The 24-Hour Rule
Compress the gap between thinking about a thing and doing it — if you are just faster, you do not need to be smarter or richer.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 93%
Sanchez's stated competitive advantage is not intelligence, capital or insight — it is cycle time. In her companies she implemented the 24-hour rule: a deliberate bias towards action that decreases the time between thinking about a thing and doing the thing. Where most people say they will get back to you next week, she asks for it tomorrow, on the reasoning that if the only difference between her companies and their competitors is that competitors take a week and she takes a day, she does not have to be richer, smarter or better. The internal version is 30 seconds to decision: she tells her team to stop overthinking, make the decision in 30 seconds, tell her what it is, and she will say yes or no. Her diagnosis of why people do not do this is that they confuse thinking with work, and more often than not thinking is not working. She anticipates the obvious objection — you can move fast in the wrong direction — and accepts it: you can, so iterate. The paired constraint is that she ignores a great deal that will not move things forward, and lets roughly 40% of incoming messages go unanswered.
Origin
Sanchez asked Bill Perkins, a mentor and near-billionaire, why he was so successful across so many aspects of his life. He told her the only reason is that he is faster than everybody else: by the time others have thought about an idea, taken it to a meeting and started to move, he has already made three mistakes and found a faster way. She implemented the 24-hour rule in her companies off the back of it.
Core principles
- 01Speed is a standalone edge; you do not also need to be smarter or richer.
- 02Decrease the time between thinking about a thing and doing the thing.
- 03Thinking is not working, and people confuse the two.
- 04You will move fast in the wrong direction sometimes — iterate rather than pre-solve.
- 05Speed requires ignoring most things; selective non-response is part of the system.
How to run it
- 1
Ban 'next week'
Sanchez singles out 'I'll get back to you on that next week' as the line where dreams and money go to die. The replacement question is: can you get it to me tomorrow?
Pro tip The rule is stated as a company norm so it does not have to be re-argued per request.
Watch out She acknowledges it drives her team crazy many times. It is a real cost, chosen deliberately.
- 2
Impose 30 seconds to decision
When someone is overthinking, she tells them to make the decision in 30 seconds and tell her what it is; she will say whether she likes it, and then they move forward.
Pro tip She compares it to Mel Robbins' 5-4-3-2-1 rule — hers is 30 seconds to decision.
Watch out This works because a decider is available to ratify instantly. Without that, 30 seconds just produces anxiety.
- 3
Iterate rather than pre-solve
Sanchez concedes you can move fast in the wrong direction and answers it directly: move fast and iterate. The information from moving is what corrects the direction.
Pro tip Bartlett's SAS analogy — lost in the woods, start walking; you will gain information and your bearings, but you will starve standing still overthinking.
Watch out Iteration is the load-bearing half. Speed without correction is just being wrong sooner.
- 4
Protect speed by ignoring most things
Sanchez says she is not smarter, she is very fast at a few things and ignores an enormous amount she does not think will move things forward. She does not respond to all texts; roughly 40% goes unanswered and 20% she watches like Sauron's eye.
Pro tip Not everything that comes in front of you needs to be handled — that is the sentence that makes the speed affordable.
Watch out Attempting 24-hour turnaround on everything guarantees you achieve it on nothing.
- 5
Apply the same speed to communication
Sanchez extends it to how you speak: in an interview, do not bumble; think about exactly what you want to say in as few words as possible and be direct. She sees a strong correlation between executives who are clear and fast and executives who perform.
Pro tip The way you communicate is often the way you work.
Watch out She has two executives she knows she must move on purely because they are not fast enough in communication, and says she should have seen it upfront.
In the wild
Sanchez says if she asks Perkins to schedule a meeting, he says he is calling her right now. His stated reason for his success is that by the time others have thought, met and begun to move, he has made three mistakes and found a faster way.
→ Sanchez turned the observation into the 24-hour rule as company policy.
Bartlett faced a critical business decision, wrote a long essay-memo that morning and sent it to a colleague in Europe, having been very anxious about the response.
→ They replied in four and a half minutes agreeing and saying no call was needed. Bartlett notes an older version of him would have spent three months in boardrooms deliberating.
Common mistakes
Confusing thinking with work
Sanchez says people overthink, and this happens more and more; they think about the thing and confuse thinking with work, when more often than not thinking is not working.
Trying to be fast at everything
Speed is funded by omission. Sanchez lets around 40% of incoming messages go unanswered and ignores a great deal that will not move things forward — without that, the 24-hour rule is unaffordable.
Ignoring communication speed when hiring
She says she should have seen it upfront: the executives she needs to move on are slow in communication, and the way someone communicates is often the way they work.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and team leads whose organisations are slow by default, and individuals who procrastinate through analysis.
Not ideal for
Irreversible, high-stakes decisions where iteration is not available — Sanchez's own model concedes speed is for the shots-on-goal phase.
From the transcript
“we implemented something called the 24-hour rule which was this idea that if we want to win we have to have a bias towards action”
“if all we do different than our competitors is they take a week to do things and we get it done in a day I…”
“they confuse thinking with work and more often than not thinking is not working”
From the episode
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