Ahead of Black Friday and Christmas sales, we have to be extra mindful of “upgrade syndrome”.
Companies market to us and we think we’ll be better off with an upgraded product, especially if that something is promised to be better than what we already own AND happens to be on sale.
✅ We’re told we’ll work harder, smarter, better when we upgrade our tech goods.
✅ We’re told we’ll take better photos when we get a better camera.
✅ We’re told our children will learn more easily when we invest in that new curriculum.
✅ We’re told we’ll be more organised with a nice diary and wall planner and colourful post-it notes.
Sure, all of these things might HELP us to work better, take great photos, learn more easily or be more organised, but they won’t provide the magic formula.
They can’t change us.
We have to do our bit. We have to provide the time and commitment to learning new skills, cultivating new habits and implementing lasting change.
More often than not, it’s not actually about the tools. It’s about how we use them.
And what we already have is often good enough.
Look, I don’t presume that you care enough about my opinion to let it impact how you spend your hard earned money. I just want to remind you that you don’t need to upgrade your gear in order to have an impact.
And because we live in a world of overflowing store shelves and inboxes exploding with incredible offers, we have to be able to differentiate between actually needing something and feeling like we should buy that thing right now because it’s on sale.
👉🏼 Our new tech goods won’t help us work better if we don’t prioritise the important stuff.
👉🏼 A new camera will be useless if we don’t take the time to learn to use it. Maybe we could start by learning to use the camera that we already have?
👉🏼 A fresh curriculum might be wasted if our children are learning right now, with what we already have.
👉🏼 A new diary won’t make us more organised. Only we can do that through forging new habits.
