From Chad Fowler’s blog http://chadfowler.com/2009/6/9/the-unexpected-consequences-of-consumerism :
American reaction to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in the late 80s. The nation suddenly became, on the average, much more environmentally minded. So what did we do? We bought “environmental” products. Recycled products, energy-efficient this-or-that, health food, etc. What did we not do? Actually change our behavior.
The more our life options get paraded around as consumer options, the more we forget that there’s a difference between the two.
- You want to lose weight, get excited and buy a bunch of books, magazines, DVDs, etc. on weight loss. Join a fitness site where you can log calories and workouts. Buy a book about a diet with an enticing name.
- Want to learn a new technology? Get a bunch of books, sign up for a mailing list.
- Train for a triathlon? Tons of triathlon books, a bicycle, funny triathlon clothes, triathlete magazine, etc.
- Want to learn a (human) language? Buy some software and books, music, movies.
- Want to learn an instrument? Books, an instrument, a case for the instrument, various accessories.
- Get more organized? Productivity books, a PDA, PIM software.
I do this all the time. I decide I’m going to do something challenging, and my first step is to load up on stuff related to whatever it is I want to do. My second step is to continue to load up on stuff related to the topic. And so on.
It’s a really good and true point.
Although you’re resolute about not falling in that trap it’s a much sneakier trap than you think.
The first time I noticed that type of behavior, I was a teenager.
Playing music, I collected many different music books and transcriptions. Most of them I never finished, a few I never even opened more than twice. Once I figured it out I decided not to spend the money for them. So I ended up getting those books from the library. (found a surrogate)
Every once in a while I’d notice I fell in the trap again, but I’d shrug it since at least it didn’t cost me anything.
The act of purchasing has a really weird effect and triggers.
Have you ever made a big purchase because you were so excited you were going to make so much money in your brand new job, that you haven’t started yet?
I have, a few times. One time it was so glaring that it burned me so bad when I realized the pattern, it never happened again.
I think you really have to have that one Eureka moment that is so glaring, so painful, so damning that can by itself change your future behavior.
For me it was the purchase of a 2*16 Mesa-Boogie Cabinet that cost me $1000 in 1990 in lieu of a job that I never started. It was so painful that the realization of it killed that impulse for good.
What about the impulse to load up on stuff that you’re momentarily interested? Much harder to control. Usually the damage is in the tens of dollars.
I found a solution a couple years back. Write down the purchase on your notebook/pda/iphone and give yourself a 48 hours cool-down period. Then revisit the list and 90% of the time you’ll come to your sense.
If you absolutely must make a purchase, buy only 1 item. Put the time aside for that week to dedicate yourself to it, and most of all you can’t buy any other related items or like-kind items until you’re done with this one.
If it’s a book, and you succumbed to purchasing the book. You can’t buy or read any other book until you’re officially done with that book. If half way through it you realize that you don’t care to finish it, donate it. Get rid of it. No half-measures.
After 3-5 purchases you’re going to really ponder every purchase, and make only the necessary one.
That’s my road toward a lean life.
Btw, a good book to read on the subject is Dan Ariely’s Predictably Irrational. The best book I have read this year so far, and I have read a few.