates. The 10-year clock measures identity: the person that repeating this many times turns you into.

Most of our bad decisions are made with only the first clock watching. And nearly every difficult conversation we postpone looks enormous at 10 minutes, small at 10 months and invisible at 10 years.

Mind you: the rule doesn't say the long term always wins. Sometimes the ice cream, the nap or the little indulgence wins cleanly across all three spans — go right ahead. It only asks that all three clocks be in view before you decide. Deciding with just one isn't deciding: it's obeying it.