Monday MeMyBook&Eye: Living by the Numbers Has Juice

There’s a craziness threshold. Everybody has one. You may have slammed into yours like I have at times. It’s the point at which you can no longer pretend, the point at which you are ready for change–no matter the cost.

That precise moment was the catalyst for a refreshing idea life-tested and shared by Suzy Welch in her book 10-10-10. To be honest, I hadn’t heard of 10-10-10 before Ms. Welch sent me a copy of the book to review back in May. But, I was immediately intrigued by the concept just from the subtitle: 10 Minutes 10 Months 10 Years, A Life-Transforming Idea. Once I (tardily) cracked open the covers, I was not disappointed. I decided to use the book for my next selection of the MeMyBook&Eye solo book club.

If you’re new to MeMyBook&Eye, it’s the Junkie’s answer to book clubs. You can read vicariously without the pesky commitments of deadlines, club meetings or hors d’oevres. It’s also my chance to cheat. Sometimes it’s hard to remember all the worthy nuances of a book by the time I get to the end, especially when trying to summarize it in one review. MeMyBook&Eye offers the opportunity to write more about a book I’m excited about WHILE I’m reading it. So, let Numbers Episode 1 begin!

Suzy Welch’s 10-10-10 concept is simple but profound in its intentionality. It offers a methodical approach to making decisions that centers on considering consequences in the immediate, the near term and the long term, the goal of which is to enable more deliberate and proactive choices that coincide with our core values. 10 minutes. 10 months. 10 years. By making decisions that reflect our highest values, we can live a more “authentic life”–one that is more transparent and reflective of what really matters to us.

Yep, I think that IS a life-transforming idea. Living by the numbers has juice.

Chock full of real-life examples of people who have put the method to good use, the book offers a primer on how 10-10-10 can work for various areas of life. Although the time required and complexity of the outcomes vary for every decision, Welch proposes a 3-step process that can be applied to any decision-making conundrum:

1. Pose a question. Simplify and boil the decision down to one question.

2. Collect data. Answer the question based on consequences in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years.

3. Analyze. Based on your answers, determine the best choice that will put you in line with what you really want your life to be. “Which decision will help me create a life of my own making?”

This process of decision-making not only allows us to make intentional choices, but it gives us a built-in way to explain our reasoning to others should the need arise. It also struck me that 10-10-10 carries potential not only in making wise decisions in the life-changing moments, but it can also serve as the voice of reason in the paralyzingly mundane. Whether I’m prone to impulsive thinking or over-thinking, the 10-10-10 concept can influence my choices so that I’m spending my time and resources on a life I value. Juice, people.

I must say that when I got to chapter 2, my bunk barometer sounded all kinds of alarms. Ms. Welch’s discussion of brain science and the ways 10-10-10 circumvents the evolutionary patterns of human thinking had me rolling my eyes a bit. I’ve never been an evolution gal, and I can’t see where the concepts presented in those passages are anything more than pure hypothesis untested by any stretch of the scientific method. However…

Chapter 3 had me (again) at “chapter.”  In it, Ms. Welch confirms the importance of values in the equation. In fact, they are the very crux of the entire concept. Without values, 10-10-10 might still be a good method. But, it would lack the core measuring system of what would actually get us to our goal of a life lived fleshing out what matters most to us.

“It is with values as an integral part of the process that 10-10-10 truly becomes transformative, allowing us to live in sync with our authentic dreams, hopes and beliefs.” (page 53)

Welch also puts her finger on a prevalent condition in our culture she calls the “black hole”–a condition that results from a “lack of values awareness.” There is an unfulfilled emptiness that results when our decisions have no relevance to our values. True. But, there is an even deeper core void that comes when we don’t KNOW our values, when we can’t articulate them. Try as we might, we simply cannot make choices in line with our values if we don’t know what our values are. Life becomes pure experimentation.

This book has challenged me first to commit again to a life of intentionality, to abandon the haphazard in favor of “owning” how my life is structured. Ms. Welch’s insights encouraged me to review my own values system again, to whittle it down to my most basic prerequisites for living without regret. I was also bolstered to up my courage level, to have the fortitude to actually make and follow through with what I know supports those values.

In a very true observation about people of faith, Ms. Welch commented that many religious people are reluctant to embrace concepts that don’t overtly spring from the Bible. But, as I read the story of her methodology, I couldn’t help but relate it to the idea of “counting the cost” that Jesus spoke of in Luke 14. This process of applying a values system seems a worthy method for doing just that.

The rest of the book shows ways that 10-10-10 can be applied to five key values areas: love, work, parenting, friendship and faith. Stay tuned for Numbers Episode 2 next week (hopefully?) for more on a few of those hot spots.