10-10-10: A Life-Transforming Idea

by Suzy Welch

Any choice you make - any decision - will benefit from 10-10-10. We all want to lead a life of our own making. But in today's accelerated world, with its competing priorities, information overload, and confounding options, we can easily find ourselves steered by impulse, stress, or expedience. Are our decisions the right ones? Or are we being governed, time and time again, and against our best intentions, by the demands of the moment?

A transformative new approach to decision making, 10-10-10 is a tool for reclaiming your life at home, in love, and at work. The process is clear, straightforward, and transparent. In fact, when you're facing a dilemma, all it takes to begin are three questions: What are the consequences of my decision in 10 minutes? In 10 months? And in 10 years?

Sound simple? Not quite. Recounting poignant stories from her own life and the lives of many other dedicated 10-10-10 users, Suzy Welch reveals how exploring the impact of our decisions in multiple time frames invariably surfaces our unconscious agendas, fears, needs, and desires — and ultimately helps us identify and live according to our deepest goals and values. 10-10-10's applicability is uniquely broad. Whether it is used by college students or busy mothers or senior business executives, artists, government administrators, or entrepreneurs, 10-10-10 has shown its effectiveness in decisions large and small, routine and radical, consistently changing lives for the better.

Readers of "O" magazine discovered this pragmatic and innovative idea when Suzy Welch first introduced it in her column. Now, in this immensely useful and revelatory book, she fully explains the power of 10-10-10, a transformative idea that can replace chaos with consistency, guilt with joy, and confusion with clarity.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Business, Personal Development, Audiobook, Psychology, Relationships

222 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Suzy Welch is an American author, television commentator, business advisor, and public speaker. She is also the co-author (with her late husband Jack Welch) of the business books Winning, published in 2005, and The Real Life MBA, published in 2015.

Reviews

[Amanda Bynum · Rating 3 out of 5]

My book club is reading this for June - otherwise, I probably wouldn't give it a second glance.

But boy was I surprised. I actually like this quite a bit. I can see how using the 10-10-10 (immediate future, short-term long-term future, and way off in the distance long-term future) framework can be incredibly helpful when a person is faced with making a giant decision (should I try for that promotion, should I have another child etc). But as I told a buddy the other day, I can't live my life framing ALL my decisions within this guideline. Otherwise, I would never have any fun, even down to drinking a frappuccino at Starbucks - because it ten minutes it will be delicious, in ten months I'll probably be fatter and in ten years I'll be even fatter than that... but I'm gonna drink it anyway.

Back to the book: I concur with a lot of the reviews on GoodReads that say this book could be about 50 pages and still get the point across. How many "case studies" do I need to read about other people's decisions?

[Karla · Rating 1 out of 5]

10-10-10 The idea is that when you need to make a decision, look at what will be the results in 10 minutes, 10 hours, and 10 years. Good idea - bad book. The premise could be explained in a short article. The author managed to stretch a book out of it by including many, many examples of how people used this tool and made the right decision. I found the book boring and repetitive. I guess if Oprah likes your idea, you can get a book published out of it. I also found the author to be somewhat smug - toward the end of the book, she states that she and her husband are basically the only happy people they know (all a result of 10-10-10). She must be hanging with the wrong crowd - most of my friends and family are happy (and they don't use 10-10-10). I also have some problems taking relationship advice from someone who divorced her first husband after having 4 kids with him.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have just finished reading Suzy Welch's 10-10-10. In this book she teaches you to address the problems that arise in your life. First by phrasing the problem in the form of a question, then to analyze the different possible solutions and their effect on your life in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years. She believes that by addressing the issues in this manner you will arrive at the proper solution for yourself based on your personal values. Suzy brought so many personal examples from her own life that the read was quite enjoyable and kept you wanting to read more. I read the book just for lack of any thing else to do at the time.

Little did I know that as I was reading I would keep thinking about what decisions I should be making in my life but just keep putting off as survival has always meant to me "to just leave well enough alone". Well I must tell you, I am a heavy duty smoker and I am always thinking I should quit, but just thinking never doing. I found as I was ready Suzy's book that I kept posing the question, "Should I quit smoking?" Well, 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years was just not cutting it for me. But when I decided to change it to "10 TO THE POWER OF 7" everything began to come into focus for me. In 10 seconds I could definitely live without a cigarette. 10 minutes - yes, I could live that long also. 10 hours really scared me, I could feel the pain in my chest just thinking about it. But then I got to 10 weeks and realized by then my sense of smell would have started to return, my lungs would no longer be aching, and I would have prevented over $220 from going up in smoke meaning money in my pocket. When I made it to 10 months, I realized I would be hardly thinking of cigarettes at all, unless really stressed. I would have prevented of $6,670 from going up in smoke so all my bills would be paid and current, plus I would have a substantial amount saved for a holiday. Then when I looked at 10 years it was a real revelation, my personal value became recognizable I value the security of owning my own debt free home, and I valued fun by way of holidays. I figure by year 10 I will have had a least 9 real holidays, and the house will be paid off. And all because of the money I refused to turn to smoke any longer. WOW!!!!

[Kirtika · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is usually tough to come across a book that is breezy enough to finish over a flight or at bedtime, yet impacts significantly how you live your life after the book. This is one of them.
It has a simple premise - you can make good decisions by thinking about how each of your possible choices will work in 10 minutes (here and now), in 10 months (when the dust has settled) and in 10 years (long term).
This does not imply always making decisions for the long-term. Instead, it makes clear the trade-offs you will face, as the outcomes for each of these time-horizons can sometimes be conflicting. Say, you like what you see in the medium term, but it involves a significant short and long term cost.
What the approach forces you to do is to take a value judgement, and be deliberate about what trade-offs you will make. This replaces ambivalence with intentionality, ergo increased peace of mind!

As an example, the author cites a story where a lady had to forego a work event, cancel or reschedule her kids' appointments and risk displeasing her husband by ignoring his request, in order to make it to a distance uncle's funeral. In the short and medium term, it would have been sensible to ignore the
funeral and handle the more urgent-seeming/impactful-seeming demands on her time instead.
But on the 10 year horizon, going to the funeral meant setting an example of being there for elderly relatives when they needed her, and paying the same respect to a dead family member that she would have liked for herself. This story had a happy ending with her husband agreeing with her value judgement and joining her to the funeral.
Not all stories end this happily, but the benefit of 10-10-10 is the solace of knowing you were intentional about the trade-offs and did the best you could.

[Aiza Idris (biblio_mom) · Rating 3 out of 5]

10-10-10, an innovative approach to thinking about and resolving the life dilemmas that all too often leave us feeling paralyzed.

An antidote to the mounting pressure to make too many choices in too little time, this powerful new idea can be applied to issues encountered at work, in marriage and other personal relationships, as a parent, and as a friend. By considering each of your options and projecting their outcomes in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years, you'll learn how to "get unstuck" and make the kind of deliberate, proactive decisions that lead to the life you truly want for yourself and a furute without guilt and regret.

The discipline, as illustrated through the personal stories of 10-10-10 users around the world, can ultimately be drawn upon to help you to untangle your priorities, excavate your own deeply held values and reclaim your life, one decision at a time.

[Birsilah Bakar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad idea. Suzy was honest with her struggles and even wrote about her own embarrassing moments. I love her sincerity and her positive outlook. Jack must be a catch because she seemed to be truly, madly, deeply in love with him.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

10-10-10: A Life Transforming Idea is an amazing book, chock full of great ideas, anecdotes and humor and it is written by best-selling author Suzy Welch, a mother of four and a columnist for Business Week and O, The Oprah Magazine. Suzy developed this 10-10-10 principle from her own experience as a mom and businesswoman. The 10-10-10 principle is a wonderful tool to help you think through choices and determine how a decision would impact your life immediately (10 Minutes), in the short term (10 Months), and over a longer stretch of time (10 Years). This approach is similar to looking at things with a pro and con viewpoint but it takes it much further. It allows you to look at things over time and think through how a decision may effect you. It is not always wise to go with that first gut reaction that we often do, myself included, it really is important to think things through before reacting. When we go by the gut only, it's often emotional based and we also need to engage our brains and think about our values and beliefs to make some of those more serious decisions. We can use our gut instinct but also challenge ourselves to think beyond the here and now. I believe that this approach can blend with a person's religious beliefs and faith. Here is a quote that Suzy mentions in the book:

"You can consider 10-10-10 another approach in that it's powerful means to make sure you are living in accordance with your values, no matter what their source"

Suzy shares her own story and others and how they have used the 10-10-10 method to make choices and decisions that are big and small and how using this method has transformed their lives. The 10-10-10 approach has helped everyday people make decisions about buying a house, career choices, changing jobs, having more children, staying in a marriage, ending a friendship, etc. I enjoyed reading the real life stories and how they applied this approach. Suzy shares through different chapters how to apply the 10-10-10 method to motherhood, working and stay-at-home moms, marriage, friendship, jobs and career changes. I really enjoyed the practical nature of this book and it was easy to read and understand. I believe that this approach and style promotes ease in trying to apply this method as it is not an overwhelming process. In the chapter where she explains the brain and science behind 10-10-10, she quotes Fyodor Dostoevsky:

"It is not the brain that matters, but that which guides it--the character, the heart, the generosity, the new ideas."

I used the 10-10-10 approach with my husband when we were having to make a recent major decision. It allowed us to look closely at the short term and long term possibilities and opened up a dialogue where we shared feelings, concerns and possibilities on both sides. We haven't resolved this issue completely yet but it helped us to move closer to a final decision. I look forward to using this as a tool in my own life and I encourage you to explore this as well. I think that this will be a great tool for moms to apply to their own lives, share with your children and use in your families

[Charlene · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great, winning philosophy, just so so read.
You can get the idea in far less than the book's 200 pages.
From the great "O" opra to FAST Company and leaders in the field of decisionmaking (such as Stanford Professor Chip Heath) they all agree.

Do you have to make a difficult decision.... Business writer and author Suzy Welch suggests making that call by using the 10-10-10 rule to get your priorities in order first. The brain knows that decisions are rooted in feelings, and the long-term considerations should help in making those clear. Welch says that with the answers, you will figure out if the decision is aligned with your priorities, or maybe even discover your priorities in the process. The clarity of thought also makes it easy to explain the choice to those who will feel its impact.

It's this simple:

Got a difficult decision to make. Don't trust your gut. You've seen what a gut looks like, right?
Take the issue and ask---
How will we feel about it 10 minutes from now?
How about 10 months from now?
How about 10 years from now?

Try it, you will like it.

It works.

[g · Rating 3 out of 5]

9/2: A gift from mom for my 26th birthday. I'm not one to read self-help books, but I'm enjoying this because the underlying principle is to make informed decisions. The 10-10-10 refers to how you approach your dilemma: How will this decision affect me in the next 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years (or really, any variation of immediately, near future, and long term). It leads you away from making gut decisions and has you thinking about consequences and benefits.
Welch provides many examples of how people from all walks of life have used 10-10-10. Single moms wondering about online dating, whether to fire the flighty assistant, etc.

[Janie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What turns out to be a really simple tool for decision making, is also very profound. She teaches us to make decisions based on our values and to ask ourselves three questions when making decisions. 1) What are the consequences of my decision in 10 minutes? In 10 months? And in 10 years?
It is simple, but yet it takes some time and effort. She gives a lot of illustrations from her life and others that shows how it works.

[Jay French · Rating 2 out of 5]

Simple concept - think about short term, medium term and long term impacts of decisions. Lots of anecdotes on the use of this process. While in the anecdotes the people making decisions came up with some kind of story for each "time view" of their decision aftermath, I think they could have as easily come up with totally different stories that would have suggested they make different decisions. So I see this method as one of many to consider when making decisions, certainly not the only one.

[Hillary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was a bit distracted while reading, since I usually would pick it up on my lunch break, so I think a reread would be helpful. I think the idea presented is great: thinking about the impacts of your decisions in the present, near future, and far future. I enjoyed the examples given and loved to see how "10-10-10" can be applied to all sorts of situations.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great concept--but you don't need an entire book to explain it. I did enjoy reading it, but would rather have gotten it from the library, as the main concept of the book is about as large as her original article in Oprah about it.

[Cyril Danthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ten Ten Ten !! has different connotation based on the situation.

Ten Ten Ten - A Life Transforming Idea, after reading this book, my thoughts is that this book teaches an new method or process that could be practiced for decision making. This method of decision making considers short term, medium term and long term perceptive of the decision.

Decision making is an art. The decision taken at that time based on that situation probably would be the right decision. However any analysis post taking decision may be wrong. But life or work continuous and problem needs never solutions. There are many decision making techniques such as cost analysis, decision tree, Pareto analysis etc. But this book propose a new idea of decision making process - 10 - 10 - 10.

10-10-10 is taking decision differently, proactively by delebrately considering the consequence in the immediate present, near team and distant future. In Ten Minutes.... Ten Months .... and Ten Years with a road map of clarity and courage. Every 10-10-10 process starts with a question or dilemma, or crisis or problem. The first 10 basically stands for "Right Now" as in one minute, one hour or one week. The second 10 represents that point in the foreseeable future when the initial reaction to your decision has passed but its consequence continues to play out in ways you can reasonably predict. And the third 10 stands for a time in future that is so far off that its particulars are entirely vague.


Bottom-line:

This idea of 10-10-10 is for lifting people up, not breaking them more. May be another way to look at things before concluding. I found the first chapter is all about the idea, and rest of the chapters are about dragging with some examples which are not interesting.



A one time read !!

[Sarah Cupitt]

WIP - how do we make sure we’re making the right decisions?

Notes:
- From small decisions to bigger ones, we’re constantly picking one option over another, structuring our lives and defining our priorities.
- The book's approach offers a straightforward method to navigate life’s complexities. The framework is simple: before you make a decision, ask yourself three questions: How will I feel about this decision 10 minutes from now? What about 10 months from now? And crucially, how will I feel about it 10 years from now? By adopting this longer-term perspective, we engage with our future selves, aligning our choices with our aspirations and values.

Example:
- For example, let’s say your boss wants you to run a meeting for the company’s executives the same day your son graduates. You’re struggling to make the decision, so you decide to apply the 10-10-10 Rule:
- 10 minutes from now: No matter what I choose, I’ll probably feel pretty bad. My son worked hard for four years to graduate, and he really wants me there. But if I go, I know my boss won’t be happy.
- 10 months from now: If I go to the meeting, I’ll make it up to my son by being super supportive afterward. If I go to his graduation, I’ll probably overcompensate at work, trying to make things right with my boss.
- 10 years from now: Even though my son will have moved on and my career may have progressed, I’ll always regret missing his big day. It’s a tough choice, balancing family and work, but I know deep down that skipping his graduation for my job will haunt me forever.

[SLADE · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm pleased enough to have read this book, but I have to say that I'm glad I read it for free from the library, instead of paying for it.

It's not a bad book, especially if it's one of the first books you've read on values, priorities and decision making; however, after reading books on Essentialism, 80/20 Management and other leadership and management philosophies, this one, although well paced, falls short of adding much more to the pile.

With that said, there were a couple of stories in there, where the 10-10-10 method seemed to be the perfect way to handle the decision to be made at the time.

As stories go, I do enjoy that they are more down to earth stories about regular people with regular lives and not about some CEO with a life that we cannot usually relate to.

I can't recall the exact story or principle, but I do remember that it picked up steam after the mid point in the book. My advice to potential readers would be to google a summary of the 10-10-10 principle and maybe read a blog series about it, instead of an entire book.

[David Wingert · Rating 3 out of 5]

“10 – 10 – 10: A Life Transforming Idea” by Suzy Welch presents the idea that using this process will help you figure out the right course of action in dealing with family, work, love and your ultimate goals. You start by framing your dilemma, crisis, problem, etc. as a question. Then you gather the pertinent data. Finally, being honest and exhaustive, answer the following:
Given my question, what are the consequences of each of my options in 10 minutes? In 10 months? In 10 years?

You get that in one page. The rest of the 200+ pages are the stories of people who use this process and how it effects their and other’s lives.
I found it to be much better than many of the “self-help” style books I’ve read over the years and was worth my time.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not think I would get as much value out of this book as I did but I was able to immediately implement these ideas into my life today and so I am grateful for this book. The only reason I am giving it four stars instead of five is that I do not see myself re-reading this book, therefore, i likely will not purchase this book in the future. The point was so well illustrated in all realms of life, that I feel my memory will do a sufficient recall on the topic and the point is to take the 10-10-10 methodology away. I would, however, recommend this book and these methods to friends, colleagues, etc.

[K.A. Erickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very basic sounding idea eventually illustrated with adequately interesting anecdotes. Needs an update with more modern tech references and more overt feminism--lovely to read about a kickass woman's adventures coming up, but you can just say "men behaved poorly back then and didn't do their share of emotional labor or child rearing, which was unfair and infuriating, and which we should no longer accept" or out loud a couple times. Would also love 2-3 sentences on gendered decision making (e.g., do women put their partners first more often in decision making? Should they?) Just some suggestions for the next edition since I think it's still relevant.

[Tran Chi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cuốn sách tìm được trong thư viện trường UEH.

Ngắn gọn thôi, quyết định là điều không thể tránh khỏi trong cuộc sống. Có những quyết định dễ, nhưng cũng có những quyết định khó. Vậy làm sao để chọn, ít nhất là không phải hối hận. Nhớ rằng, đã chọn là luôn đúng, luôn tiến bước, không quay đầu nhìn lại, nếu nó sai thì làm cho nó đúng. Đó là mình nói.

Còn theo cuốn sách, muốn đưa ra quyết định thì hãy nhớ đến quy tắc 10-10-10. 10 phút - 10 tháng - 10 năm. Khi bạn chọn nó, 10 phút tới sẽ ra sao, 10 tháng tới sẽ ra sao, 10 năm nữa sẽ có gì thay đổi. Yeah vậy đó. Hãy chọn đừng để hối hận nhé.

[Stephanie Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second time reading it. First time was years and years ago, and I have thought often of the process but was fuzzy on the details. Big decision coming up in our lives so it seemed a good time to finally buy and re-read it. There's no chapter titled: What the Process Is so it's about 6% into the book, Kindle location 141.

The book is 90% examples of the process so be prepared for many anecdotes.

Still, a worth process for decision making because if you follow it, you might have painful, short term consequences but mostly you should feel the relief of following your values.

[Deann Utley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The principle behind the book is great. How will this decision affect me in ten days(immediately), ten months (short-term) and ten years (long-term)? This is a clear way to make good decisions. However, the author pretty much said everything there was to say about that in the first few chapters and I felt like she spent the rest of the book trying to fill up space. I quit the book about 2/3 of the way through.

[Li Li · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good concepts. The net of it, you have to have short-, mid-, and long-term view for every decision you have to make. Truly understand you core value and stick to it. I will have to concur with a lot of the reviews on GoodReads - this book could be about 5 pages and still get the point across. How many "case studies" do I need to read about other people's decisions.

[Brianna Goldenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable - some insightful tidbits in this book. It's well written and referenced. I already started employing some of tge techniques and reading some of the books mentioned. Especially good if you're having to make some big decisions or wanting to shake things up in your life but not sure if you should. Probably worth the quick read.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

Easy read, so almost gave an extra star for that factor. The principle of the book is good to help you see beyond the now moment. However, I really didn’t need a whole book to understand this. An article or even the first paragraph was enough.

[Anabel Rodríguez · Rating 2 out of 5]

La idea es buena, una premisa estupenda para ayudarte a tomar decisiones si, como yo, eres de los que le cuesta. Sin embargo al libro le sobra más de la mitad de su contenido. Vamos que con 50 páginas habría quedado estupendo. De todas formas es una premisa interesante

[Jeffrey Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple approach to decision making in framing the question of how will XYZ affect my life in the next 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years. It's that simple, but she shows how it can be applied in various areas of your life to simplify what may seem difficult choices at the time.

[Michelle Van Dyke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good idea to evaluate decisions from how it will affect you in 10 days, 10 months, and 10 years, but I don't think a whole book is needed to portray that. Basically shows how 10-10-10 was used by others on almost every page. I dare you to find a pg that does not say 10-10-10!

[Aleksandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dnf 120 str.
Próbowałam do niej wrócić po dłuższej przerwie ale przypomniało mi się czemu ja odłożyłam. Strasznie się dłuży. Ciagle mamy identyczne historie. Mam wrażenie ze żeby zrozumieć sens idei i się przy tym nie zanudzić na smierć spokojnie można było wywalić połowę treści.

[Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up. The concept is interesting. Just not sure it needed to be an entire 200+ page (6 hour audio) book. She lays out the concept and then provides many, many, many examples of how others used the concept.