Achieve Your Personal Goal Before You Allow Yourself to Make a Major Purchase
We have all created reward systems for ourselves. Maybe we tell ourselves that we can order a pizza if we spend all day cleaning the house, or maybe we tell ourselves that after completing this task at work, we can spend a few minutes checking social media. (And then if we find ourselves checking social media before we finish the task, we tell ourselves we’re going to block social media.)
Mr. Money Usat suggests applying a similar system to the next major purchase we plan to make and postponing the major purchase until we have achieved at least one large personal goal.
In his case, Tesla is the big buy, and his list of goals he wants to achieve in the first place includes everything from “building a terrace in the master bedroom that serves as a carport” to “waiting until his son is old enough for a month. roads “. travel to be workable. “
The reason this system works, says Mani Usat, is because it focuses on other ways to improve your life, which takes away some of the pressure needed to improve your life with a big purchase.
It’s pretty hard to tell yourself NO, you can never get what you want. Instead, I just tell myself what to do first before clicking buy on Tesla’s website.
And if it’s healthy, happy things (raising my son, doing other time-consuming DIY projects, and planning a big future series of camping and road trips), I’m distracted by living the good life right now, instead of doing easy things, just buying yourself another pleasure.
Obviously, in some situations, this system does not make sense. For example, if you need a car to get to work, you are not going to put it off until you develop a daily exercise habit (which is another of Mr. Money Us’s advice).
But if you see something shiny, unexpected and expensive, and your first thought is, “My life would be much better if I had this thing,” it is worth taking a look at your current habits and goals and ask yourself if your life is the same. it is better if you have worked to improve or achieve them.
Then tell yourself that you will buy a shiny, expensive item after you develop a new habit or achieve a personal goal.
Unless, of course, you still want to buy it.
As Mr. Money Usat reminds us, the best thing about this system is that you can find yourself in a life that you enjoy so much that you no longer want what you told yourself about, what you aspired to.