Ok we upgrade our things for one of three reasons and I'm going to be
careful with how I phrase these, but it's either because we need to, we want to
or because we fail to think for ourselves. Now knowing this the question then
becomes where do we draw the line when it comes to upgrading,
so we can separate and understand the reasons behind this action.
You know our drive or the desire in some cases
to upgrade our things and I'm going to answer this by walking us through each
of these three reasons and providing some context around
minimalism and how it intermingles with upgrading, because their
relationship isn't as bad as you may think.
It just all depends on which perspective you're viewing it from or in other words
which reason is driving your action. Alright let's talk about
needing to first. Now someone who is practicing
minimalism and living an intentional life,
you or I right. If one of us said that we needed to upgrade our phone
or our car for example it may look confusing to someone on the outside
looking in, because of them we're "minimalist" right and "minimalists
shouldn't upgrade their things because they should find value and joy
and what they already have." That was a lot of air quotes I just did.
But see this confusion comes from not understanding someone's reason
the reason behind the need to upgrade and yes we have to be mindful that we
don't mistake needs for wants and I'll talk more about that later
but see usually the word need is followed by a legitimate reason.
For example I'm still rocking the iphone 6s
and it's holding on pretty strong and I'm not planning to upgrade anytime soon
but if I was my need for wanting to would be
because the battery life now is terrible. I find myself using low
power mode very often and sometimes turning it on
even when the phone is fully charged but personally I use my phone as a secondary
tool to help me manage my business right so
battery life is kind of important. See basically what I'm saying is if your
reason for needing to upgrade directly impacts your ability to
function, live or manage areas of your life
then go upgrade. Alright let's talk about the idea of
wanting to upgrade now. Wants are completely different
than needs I'm sure we all can understand that which is why it's
important that we separate the two and manage our actions and desires to
upgrade. Now don't get me wrong it's a natural
feeling to want upgraded things right I mean I don't
want you thinking I'm not human because I am right. It would be nice to
have the newest iphone or a newer iphone and one day I may upgrade but do
I really need to. See an easy way to separate
wants from needs and to help us stop some of those impulse purchases we make
is something called the wait list. Now what is it and how does it work
right. So the next time you come across something you want or
want to upgrade before you spend any money on it
write it down on a wait list. So for me that thing would be a new phone
right so uh new
phone there you go new phone and after you write it down wait a
couple of weeks or longer if you want and then go back and look at the things
you wrote down on your list if anything on that list seems less
appealing or something you no longer need
remove it from the list. Eventually those things that really need to be replaced
or upgraded will remain on the list and
slowly work their way to the top at this point it's safe to say that
upgrade is worth it. Alight the last point
that I want to talk about for why we upgrade
is because we're failing to think for ourselves.
Now this is not meant to be a low blow or rude
but sometimes we don't think for ourselves.
Instead we're easily influenced by the media, social media included,
advertisement, friendships and even people we don't even know. See and this
influence controls our actions, the way we think, to the point where
we're not even thinking for ourselves and everything we do or buy or upgrade
is done because we saw it somewhere else first and now we have this FOMO feeling
right. The Fear Of Missing Out. The most
powerful influence anything can have over you. Here's a
final thought for you. There's nothing inherently wrong with
upgrading while practicing minimalism. The key however is doing it just like
anything else you're doing on your journey
with intention, purpose, reason and for you. I really hope you enjoyed
this video and if you did, if it resonated with you
make sure you give it a thumbs up for me also comment below so we can continue
this conversation. I love talking with you in the comments section. If it's your
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Always remember to stay true to you and I'll see you the next one. Peace!