No matter how happy you try to be, or how your current lifestyle design is bringing you a lot of joy, there will be times when you will be thrown into some sort of tough situations. You get angry from a reaction of another person, or you are waiting for a friend that is consistently late. Simply put, there are times when you are in a bad mood and you simply get pissed off from something unpleasant. The CEO of ceolifestyle.io, Nelson Wang in a recent Quora post has mentioned that he uses three questions as a method that can help get passed off those types of states.
In the question, “Which is the one habit that can transform your world forever?”, the famous entrepreneur and writer described a simple habit that has been very helpful in his life. He calls it The 10 years test, and considers it to be one of his most favorite habits that help him in tough times.
This method is very simple and consists of only a few easy to-do steps that you can do anytime you have a pen and a piece of paper, or a phone nearby. Whenever you are in these tough times, you should simply ask yourself:
Will this matter in 10 days?
Will this matter in 10 months?
Will this matter in 10 years?
Wong tells about himself that his answer to the last question is almost always no and this helps him stay calm. He even goes so far as to say that this has changed his life and that has the potential to change yours too.
This technique might seem to work because we are easily trapped into overthinking and overanalyzing things and making them seem worse than they actually are. Emotions can prevent us from being rational, as we are subjective and emotionally charged and unable to think calmly. When we are writing, emotions might be fading away, but you are also putting a 10 year period of time into consideration. This perspective can help you make an evaluation about the value that this event carries into your foreseeable self in the next decade. Usually, this can not only help you overcome small daily frustrations that you are most likely prone to on a regular basis, but it also helps you clarify your priorities.
Now each time you are in some tough times where you do not seem to be able to overcome it using the ways that you have consciously or unconsciously been using, give this method a try. It seems something very easy to do and that is actually worth considering.