With over £8bn predicted to be spent over this weekend (less than previous years) it’s worth taking a few moments to focus on the process of buying.
So what is going on in our heads in relation to buying?
Strategies
Welcome to strategies. Strategies govern everything we do and our behaviours. We have strategies for everything that we do in all contexts. Examples ranging from shopping, buying, parenting, relaxing, getting ready for an awards night, forgetting (its true!) eating, wealth, sports, our route to work, spelling, learning, motivation, selling, love, attraction, relationships, how you tie your shoe laces, which hand you use to lock and which hand you use to unlock a door to name just a few. Strategies are everywhere and we are completely unaware of them operating. The sooner we can become aware of our strategies, the sooner we can make change to help.
What Are Strategies?
Strategies are specific sequences of steps we take in our head (we are unaware of) which in terms of buying can take you through the buying process from building of motivation to buy to decision to buy along with convincing self and then reassuring self, it’s absolutely the right thing to do! Thing is, if it’s not the right thing to do and we are not reassured then the purchase goes back.
Just imagine strategies are a bit like an electrical circuit linked to a light bulb, going from A to B to C in that particular order to arrive at the light bulb switching on which in the case of a strategy is a decision. If we don’t follow the sequence of steps correctly or get them wrong the light bulb will not switch on and we can end up looping round again (and again). Ever catch yourself doing the same thing time and time again and puzzled when you get the same result? Or feeling stuck in procrastination going nowhere? So frustrating!
The good news is that we can idenitfy, edit and change strategies that are unhelpful, quickly. After all, who wants to get out of procrastination and do something much more productive with their time and energy?
By understanding and getting in control of strategies in the context of buying and our habits, can prove to be an effective way of saving money.
So we spend valuable time during our development programmes learning about strategies, identifying strategies and changing unhelpful ones.
Next Steps
If you are curious about strategies and want to find out more about our Practitioner Training get in touch for a chat for the details. Our next in person training event is 17-24th February 2024 held in Bolton, close to M61 and local rail links.
