Jean's Blog
Want it? Need it? A New And Better Filter
Posted by Jean
I had a Suzy Welch moment on the radio today. You know how sometimes you hear something or read something and it just strikes you as both really smart and really useful? That’s what happened to me upon first hearing Suzy Welch’s 10-10-10 rule. She asks herself when evaluating a decision, any decision, how she will feel about the choice she made in 10 minutes, 10 months, 10 years. And more often than not, it gets her to clarity.
Denise Crudup, a listener to my Oprah Radio show from Ypsilanti, Michigan, similarly enlightened me today. She now runs purchasing and other decisions through the following filter:
Do I Want It Vs. Need It?
Am I Doing It/Buying It To Please Someone Else?
Can I Not Explain The Reason I Am Doing It/Buying It At All?
If the answer to any of the following questions is even a hesitant yes, you have all the ammunition you need to walk (if not run) in the other direction.
Thanks, Denise!
COMMENTS | 2 comments so far
New! 
Better credit in 120 days, powered by Smart Credit
New! The Debt DietTM
Become debt free on $10 a day with this online program that works with your readiness to change.
I believe knowing how to manage our money is one of the most important life skills for adults - and even more important to pass on to our kids.
A reference guide for money issues that has been carefully indexed so you can flip to the section you need and absorb the information.
In this updated edition, I give you up-to-date strategies to help you get out of debt within three years.
All of this is good stuff, and a great way to recreate your spending patterns and spending thoughts. I guess, if more people practiced these, we might not be experiencing the current mortgage and banking crisis. Keeping up with the Jones has never been the way to go, but I think we are all guilty of it to a degree, and society pushes us to feel like, “even if we’re happy, we could be so much happier if we only had ____________________”
Do we really all have the new sensibility now? Are the Jones’ out of fashion or out of style for good? I think the American consumer will come back, though never as bold as we were – at least not for a while.