Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to figure out if you
Speaker 1: will do something once you buy the equipment for it.
Speaker 1: Lots of folks make aspirational purchases, thinking that owning something
Speaker 1: will encourage a certain lifestyle or certain habits. A little
Speaker 1: reflection can let you know whether that is a wise
Speaker 1: idea or not. So in a great many households there
Speaker 1: is a treadmill or stationary bike sitting somewhere gathering dust.
Speaker 1: This piece of exercise equipment was purchased with the goal
Speaker 1: of boosting the owner's physical fitness. But just because you
Speaker 1: own a treadmill doesn't mean you will walk or run
Speaker 1: on it, And so people go from being non runners
Speaker 1: who at least had space in their basements two non
Speaker 1: runners who have to walk past this equipment, clogging up
Speaker 1: the corner over and over again. So perhaps it seems
Speaker 1: like it is futile to make such purchases, but that's
Speaker 1: not really true. Many purchases are necessary for making habits possible.
Speaker 1: If you don't own a bike, you most likely won't
Speaker 1: ride bikes as frequently as if you do own a bike,
Speaker 1: it is hard to get kids outside and off their
Speaker 1: screens if there's 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. Having a treadmill enabled me to
Speaker 1: keep up a running streak of running at least a
Speaker 1: mile every day for three years. Some stuff is more
Speaker 1: in 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 hobby or activity, ask yourself how often you do
Speaker 1: 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 enough that if
Speaker 1: you don't wind up using it, oh well. But in
Speaker 1: general it feels better to make purchases that truly will
Speaker 1: get used. That requires knowing yourself, but so does much
Speaker 1: in life. It's good to ask the right questions. In
Speaker 1: the meantime. This is Laura, Thanks for listening and here's
Speaker 1: to making the moose of our time. Hey everybody, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,
Speaker 1: your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter,
Speaker 1: Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod. That's B the
Speaker 1: number four, then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.