Today is the first day of 2011. Last night, billions of people around the globe looked into today with hope and determination. Perhaps more commitments are made on the eve of December 31st than in any other day of the year. Lose weight. Quit smoking. Get married. Read more. Get promoted. Save money. All of these commitments involve one recurring theme that resonates strongly with consumer psychology: change.
Shopping, like New Year's Resolutions, is about doing something different. Switching from Verizon to AT&T. Taking Starbucks over Dunkin Donuts. Trading the old Cavalier in for 3 Series. These consumption choices are not material in nature--they are transcendent choices about reinventing yourself as a person. Being a consumer isn't about accumulating things; it's about accumulating experiences.
I just moved a couple days ago into a better neighborhood and, while the new place is definitely worth it, I hated every second of moving all of my stuff. In particular, I hated transporting the books. As I lifted each 50lb box and carried it onto the Budget truck, I swore that I was getting rid of every single one of my books so that I would never have to move them again. Sure enough, when I finally got my bookshelves set up at the new place, I took a long hard look at my library and began to weed it out. Soon, I had a pile of fifteen to twenty books stacked up to sell.
The very next day, though, I went shopping online with some Christmas money I had gotten from relatives. Before I knew it, I had ordered 3 new books from Amazon.com. The moral of the story? I reinvented myself. My library isn't a collection of books; it's a collection of my values, knowledge, and information. I didn't really want to stop reading; I just wanted to read something more valuable to me. I had realized as the weight of those books became heavier that it was time for something new. It was time for a change.....a resolution.
Transformation of values and reinvention of one's self is the lifeblood of the economy. If none of us ever felt discontented with our lot in life, all economic activity would come to a standstill. There is only opportunity where there is need and only need where there is dissatisfaction. So, as you seek to follow through with your commitments this year, take comfort in the notion that you are engaging in one of the most noble activities of the human experient: self-improvement. Buy an iPhone. Splurge on a latte. Go for a test drive. Do something new. Recreate who you are. Make good on your resolutions.
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