How many times in your life have you justified?
You know, doing something and then having a conversation with yourself about why it was a good thing to do. Hundreds? Thousands? Still doing it?
Dino’s Advice? Stop.
Anytime you find yourself justifying things, you are most likely taking an action that should not be taken. Think about it. When you do something right or good or pleasant or compassionate, do you justify your action? Of course not. Want proof? When you hold the door for an older person, do you mutter to yourself ” I could be walking in the building already but I suppose I’ll hold the door for this person because they are old and I’d feel bad if I didn’t hold it?” Probably not. If you are a door holder, you hold the door because it is a nice and courteous thing to do. It makes you feel good. It shows good manners. It requires no justification.
Contrast that with “I really can’t afford this dress but I haven’t bought myself a dress in months and it’s so cute.” Or, ” This car costs more than I should spend but I’ll just spend less on other things later to make up for it.” Isn’t it simple to see that everything up until the word “but” is the truth and everything after is the justification? Isn’t it also easy to see that the justifications are silly?
I just read that Abercrombie and Fitch has discounted many of their jeans by 40% in order to grab a larger share of the back to school market. That news undoubtedly will make many people happy and they’ll go out and buy 4 pairs because of the discount. I wonder if they will stop long enough to think about this……. How long has Abercrombie been selling their jeans at a price 40% more than today’s price? Also, if they can make a fair profit at this new price, how did they justify the 40% higher price in the past? Oh wait, they didn’t justify the higher price. You did. And when you stopped, they lowered the price. And they are hoping that the lower price will cause you to justify buying more than you need. Will you?
Justification costs people billions of dollars in impulse purchases. My question? How come there is no such term as “Impulse Investing?” Wouldn’t it be great if we were all walking around saying “You know, I really should buy a bunch of new things that I don’t need but I just can’t resist contributing more money to my investment account because I think it is so cute when the balance goes up?”
If you have trouble not justifying everything, try changing what you justify. Start justifying why you should save more and spend less. Once you get in the habit it becomes easy. Just like it is now easy to spend too much because that is your current habit. And while you’re at it, stop listening to the government justify why it is your responsibility to spend your way to economic recovery. Save your money. Invest wisely. You work too hard to waste it.
Oh, and if we all wait, those jeans will soon be 50% off.
