You are a consumer, right?

Our culture automatically labels you a consumer. The basic assumption about how you will operate is that you will spend your time optimizing how you spend money. First you’ll make sure you have some, and with that detail locked in, you’ll spend time picking good products, and you’ll be savvy about when and what you spend. You’ll think critically pondering whether to buy things that are high quality or inexpensive. If you’re like me you’ll agonize over some purchases, trying to decide if it is necessary and will truly bring you joy. We’re groomed to spend our time thinking about what we ought to buy.

When I heard Ali Abdaal reviewing a book that included a discussion on this topic, I was at the same time browsing Amazon trying to make a good decision about a piece of equipment to buy for work. There is a spread of about $20 to $50 price point, with various features present or not present at different price points. I wanted to avoid making a poor decision. I was being a thoughtful consumer.

I’ve pondered this situation often. What drives me to spend my precious time and mental energy trying to avoid buying things? Part of the underlying belief is this idea that I’ve got one shot at it. That if it doesn’t work, I’ll feel the pain for a long time.

I find myself curating what I have. Making sure I have the right things. Can I call this “curating my having”?

I’ve seen people who just buy what’s needed, and give little thought to it. Their attention is not captured by how much it costs or how long will it last. Things are acquired as an aside. Buying is little more than an implementation detail. How can these individuals be so cavalier about what they’re buying? What are they spending their attention on instead? Why do they have so little regard for optimizing their acquisitions?

Have you ever found yourself scrolling through options, thinking through costs, weighing different features? Do you have hours logged this week shopping online, or in person? What do you think about in your spare time… Are you a consumer?

There must be an alternative!

Perhaps opposite is to reorient your attention onto creation. What if I spent my time thinking through what I can make, curating opportunities to build things, contemplating what needs are present around me and how I can contribute solutions to them?

What if I committed to spending no time thinking about purchases, so that the first thing that works I buy, and I don’t try to optimize my spending to feature ratio.

What if, as a culture, we oriented our speech and measurements around creation rather than about consumption? Imagine the news “Today in cultural trends, creators are spending more and more time planting wildflowers” or “In todays creative culture, people are choosing to create at home, rather than using commercial space” or “In cultural trends, people are writing more than ever before. Something seems to have triggered a common love for writing”. Or “Americans are more and more known for their skill in furniture building. Nearly every home has adopted a culture of making beautiful wood things”. Could we be like the cultures of our stories, where a people can be known for their skill at creating?

What if in our homes we glorified creation rather than consumption. Instead of asking our children what they want to eat for dinner, we might ask what part of dinner they want to create. Instead of asking what movie they want to watch this evening, maybe we’d ask what movies they’ve made this week.

Personally, this is challenging because in my worst, most neurotic moments, I find myself stuck reading reviews, trying to glean every ounce of information from the internet to compare products and make a choice about which of two things I’d rather purchase. What if I spent a year where instead of doing that, I’d just buy both, such that if I find myself being neurotic about purchases, I’d force myself to spend the money to buy both, to get out of the loop. The thought of it is repulsive, it seems like a waste of money. But that might just protect me from this horrible plight of consuming, and nudge me to spend my attention creating.