The Power of 10/10/10
At the end of each calendar year, I tend to ask clients to reflect on what has worked well, and what they want to try and do differently in the following year. Part of this discussion often involves what they have found helpful from our coaching sessions.
It’s always interesting for me to gain a better sense of what’s landed, and what specifically has helped. And if there’s one tool that consistently gets mentioned by clients, it’s the 10/10/10 rule.
I love this as it’s an endorsement of something I fundamentally believe. Our job as coaches is not just to listen and act as a sounding board, but also to provide tools and techniques that can really help people to adapt and improve their behaviours and performance. And the simpler these tools are to deploy, the more likely they are to have an impact.
I can’t remember where I first read about the 10/10/10 rule, but some quick research tells me that the history and origin of the rule can be traced back to renowned author and motivational speaker, Suzy Welch. In her 2009 book "10-10-10: A Life-Transforming Idea," Welch introduced this concept as a method to navigate life's complexities. By reflecting on the potential consequences of decisions across various timeframes, Welch's rule emphasises the critical significance of considering the long-term implications of our choices, guiding individuals towards thoughtful and purposeful decision-making.
For my client base, the rule has been most effectively deployed where difficult decisions have to be made. Ones where the immediate and short-term challenges are such that it’s easy to put off making the decision, despite the fact this will generally just store up more problems for the future.
The basis behind the rule is as follows: where you are contemplating taking a decision which feels like a difficult one, ask yourself how you will feel in 10 days, 10 weeks and 10 months. As you will immediately see, this process enables you to move beyond the short-term, and give as much weight to the medium and long-term (something that is often difficult to do in the immediacy of our thinking and doing). I always advise clients to adapt the rule as necessary - for example there might be some decisions or situations where a 10 minute, 10 day and 10 week split is more appropriate.
So what kind of situations has the rule been deployed in?
Approaching a challenging conversation with a colleague - both in terms of getting into the right mindset, and ensuring a focus on the right medium to long term outcome.
Decisions around retention (or the opposite), particularly of senior members of staff (where the immediate response — it’s going to cause so much pain and difficulty in the short term - is balanced by the medium and long term consequences of not making the difficult decision.)
Making decisions on something linked to your own career or development.
Whilst I tend to share this tool primarily around the situations above, I was delighted to hear the other day of another use to which a client had put 10/10/10.
This client, a senior leader within her (large) organisation, had set herself some wellbeing and fitness process goals. Whilst the immediate thought of some of these (such as setting off for a short run) was not particularly appealing, she knew that in 10 hours she would feel much better for having done it, and that of course in 10 weeks she would really be seeing the benefits. It’s always good to see people take your suggested tools and adapt them in a way that really works for them, not least as it makes it much more likely that they will stick.
So whether the 10/10/10 rule is new to you, or one that it’s been useful to be reminded of, have a think about what situation you can apply it to, and give it a go.
For more on this or any aspect of leadership and performance, with a healthy dose of mindset, sport, and I hope usefulness thrown in, do feel free to browse through all the articles in the Huddle, or get in touch with me directly on catherine@sportandbeyond.co.uk. To order a copy of my book - Staying the Distance: The Lessons From Sport That Business Leaders Have Been Missing – click here .