Coaching, reloaded - Coaching question of the day #134. - Your money, as a customer

When thinking rationally, we like to believe that money is about money and that money is also something rational.
More often than not, money is actually something emotionally loaded, and not always in a good way.

Journalist Shira Ovide gets it right when she says: "Use your money to support a world you want", but this sentence is not only about ethical consumerism, minimalism, or social justice. It is also about our own self-worth.

[Waiting for hours, people being rude or bossy,

repeated lost items, customer service missing in action?

No, thanks!]

Every time that a service provider, a supplier, a business of any size treats us poorly, we can decide to stay and let that happen, to complain and give them a second chance, or to vote with our wallet, and to walk away.

One pivotal mental switch in the way you are thinking about money - Part I

Lately, someone told me that they read somewhere that the difference between poor people and rich people can be spotted thanks to two questions. You are considering a purchase?

Poor people ask themselves: "Can I afford this?".

Rich people ask themselves: "How can I afford this?".

It may be true, to some extent.

Still, a way more important question is missing, in my opinion.

[Besides basic items needed for survival,

the question should not be "How can I afford something?", 

but "What do I want to afford in the first place?"]

As long as we are not talking about something pivotal for surviving (food, water, shelter, and so on), the very first question should be "Is this worth my money, my time, my work?".

More on this on the next posts.

Stay tuned!

Tags: Minimalism, Minimalism life, Minimalist principles, Alternative lifestyle, Money mindset

What to read next:

Why decluttering one's life, one day at the time, could be the most important thing you will ever do - Introduction


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Enough or too much? That's the question, most of the time

While pursuing minimalism as a way of living and thinking, how much is enough?

When exactly is enough... enough?

And when is it too much?

[Not enough color, or too much color?

Image credit: ISO Republic]

Lately, I asked myself this many times, and I realized that, to me, a minimalist way of living is all about finding a good mix between letting go of what I don't need and finding/making place in my life for more of what I want.

It is not a matter of quantity, it is a matter of quality. 

And if what I want comes in a family pack, that's perfectly fine.

"Enough" for me can be "too much" for someone else, and that's perfectly fine too, as long as other people are not trying to force me to accept their own way of measuring things.

Tags: Minimalism, Minimalism life, Minimalist principles, Alternative lifestyle, Enough and too much, Quality over quantity

What to read next:

Why decluttering one's life, one day at the time, could be the most important thing you will ever do - Introduction

You could also enjoy:
One coaching question a day - #20. Enough?

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One coaching question a day - #27. What you don't need?

If I would ask you which are the magic "ingredients" necessary for happiness, what would you say? 

What is happiness made of, for you? 

That's an apparently easy question for some people, the ones that would start talk right away about a shinier job to apply for, a bigger car to get a loan for, the trip to three continents to be planned in the coming years, the beach body they would like to train for at some point, the hot partner they don't have yet, the flat in the cool location they saw in some influencer's feed... and so on. 

[Is that thing you are thinking about something you need, 

or just something that could be nice to have?]

That's actually a very difficult question for some other people. Which ones, you may ask?

Halo Top Creamery brought seven dairy free and vegan ice cream flavors to all lucky foodies in the US - Waiting for the European edition!

Are you the kind of person that enjoys ice cream only when it is more or less sunny and hot outside or are a couple of pints of this frozen delicacy a very welcome habitué in your fridge?

Even while embracing minimalism and frugality, I really love ice cream and, once in a while, I am willing to splurge on an excellent vegan ice cream that is worth my money.

If you, like me, can appreciate good quality ice cream, I have some good and some bad news for you.

The good news:

Halo Top Creamery, founded in 2012 by Justin Woolverton in California, is a company that produces ice cream flavors that are low-calorie, high-protein, low-carb, low-fat, and low-sugar. Which is pretty cool per se.

Lately, they did even better, though, because two weeks ago they brought to the market their "delicious flavors without the dairy": seven new flavors that are vegan, dairy free, soy free, GMOs free, trans fat free and made with coconut milk.

The flavors are:

Why decluttering one's life, one day at the time, could be the most important thing you will ever do - Part 2. Minimalist living - How this shapes my life every day (#5.-6.)

In the previous post of this Minimalism series, I explained how long-term shopping, meaningful spending, decluttering and downsizing add value to my life, one day at the time.
Here you can find two further elements that define what minimalist living is for me:

#5. Eating nurturing food of good quality on a daily basis. 
Whole foods, paleo diet, low carb, high carb, ketogenic diet, traditional cuisine, halal, kosher, your grandmother's recipes book...

The mileage may vary depending on someone's age, physical and health conditions, geographical area, blood type, religious or spiritual belief system.
In my opinion, every person should go for food that helps them to feel happy, fit and able to deal with their activities and with their lives in the best way possible. What works for someone could not work for someone else.

[Saisonal, fresh and tasty ingredients, 

perfect for a yummy salad bowl

Image credit: ISO Republic]

To me, this means:

How to grow #1. - Book wish list - Six books about decision making, money and mindset that are in my book wish list

In order to decide if something is valuable or not, which ones are your criteria?
Do you pay attention to the message or to the messenger?

Probably there's no clear answer for this one: I guess it depends on the circumstances for most of us.
Still, when I stumble upon a quote that I consider very strong and empowering, I don't really care that much about who said that.
If it resonates with me, teaches me something, and brings me further, I appreciate it anyway.

This is the case with this one, attributed to different people and often to the otherwise unknown Frank Outlaw:

Watch your thoughts, they become words;
watch your words, they become actions;
watch your actions, they become habits;
watch your habits, they become character;
watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

[Beyond the whodunit, the whosaidit...

Who did actually say this very empowering quote?]

Sometimes, the quote goes even further and goes like "Character is everything". Wow.

Why decluttering one's life, one day at the time, could be the most important thing you will ever do - Part 2. Minimalist living - How this shapes my life every day (#1.-4.)

Coco Chanel, featured in 1999 in TIME magazine's "Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century", is still one of the most well known and most quoted fashion designers to have ever lived, and doesn't need any kind of introduction.

Madame was all about quality over quantity, and she was used to saying: "Once you've dressed, and before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take at least one thing off". She knew that, way more often than we'd like to think, less is more.

["Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance",

or said in another way: quality over quantity matters]

Just like the timeless style created by the woman that invented the little black dress and chose the future Chanel No.5 among different perfume samples presented to her, minimalist living is not a fortuitous occurrence.

Embracing a minimalist living means being bold enough to take the path less traveled and smart enough to make the right decisions and to adjust your trajectory on the way, every time that you need to.

Why decluttering one's life, one day at the time, could be the most important thing you will ever do - Part 2. Minimalist living

What are the five items you would bring with you on a deserted island?

What would you buy at any cost, while living on a budget, and why?

What are the possessions that energize you and make your life better, and what are the ones that suck energy and life out of you?

(And here we are again, with Marie Kondo's suggestion about verifying if a specific item sparks joy or not)

[Minimalist living comes in many shapes, forms, and flavors -

Just like in this amazing unicorn multi-layered cake.

What's yours?]

For some of you, these can look like mundane or rhetorical questions, and yet they are not, at least if one is truly interested in minimalist living. They are, in a nutshell, what minimalist living is all about:

Just yet another epic DHL delivery fail, or the three pivotal elements while building (and keeping) trust in a relationship - Part I

Shopping for products online can be exciting, funny, time-consuming, smart, interesting, frugal, money-draining, surprising, safe, addictive, disappointing. 

And even if what you purchased is exactly how you were expecting it to be and you are not experiencing one of the more and more common online shopping epic fails that go viral these days, after purchasing something online you probably feel a little bit nervous until that very special moment where, after such a long waiting and so much patience, you are going to hold the package in your hands, at last.

[Not a long time ago, happiness was...

being in love with someone that loves you back.

Now happiness is way more mail-related]

What you can eat while going vegan and gluten-free - Chapter One - Chocolate

As you may (or may not) know, I went Vegan five years ago, I have celiac disease and since 2010 I am in an on-off relationship with raw food, while being on a 70-80% raw food diet most of the time these days. 

Because of it, and because of another couple of things, one of the questions people ask me the most - together with "Where are you from?", but this is another story, stay tuned for it - is "What do you eat?".

Since yesterday I told you that I consider a good strategy eating chocolate while feeling down, I decided to write a little about this topic in the next weeks.

Chocolate is a sweet beginning, don't you think?

In the coming posts, I will let you know which options you have regarding chocolate while living vegan and gluten-free, but we can already say that a good percentage of bitter chocolate kinds are vegan and gluten-free anyway, even if not every kind of bitter chocolate is vegan, though.

How to smile after a nightmare, or the one about being on my way to learn how to need... less

It has been just one month ago, and it feels like in another life.
One month ago, I moved into a new apartment, after almost three years.

Three years in the same small-and-cool hip apartment in one of the trendiest streets of Prenzlauer Berg, in East Berlin.

The move has been literally a nightmare but I learned a lot about myself and about the things that I really need.

Yes, I am actually talking about things. Stuff. Objects. Items. Zeug, auf Deutsch.

[Something can be nice to have or even plain gorgeous,

and yet... do you need it?

How many things do you actually need?]

And I discovered that I need a lot fewer things than I thought.

Today I stumbled upon a very inspiring video of Graham Hill at the 2011 TED Conference, talking about the LifeEdited Project. And I smiled, at last.

Tags: Moving, Owner, Graham Hill, LifeEdited Project

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Why decluttering one's life, one day at the time, could be the most important thing you will ever do - Introduction

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What if shock advertising would show what we don't want to see? Are you in?

After having the impression that everything has been already seen, showed, tried, experienced, and consumed... 

What can still shock the consumers and the audience?

Shock advertising is usually the answer. The answer most marketers are going to give.

[Domestic violence for a coffee, anyone?

Shock advertising is usually related to a specific culture and time:

what is shocking or gross now, 
could have been socially accepted in the past and viceversa]

What do you think about shock advertising? Does it make you feel uncomfortable or inspired?

Do you find some advertising campaigns interesting, original, funny, ironic? Are they pure genius and are able to start a conversation or are they just gross and unpleasant?

[Advertising promoted by IndyAct.Org

for the "Stop the Carnage" campaign]

Even if not always, I have overall a good opinion about very aggressive advertising campaigns because they force people to reflect on topics and subjects too often forgotten, such domestic violence, children abuse, racism, discrimination, organ donation, endangered species, human and animal rights, pollution and so on.

One of my favorite campaigns ever is a frightful portrait of a French anorexic girl created a couple of years ago by Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani:

Fifty years of the birth-control pill

Fifty years ago, exactly today, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave permission to commercialize in the US the birth-control pill invented by Gregory Goodwin Pincus.

It's ideally a revolution that allows women to take control of their own bodies. But practically? Practically, without a proper sex education, I'm afraid that the birth-control pill is too often just a tool given to someone who has no idea how to use it.

Tags: Anniversary, Women, Health, Sex education, Birth control