The 10,000 Decisions Rule

Author Malcolm Gladwell famously argued that success is more or less a function of putting in your 10,000 hours.

In other words, “practice makes perfect.”

If you aspire to master the cello, ping pong, or brain surgery, by all means: chip away at those 10,000 hours.

But if you want to build a business, start a movement, or create the future, “hours logged” is the wrong unit of measure.

When you’re creating in the dark, your ultimate success depends not on hours logged, but DECISIONS MADE.

Your lizard brain LOVES the 10,000 hours idea. It’s so tantalizingly linear: don’t think, don’t agonize, don’t wrestle with the angel… just put in your time and everything will work out.

But in the real world, your venture lives or dies by DECISION VELOCITY: by how quickly you dodge and weave in the face of chaos.

Here’s how you know your decision-making is broken:

You feel stuck and sluggish.

You finish your work-day restless and irritable.

Your projects lack momentum and energy.

Your dreams sit on the edge of your desk like cold forges.

You think the remedy is more practice. More study. More time.

But you’d be wrong.

All that anger, all that frustration, all that slow-motion regret…

It’s not a skill you lack but a DECISION YOU’VE AVOIDED.

Or rather, ten thousand of them.

Resolve to make one courageous decision a day.

Better yet, clear tomorrow’s schedule and go on a decision-making tear:

Bolt the door. Silence the phone. Close the shades.

Gather your courage and cut the head off these snakes that have paralyzed your life.

Yes, you’ll face decisions you’ve been dodging for months, even years… the ones that sour your stomach and fill you with dread.

But don’t slow down: write down your two best options, flip a coin, decide.

Rinse, repeat, glory.

Remember: you’re making magic in the dark.

There is no “best practices.”

Nobody knows!

That is the whole fucking point. That’s why you’re compelled to do this dirty terrifying work in the first place.

Fix your procrastination, fix your life:

Break the clot, unjam the blades.

Jump the groove, scratch the record.

The world is haunted by men waiting, waiting, waiting for the certainty that can only be gained through action.

There is no benefit to waiting, only cost: so now, and every day after, as though your very blood was spilling to the ground… DECIDE!