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Buyer’s remorse
Today I had some pretty intense buyer’s remorse. I bought a couch today - which was really exciting!! ...until it wasn’t. Furnishing my apartment has been a slow process, to say the least, but I have been doing well with what I have. Today I thought I had made a great purchase, but canceled it within a few hours. I think buyer’s remorse is often caused when you purchase something without considering the full picture.
With covid delaying lots of furniture shipments, most furniture I’ve found has been back ordered for weeks or months. So I was shocked when I found a couch today that was in stock! In fact, I was so shocked and excited that I bought it! I was so ready to have a real couch and be done with my old target futon, that I slightly ignored the not so nice price tag… But the couch was great (and available!) so I quickly justified the purchase.
When I got back to my apartment I was so excited and wanted to visualize my new couch in the space before it was delivered. I measured out all the exact dimensions and quickly realized that the couch was not going to fit in my space… cue the alarms! I had measured so many times to ensure I knew what I was looking for, but somehow I missed one key element. To say I was bummed is an understatement. Buyer’s remorse started to flood into my body like a nearby damn had broken. I quickly realized I had just spent a lot of money on something that was not going to work. Luckily, I was able to cancel my order but the whole experience really got me thinking about why I made the decision to buy it in the first place.
I blame my purchase of this couch on excitement and maybe a little bit of an over fixation. After spending several weeks sitting on a wooden-framed futon, I was ready to have a real couch with real cushions. I was so caught up in the exciting feeling that I could replace my old couch that I didn’t make the most informed decision. And I was truly excited by the fact that I had found something in stock! Nothing could’ve been better at the time of purchase. But I quickly realized that my excitement and fixation on getting a new couch really clouded my judgement.
So that is my challenge to you this week: take a second to analyze big decisions. Think about the real reasons you are making the decisions that you are. There are tons of things that can cloud your judgement - for me, it was the excitement that I was gonna have a real couch. For you, it can really be anything. In order to avoid buyer’s remorse, or any type of decision remorse, I think it is important to take a step back and evaluate why you are making the decision you are making. A few moments of self reflection can go a long way in grounding your priorities so you don’t do something that you might later regret..
Stay Motivated,
-Dan
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