Beware of the “first False Step” When Buying Products to Achieve a Goal
At the beginning of this year, I wanted to do more sports . A friend advised me to buy a bunch of training equipment to motivate myself. I knew it was better, but I tried it anyway. Of course it didn’t work out. Mindfulness site Break the Twitch called this a false first step.
In a nutshell, here’s how writer Anthony Ongaro explains the concept:
This is a false first step: the belief that we have taken a meaningful step towards a goal when all we really did was spend money or did not do what we really needed to do. In fact, we lost something (money and time), and did not achieve something (meaningful progress).
I’ve done this with sports equipment, photography equipment, healthy eating, and a host of other hobbies, interests, and goals. Ongaro cites several of his own examples in detail. You can most likely come up with your own examples too.
It’s one thing to buy something to achieve a goal you’re already working on or a hobby you’re already interested in, but we often buy something to initiate that goal or hobby. And in most cases it backfires. Instead of producing something, we consume and transform the target into a novelty.
Of course, everyone is different and this may not apply to you. Purchasing the right gear may really suit you. For most of us, however, I think the first false step seems to be true. If you can relate to it, head over to Ongaro’s full post at the link below. It goes into a lot more detail and is definitely worth reading.
Are you making a false first step? | Terminate Twitch via Rockstar Finance
Photo heart-lines.