Think before you act

Do you allow yourself to think before doing?

As children we all act on our desires before thinking it through. Sometimes it is considered enjoying the moment or living your life if you act without thinking. At some point in your life you will regret doing something in the heat of the moment. For example buying that brand new expensive car while you are still rentinng a place to live in.

When there is something you want to do or purchase it’s smarter to first think about all the benefits and the negative effects it could have on your life. For example leaving your job to start your own business could end up being your best or your worst decision. If you aren’t prepared for your business, have no plan and think that everything will come without work you are making a mistake. If instead of just going for it without much thought you started a side hustle after your hours it’s starting to look more like planning for succes.

Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night. -William Blake

There are so many different personalities out there. Some people find it easier than others to think before acting. For everyone there is a benefit in first thinking things through before following your hunch. For example sometimes we feel like our phone is slowing down drastically and we assume that it is going to break down soon. So instead of waiting things out we rush to the shop and buy a new one. While it’s true that your phone may break down soon it may take a couple months more than you would think. This has as an added benefit that if you wait a couple more months there might be a new phone out and/or an older type will have decreased in price.

Other people think that life is too precious to always consider all the options before acting on it. There is something to say for this. If your friends invite you to go for a walk in the weekend you don’t have to count all your options before accepting. Living life spontanuous has it’s benefits. If you wouldn’t accept the offer you will be sitting at home once again, watching television, playing videogames or sleeping in your couch. When you take these decision a bit quicker than you normally would you can also use the time afterwards to reflect on your decision. If it happened to be the wrong decision you can always decide to think it through more next time. If it was the correct decision you know you can sometimes trust your instinct.

No one will remember the expensive small things

What is the cost of it? 

When you are working fulltime and are juggling work with private life you sometimes have to spoil yourself. Depending on what you enjoy it can cost just a small amount or something more generous.

How do you spoil yourself? It could be buying a nice car, going for an expensive home or focussing on the small things in life. The question is how much you enjoy it. Is it mainly the anticipation for buying that nice item or is it actually enjoyable for more than a few weeks after purchase? Spending a certain amount of money on one of the options is fine, but why would you splurge on all of them? Buying the rolex, the newest I-phone, a new car and an expensive appartment all in one year wont make your life more satisfying. Focus on the one thing you like the most and before you buy something expensive give yourself a timeframe before actually buying it. If you are still looking at the same product after a month it might be right for you to buy it.

As men get older, the toys get more expensive. – Marvin Davis

The quote is very true for most people. Things to enjoy get more expensive through our life. At first everyone is happy with a small toy, the more is being spent the bigger the next toy becomes. When you upgrade from a second hand car to a new one, to a SUV to a more expensive brand to a larger car in that brand. The sooner you start in this snowball the earlier your lifestyle requires a lot of money. This doesn’t matter if you have all the money in the world, but often that is not the case. The first purchase requires you to use your cash reserve, the next you start to borrow money and after that you increase the monthly payments. Before you know you are spending all your money to keep the life up, while other areas of your life decrease.

Spending so much on expensive products will not improve your life in the long run. No one remembers that expensive phone you had before. Buying that new car at double the price of your last car gets attention from friends and family for the first week. Next 2 weeks you still have the new car hype and after that the great feeling settles down while you have stretched your monthly costs to be able to get it. Deceding what products you buy remains your own choice. Think before you go ahead and join the new items hype. At the moment it doesn’t seem too hurtful, if you look back in a few years you might regret it.