Are you buying products or promises?
I had the pleasure of attending the 2008 National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) Conference in early April. One of the highlights of this conference was being able to participate in Peter Walsh’s “Visionaries for Change” workshop.
In this presentation, Peter spent some time discussing consumerism in our society. There is one point in particular that I want to share with you. He said, “People buy products but invest in the promises.”
What does that statement mean to you?
Whether you are purchasing a pair of jeans, new kitchen cookware, or the latest technology gadget, you are buying more than just the product. As a society, myself included, we are so captured by the marketing messages that go with the product. (It makes sense that the marketing works too. Companies spend a lot of money to hire intelligent marketing people to craft the message that is going to entice us to actually buy the product.)
We believe that the jeans we buy will make our butt look better, the cookware will allow our family to eat meals in harmony like the Cleaver family in the show “Leave It to Beaver”, and that the technology gadget will allow us to accomplish 15hours of work in half the time. We invest in the promises of the products.
What happens when we buy too much? We bring more stuff into our lives than we can utilize, our homes become overfilled, and we cease to have space to breathe, think, or be. As Peter Walsh went on to say in his presentation, “Our homes are filled with products and littered with promises.”
Take a close look at how you are spending your money. What promises have you invested in? Is it at a manageable level or has it become excessive? Are you ready to recognize the marketing influence on your purchasing decisions and release yourself from the need to buy when you don’t really need the particular item?
