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!

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Posted March 24, 2009

COMMENTS | 2 comments so far

1
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 ____________________”
- Posted March 25, 2009 by USDABEEF
2
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.
- Posted March 30, 2009 by Kev