The power of the 24-hour rule
The 24-hour rule is simply waiting at least 24 hours before doing something — whatever the something is that you’re applying the rule to. The rule is used to prevent you from doing something that you may regret, such as buying things on impulse or firing off an angry letter. It can also be used as a way to check how important what you’re considering doing is to you. If you still feel the same way 24 hours later, chances are it’s reasonably important to you.
For example, suppose you’re at the mall and you see something great that you just have to have. You’re really enthused about it, and are tempted to take it home right now. If it’s not what you went to the mall for in the first place, consider implementing the 24-hour rule. Tell yourself that if you still love it tomorrow and have the money for it, you’ll come back for it then. 24 hours is the minimum amount of time you should wait. (I used an extended version of this rule recently when deciding whether or not to buy a painting — but I’m waiting a few months instead of just 24 hours.)
When applying this rule to money-related matters, the idea is that it will cut down on purchases of things that you don’t really want or need. It helps to give you time to think through the implications of buying or not buying the item in question.
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April 3rd, 2007 at 7:03 am
It’s a good rule but it depends what it is that you want a cooling off period for:
1.resisting the urge to tell some twit exactly what s/he can do with their unreasonable demand is usually a 30 minute walk to and from the juice bar
2. delaying an impulse purchase for a relatively trivial sum (books etc) is a half day wait
3. big ticket items can be anything from a few days to a couple of years (which is how long I delayed buying a digital camera)
The ones I have trouble with are the things I buy when on holiday. It’s difficult to delay too much when you have limited opportunities to come back.
April 4th, 2007 at 4:32 am
I usually don’t have an issue using this rule when buying things. But to my wife’s dismay I use it around the house…
“Her: hon, can you fix that? hon, can you clean this?”
“Me: uh, I’ll do it tomorrow”