Don’t Throw Money on Your Bad Habits
It takes time and discipline to develop better habits . While there are tricks that can help shape these habits, we often throw money into a situation to try and get them to take hold.
Some time ago I had a goal to get up early every morning. To motivate myself, I decided to buy a new trendy Bluetooth alarm clock to wake me up at 6:00. A new habit, a new toy.
Obviously this didn’t solve my problem. In fact, it was a distraction (and a waste of money).
I didn’t think about it while I was buying, but I was involuntarily trying to buy my way to a better habit. Rather than focusing on what’s important, discipline, I focused on something much simpler: buying shit.
This is a common problem with diet and exercise. You want to get in better shape, but instead of putting on your sneakers and hitting the block, you buy a gym membership you never use or a treadmill that collects dust in your garage. (These are not just habits; people do the same when making important life decisions. )
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. Buying something to achieve your goal is not a bad thing. The key is to make sure that the purchase supports your goal and does not replace the work required to get there.