“You’ll survive living with what’s essential, but you’ll thrive living with what adds value.”
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40 Reasons to Avoid Shopping on Black Friday
Words by Joshua Fields Millburn
Once upon a time (throughout my twenties) in a faraway land (Ohio and Kentucky), I managed a slew of retail stores. For a dozen years I traversed retail’s murky waters. Fresh out of high school, I began my career as a bushy-tailed sales rep at age eighteen. A few years later I was promoted to sales manager. Then store manager. Eventually I climbed the rungs to regional manager and, finally, director. At my pinnacle, I managed the operations for 150 brick-and-mortar stores from my downtown corner office.
Suffice it to say, I learned a lot about the retail business during my tenure. Most notably, I grasped the importance of the holiday-shopping season. On a good year, my stores would reap as much as 40% of their annual revenue in the five weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. 40%! That’s manufactured demand at its best (worst). Completely unnatural. Steroidic.
Because the stakes were so high (our profitability literally depended on the holiday season), we started planning for Black Friday (the precipice of the chaotic holiday shopping season), and its proceeding weeks, many months in advance. We met weekly, devising plans for doorbuster sales and special deals and once-a-year offers—anything to herd bovine-like customers through the door.
But, of course, those so-called deals weren’t designed for your benefit. We weren’t strategizing hoping to find ways to save you money: to assist the cost-conscious single mom, to help the nuclear family create a more memorable Christmas. No, no, no. Rather, we scoured our plans for every possible way to help—help you to part with your money, that is. The sale got you in the door, but the deal was not a deal at all.
Truth be told, the Black Friday deals aren’t actually that good. Sure, they’re designed to look appealing in the newspaper’s FSI (free standing insert), but the flip side of that coin is that the deals are designed to get you to act on impulse. Retailers lure you in with a limited-time offer and coerce you into purchasing shit you don’t need by creating false scarcity.
You needn’t succumb to the pressure, though. If it’s worth buying on Friday, it’s likely worth buying in January, too. So you don’t need 40 reasons to avoid shopping on Black Friday. You need only one: you can have a much more meaningful holiday without ever extracting the plastic from your wallet.
Spend some time with the people you love this Friday: Share a meal. Find a Christmas tree. Enjoy a carriage ride. Go ice skating. Donate your time to a food bank. Dance under the bright downtown lights. Play in the snow (or in the sand). Or just relax and enjoy the holiday season. Simply be together, no purchase necessary.
Letting Go of Ambitious Commitment
Words by Andrew Rocha
“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest (people) of the past centuries.”
– Descartes
I’ve read twenty books in 2020 and plan to read at least four more before the end of the year. Reading allows me to see how others convey their message and learn lessons from those who are much wiser than myself.
Every time I come across a book that piques my interest, whether it’s referenced in a book or a conversation, I note it down. This habit led me to a bloated list of 327 book titles.
If I continue my reading pace of twenty-four books per year, it’ll take me thirteen years to get through the current list, and who knows how many books I’ll add between now and then?
The website GoodReads’ tagline is to “Meet your next favorite book.” Yet how am I supposed to do this if I have to sift through 327 titles?
This is by no means at the fault of GoodReads, or any of the well-intentioned readers who recommend a title. This is my own doing, my own fear of missing out, my own desire to do it all.
While this digital list resides in the cloud, it also takes up mental space. My minimalist lifestyle has come to the forefront to tackle this dilemma directly: I am letting go of my reading list.
Many questions came to mind upon making this decision. What if I miss out on these great titles? What if I don’t know what to read next? What if I start reading less?
I’ve come to realize these panic-inducing comments are excuses. A thirteen-year reading list will stop me from reading any new books that pique my interest. This giant list will cause decision fatigue along the way and make me want to read less as a result.
By starting over, I get to bring back the books I truly want to read, not the books I wanted to read months ago. This gives me space and flexibility to read from a place of enjoyment rather than a place of obligation.
By letting go, I am freeing up my mental space, which will give me a much better outcome than any reading goal will ever give me.
How can letting go improve your life?
A Little More of Less
A few other articles we think you might enjoy…
→ Success Does Not Exist by The Minimalists
→ Use This Holiday Season to Clean Up Messes by Joshua Becker
→ No More Side Projects by Carl MH Barenbrug
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