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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is about how to figure out if you will

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Speaker 1: do something once you buy the equipment for it. Lots

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Speaker 1: of folks make aspirational purchases, thinking that owning something will

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Speaker 1: encourage a certain lifestyle or certain habits. A little reflection

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Speaker 1: can let you know whether that is a wise idea

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Speaker 1: or not. So in a great many households there is

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Speaker 1: a treadmill or stationary bike sitting somewhere gathering dust. This

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Speaker 1: piece of exercise equipment was purchased with the goal of

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Speaker 1: boosting the owner's physical fitness. But just because you own

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Speaker 1: a treadmill doesn't mean you will walk or run on it,

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Speaker 1: And so people go from being non runners who at

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Speaker 1: least had space in their basements to non runners who

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Speaker 1: have to walk past this equipment, clogging up the corner

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Speaker 1: over and over again. So perhaps it seems like it

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Speaker 1: is futile to make such purchases, but that's not really true.

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Speaker 1: Many purchases are necessary for making habits possible. If you

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Speaker 1: don't own a bike, you most likely won't ride bikes

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Speaker 1: as frequently as if you do own a bike, it

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Speaker 1: is hard to get kids outside and off their screens

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Speaker 1: if there is nothing fun for them to play with

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Speaker 1: out in the yard. It's hard to go camping regularly

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Speaker 1: without a tent. So how do we know the difference

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Speaker 1: between an aspirational purchase and one that will support desired behavior.

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Speaker 1: I have a phrase that I sometimes use, habit first,

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Speaker 1: then buy. The idea is that if you do something

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Speaker 1: somewhat regularly in your life, then purchasing the equipment will

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Speaker 1: make it easier and nudge greater frequency. But if you

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Speaker 1: do not regularly do that thing, a purchase will not

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Speaker 1: fundamentally change who you are. So, for instance, I don't

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Speaker 1: eat a lot of smoothies. I don't buy them when

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Speaker 1: I'm out. I might like the idea of having healthy

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Speaker 1: smoothies for breakfast, and if someone offered to make me

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Speaker 1: one each morning, I am sure I would be thrilled.

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Speaker 1: But since I don't buy healthy smoothies when I'm at

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Speaker 1: the airport or anything like that, I probably wouldn't use

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Speaker 1: a fancy blender all that often. I would walk past

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Speaker 1: it on my way to grab the pop tarts. On

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Speaker 1: the other hand, I do run We bought a treadmill

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Speaker 1: a few years ago when I was already running four

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Speaker 1: times a week or so and was looking for a

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Speaker 1: way to make running easier when my kids were napping

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Speaker 1: or it was raining. The treadmill enabled me to keep

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Speaker 1: up a running streak of running at least a mile

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Speaker 1: every day for three years. Some stuff is more in

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Speaker 1: the middle. We bought a new swing set in April,

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Speaker 1: and the kids played on it a lot for the

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Speaker 1: first few weeks. Sure enough, they play on it less now. However,

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Speaker 1: it does give them something to play on when they

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Speaker 1: are sent out into the yard, which I do fairly often.

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Speaker 1: Since they have the space and time to play in

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Speaker 1: the yard, having the equipment there makes the time more appealing,

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Speaker 1: So I do think it's worth it. If you are

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Speaker 1: pondering a purchase, here's how to think about it. First.

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Speaker 1: Why are you contemplating it? Is it because friends have

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Speaker 1: it and they say it's fun? If so, are you

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Speaker 1: similar to them or different? A family with older kids

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Speaker 1: will get more use out of a fire pit than

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Speaker 1: a family with toddlers. If the purchase is meant to

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Speaker 1: support a hobby or activity, ask yourself how often you

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Speaker 1: do this thing? If you rent snorkeling gear every beach vacation,

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Speaker 1: then it might make sense to purchase some of your

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Speaker 1: own to bring on an upcoming trip. On the other hand,

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Speaker 1: if you usually do other things on your vacations like

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Speaker 1: hit the resort shops, but you like the idea of

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Speaker 1: being a snorkeler, well maybe try renting the equipment a

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Speaker 1: few times and see if you find yourself looking forward

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Speaker 1: to the next sea life viewing expedition, then it makes

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Speaker 1: sense to buy. If not, well, spend the money in

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Speaker 1: the boutiques you prefer. That is perfectly fine. If you

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Speaker 1: have gone to the gym to run, or you've run

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Speaker 1: outside at least twice a week for the past six months,

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Speaker 1: then I can see buying a treadmill. Otherwise it is

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Speaker 1: just going to sit there. Of course, it's not the

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Speaker 1: end of the world if it does sit there, and

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Speaker 1: sometimes the purchases in question are small that if you

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Speaker 1: don't wind up using it, oh well. But in general

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Speaker 1: it feels better to make purchases that truly will get used.

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Speaker 1: That requires knowing yourself, but so does much in life.

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Speaker 1: It's good to ask the right questions. In the meantime.

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to

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Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,

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Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

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Speaker 1: and Instagram at before Breakfast pod. That's b the number

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Speaker 1: four than breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an

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Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that

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Speaker 1: before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks

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Speaker 1: so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

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