Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is about how to figure out if you will
Speaker 1: do something once you buy the equipment for it. Lots
Speaker 1: of folks make aspirational purchases, thinking that owning something will
Speaker 1: encourage a certain lifestyle or certain habits. A little reflection
Speaker 1: can let you know whether that is a wise idea
Speaker 1: or not. So in a great many households there is
Speaker 1: a treadmill or stationary bike sitting somewhere gathering dust. This
Speaker 1: piece of exercise equipment was purchased with the goal of
Speaker 1: boosting the owner's physical fitness. But just because you own
Speaker 1: a treadmill doesn't mean you will walk or run on it,
Speaker 1: And so people go from being non runners who at
Speaker 1: least had space in their basements to non runners who
Speaker 1: have to walk past this equipment, clogging up the corner
Speaker 1: over and over again. So perhaps it seems like it
Speaker 1: is futile to make such purchases, but that's not really true.
Speaker 1: Many purchases are necessary for making habits possible. If you
Speaker 1: don't own a bike, you most likely won't ride bikes
Speaker 1: as frequently as if you do own a bike, it
Speaker 1: is hard to get kids outside and off their screens
Speaker 1: if there is nothing fun for them to play with
Speaker 1: out in the yard. It's hard to go camping regularly
Speaker 1: without a tent. So how do we know the difference
Speaker 1: between an aspirational purchase and one that will support desired behavior.
Speaker 1: I have a phrase that I sometimes use, habit first,
Speaker 1: then buy. The idea is that if you do something
Speaker 1: somewhat regularly in your life, then purchasing the equipment will
Speaker 1: make it easier and nudge greater frequency. But if you
Speaker 1: do not regularly do that thing, a purchase will not
Speaker 1: fundamentally change who you are. So, for instance, I don't
Speaker 1: eat a lot of smoothies. I don't buy them when
Speaker 1: I'm out. I might like the idea of having healthy
Speaker 1: smoothies for breakfast, and if someone offered to make me
Speaker 1: one each morning, I am sure I would be thrilled.
Speaker 1: But since I don't buy healthy smoothies when I'm at
Speaker 1: the airport or anything like that, I probably wouldn't use
Speaker 1: a fancy blender all that often. I would walk past
Speaker 1: it on my way to grab the pop tarts. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, I do run We bought a treadmill
Speaker 1: a few years ago when I was already running four
Speaker 1: times a week or so and was looking for a
Speaker 1: way to make running easier when my kids were napping
Speaker 1: or it was raining. The treadmill enabled me to keep
Speaker 1: up a running streak of running at least a mile
Speaker 1: every day for three years. Some stuff is more in
Speaker 1: the middle. We bought a new swing set in April,
Speaker 1: and the kids played on it a lot for the
Speaker 1: first few weeks. Sure enough, they play on it less now. However,
Speaker 1: it does give them something to play on when they
Speaker 1: are sent out into the yard, which I do fairly often.
Speaker 1: Since they have the space and time to play in
Speaker 1: the yard, having the equipment there makes the time more appealing,
Speaker 1: So I do think it's worth it. If you are
Speaker 1: pondering a purchase, here's how to think about it. First.
Speaker 1: Why are you contemplating it? Is it because friends have
Speaker 1: it and they say it's fun? If so, are you
Speaker 1: similar to them or different? A family with older kids
Speaker 1: will get more use out of a fire pit than
Speaker 1: a family with toddlers. If the purchase is meant to
Speaker 1: support a hobby or activity, ask yourself how often you
Speaker 1: do this thing? If you rent snorkeling gear every beach vacation,
Speaker 1: then it might make sense to purchase some of your
Speaker 1: own to bring on an upcoming trip. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: if you usually do other things on your vacations like
Speaker 1: hit the resort shops, but you like the idea of
Speaker 1: being a snorkeler, well maybe try renting the equipment a
Speaker 1: few times and see if you find yourself looking forward
Speaker 1: to the next sea life viewing expedition, then it makes
Speaker 1: sense to buy. If not, well, spend the money in
Speaker 1: the boutiques you prefer. That is perfectly fine. If you
Speaker 1: have gone to the gym to run, or you've run
Speaker 1: outside at least twice a week for the past six months,
Speaker 1: then I can see buying a treadmill. Otherwise it is
Speaker 1: just going to sit there. Of course, it's not the
Speaker 1: end of the world if it does sit there, and
Speaker 1: sometimes the purchases in question are small that if you
Speaker 1: don't wind up using it, oh well. But in general
Speaker 1: it feels better to make purchases that truly will get used.
Speaker 1: That requires knowing yourself, but so does much in life.
Speaker 1: It's good to ask the right questions. In the meantime.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at before Breakfast pod. That's b the number
Speaker 1: four than breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that
Speaker 1: before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
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