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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Where to start, if you are new

Cool places to discover: Ekoplaza, the plastic-free aisle in Amsterdam

Ekoplaza is a Dutch organic supermarket, located in Amsterdam and soon in The Hague as well, where customers can find plenty of plastic-free goods packaged in glass, metal containers, cardboard, and other compostable biomaterials. 

It sounds like a very good shopping solution for every person interested in ethical consumerism, minimalism, downsizing, and environmentally friendly stores.

If you are in Amsterdam, check it out and feel free to let me know what you think!

Tags: Ekoplaza, Plastic-free aisle, Shopping, Amsterdam, Minimalism

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 

Visiting the blog for the first time? Aloha!

Where to start, if you are new

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 (#7.-8.)

Have you ever met a person that truly likes Mondays?
Yes, me neither.

In order to make this Monday more enjoyable for you and for me, today I am following up with the last post of the Minimalism series about the elements that define what minimalist living is for me.

After long-term shopping, meaningful spending, decluttering, downsizing, clean eating and honesty about wants and needs, here you can find the last pieces of my personal "minimalist living" system:

#7. Pursuing only goals that are meaningful to me. 
More on this one in the post related to emotional minimalism, but as a short sneak peek: instead of aspiring to be or to become the person that others want me or even worse expect me to be, I chose to be and to become the person that I want to be.

[This is my wallpaper at work 
so that I can have a chance 

to read this quote on a daily basis:

"What you get by achieving your goals 
is not as important

as what you become by achieving your goals".

It is sometimes attributed to Goethe 
or Henry David Thoreau,

I know it as a quote by Zig Ziglar]

In order to achieve this and to live by this commitment to myself, I pursue only goals that are meaningful to me, even if most people would never get why or what for I do what I do or behave like I behave.
An example: getting to the point of having 66% of my body being tattooed before turning 41.

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:

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:

The question with the big Q and some very interesting quotes about it

While being vegan, the question with the big Q that I get the most is, of course, "Why?".

Usually is not a real question. Not a question they are asking me, at least. It is more like a question that my interlocutor is asking himself/herself while accidentally talking to me, since most of the people can't imagine that someone can not only be vegan, but actually be vegan and absolutely happy with it.

I am vegan. And I am happy with it and with my life.
Being vegan is something that influences every choice I do and what I decide to buy (clothes, shoes, accessories, cosmetics, cleaning products, home furnishings,  groceries, beverages, books...) or not to buy. Which websites, shops and restaurants I support, and which I don't.

Since I don't like being attacked for what I am nor when someone tries to "convert" me, I don't do these things to someone else. I don't try to turn every person I meet into a fellow vegan. 

So I don't go around telling everybody that I am vegan, I don't try to convert people or to change their minds. I don't judge others and I don't discuss what they are doing or eating or saying. I just live my life by following the motto "Live and let live".

[Vegan, Purple and comfortable:

Airseal Para Boot by Vegetarian Shoes]

But as soon as someone realizes that I am not eating meat or that my Purple combat boots are not a pair of "normal" Dr. Martens, but a more exotic pair of Vegetarian Shoes instead, or as soon someone offers me milk chocolate or whatever and I say "Thanks, but no thanks"... Booom! The question with the big Q is already in the air, ready to strike.

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:

Rebel Without a Cause #1. Albert Camus

How easily can you say no?
How would you describe a rebel? (A real one)

On LinkedIn, I'm having a really interesting and proactive discussion about sustainability and I've decided to share with you one of my comments.

Qu'est-ce qu'un homme révolté? Un homme qui dit non.

(What is a rebel? A man who says no)

Albert Camus [1913-1960]
L'Homme révolté

'Euro-leaf'? It's a Veg Logo!

From July 2010, according with European Union's Law n.271/2010, all pre-packed organic food produced in any of the EU member States who comply with the necessary standards, will display a new Logo, 'Euro-leaf', created by German Design student Dusan Milenkovic and voted in a online competition promoted by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development.

The new Logo will be optional for imported items and it will be allowed to display pre-existing national Logos for organic food next to 'Euro-leaf'.

But for me, the most important thing is that 'Euro-leaf' is basically a 'Veg' Logo: in it, the European Union takes shape of a leaf, or to be more precise of something that is green, absolutely vegetable and, above all, environmentally friendly and ethical.