A decade or so ago, I bought two pairs of jeans and loved them. I wore those pairs until a year ago when they couldn’t handle my bulging abs (okay, okay, I just put on some weight).
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been wearing jeans more frequently thanks to graduate school and a workplace where wearing jeans is the norm. So, I reflected on my jeans purchase record recently. Since my 100% hit rate a decade ago, I’ve purchased 6 pairs of jeans in the last 3 years and my hit rate is around 50%. I gave away 2 pairs and still use 4 pairs but, really, use only 3.
So, why the low hit rate? Each time I went to buy jeans, I went in attempting to solve a particular frustration. It was either trying to get a more comfortable pair or trying to find a certain color or, more recently, trying to find a more comfortable waist size. So, I always over indexed on that and ended up forgetting other my key priorities.
I abhor waste. My wife and I moved continents two years ago with just 6 suitcases that contained all of our belongings. And, we try hard to keep things simple and make the most of what we buy. So, thinking about this jeans hit rate does annoy me.
However, as writing here as taught me, mis-steps are simply learning opportunities. And, in that spirit, here are 3 simple steps to better buying decisions. One note before we get to the list – this is from a satisficer’s point of view. So, I view over-analyzing small decisions as waste as well. :-)
3 steps to better buying decisions –
- Envision success. What does success look like?
- Stack rank priorities. Make sure you have a list of 3-4 things that really matter to you.
- Keep this list of priorities with you when shopping.
The best part about this process is that it takes all of five minutes. However, the five minutes are well spent as they’ll save money and eliminate any unhappiness from unnecessary or uncomfortable purchases. And, given we spend a significant portion of what we earn buying things, it is worth the investment to do this right.
It is likely you do some version of this for your “big” purchases. However, I think it is worth doing for the small things as well – they add up.
Minimalism and efficiency are a beautiful thing. And, besides, excellence is not an act, but a habit.
A Learning a Day 