Thinking back about some of the first computers that I had as a kid, I remember the excitement that I had that led up to getting the computers. Especially the ones that I paid for myself. The anticipation of saving up and then finally affording my own desktop computer and eventually my own laptop.
The laptop was really exciting. It was the late 90s when I stumbled upon an auction for a computer store that was going out of business.
So in this case, my purchase was somewhat unexpected, that I was going to be able to afford a laptop computer which at the time usually cost thousands of dollars and yet I picked up one for about $600.
For a few weeks past getting the laptop, I took it everywhere I went.
It was exciting, like getting my hands on something, that I wasn’t allowed to have, for the first time. Something seemingly forbidden, financially speaking.
But after about a month the novelty wore off and it simply became a part of my life. Like a limb, a part of my body, a part of my routine, a part of my identity.
I’ve found this to be true of most of my technology purchases and other big expenditures throughout life.
The novelty wears off as the thing becomes a part of your life.
This perspective is valuable when you’re making a substantial purchase because quite often we don’t really want something so much as we crave the idea of buying it and we crave the initial high of having it.
And of course some things we continue to appreciate after the fact. Hopefully most things we buy are beneficial.
But there are some things that we really don’t want to have, that we just aren’t going to get enough value out of to justify the purchase.
Unfortunately, we usually don’t discover this until after we’ve had these things for a while and the initial high wears off.
Perhaps keep this in mind if you’re not certain if something is going to be valuable to you long term. If you’re skeptical of your own motives.
It’s normal to crave buying and initially using things only to later relegate them to a scrap pile in a cluttered spare bedroom.
Adding insult to injury we often refuse to get rid of things until we have a good home for them or we can make a buck back.
A great example of this I see frequently: fitness watches. I had one myself.
Video games and books are other frequent offenders for me. Though thankfully they’re not that expensive in the grand scheme of things, not enough to warrant self control when wanting to buy a book.
But big purchases, consider if you’re only buying the initial high. And if so, is that worth it?
And if you’re selling expensive things, perhaps add something to your sales process to weed out people that won’t be happy past the initial high.