For everything else there’s manatees
We start with an ad slogan that’s up there with This is not just food and Have it your way in terms of its stickiness, timelessness and effectiveness.
If you’re drawing a blank, today’s title is a whimsical play on Mastercard’s Priceless campaign, which has been marketing fuel for 20 years and counting. It’s so famous it has been parodied and / or plagiarised everywhere from cartoons to congressional campaigns.
There are some things that money can’t buy; for everything else, there’s Mastercard.
I won’t dissect it too heavily – no doubt PhD papers exist to do that for us – but, for me, this ad has hung around so long because it uses the language of money to define a pecking order that’s universally relatable: the things money can’t buy come first.
Mastercard humbly (not humbly) puts its product in the sidecar position to acknowledge money / credit as the practical facilitator for that which really matters.
What’s priceless to you?
If you could buy anything, no matter the price, what’d it be? Wild guess, it probably isn’t a material thing but rather something emotional. Even if it’s a tangible item, its pricelessness probably lies in what it represents and not what it is. It may satisfy your innate instinct for love, or security, or companionship …
Financial advisers might tell you that knowing your priceless (AKA your ultimate goal and / or the thing(s) in life you value most) is part one of infusing your money with purpose and consciousness. And they’re right. But that’s only half the story and, arguably, the easy bit.
There’s knowing and then there’s doing … and doing takes a lot of doing.
A ship’s captain sailing from Southampton to New York doesn’t just type ‘NYC’ into the satnav and chill out for six days. No, any journey towards something requires constant management, navigation and focus. Constant decisions. A poor decision on day four might delay arrival by an hour, or a week. It might capsize the thing entirely.
So just as life is in the little things, seeing a goal to completion is the culmination of countless day-to-day actions and decisions — micro, macro and everything in between — and trying to keep focus in an age of distraction …
Decisions, decisions, decision fatigue
Apparently, us human types execute about 35,000 decisions per day …
Thirty five thousand of anything per day sounds utterly knackering, and indeed psychologists have recently begun to use the term “decision fatigue” to describe the indecision, impulsiveness, regret and inconsistency that comes via making so many decisions, one after the other, in an age of abundance and choice.
We are so overloaded with decisions that, as they pile up, minute after minute, the quality of those decisions reduces and reduces.
To put this another way, we waste so much mental energy on micro decisions (green pants or blue, latte or cappuccino) that when we need to deploy willpower, smarts and focus on big decisions, we’ve maxed ourselves out on low-level shenanigans.
Chicken soup for the goal
Let’s say that paying off your house is priceless to you. Yes, strictly speaking that isn’t priceless but what it represents probably is.
You set your compass, satnav, and focus at your goal … and then Tuesday is bad. It’s a long old day full of annoying decisions, people, errands, and office politics.
Frazzled and fried, you go to unwind on some retail therapy and before you know it you’ve spent three hundred quid on clothes, gadgets or frogs …
And scene. This is decision-fatigue. It drained you of gas, focus and stay-the-course willpower throughout the day and your last shreds of dedication to your priceless goal got torched at 5.23 when Jo from accounts sent a memo.
The point is that we all, no doubt, have foibles, habits and behaviours we lapse into when our guard is down, stress is up and resilience levels are low. At that point we make decisions which simply are not chicken soup for the goal.
Five decision-enhancing tips
Decision fatigue is a thing, but given its recent focus there are some practical steps to keep it at bay so your big calls have the time and space they need.
1. Good input = better output
Get sufficient sleep, eat properly, hydrate and take breaks at regular intervals.
2. Morning peak
We make our best calls first thing, when other decisions have yet to compound.
3. Create and stick to your rules
Behavioural economics guru Daniel Kahneman believes in setting decision-making rules; like wait 24 hours before you buy a something significant to see if the desire passes.
4. Set limits (and don’t look back)
Four big calls per day is plenty and don’t second-guess your decisions after they’re made.
5. Check yourself
Cross-check your decision(s) via a trusted friend or by writing a pros and cons list.
Oh and here’s a wildcard #6: Stop deciding, start doing
Three manatees sit on a log. One makes a decision to slide into the water. How many manatees are left?
The answer is three. A decision alone means nothing without action, so aim to convert thoughts and decisions about action into actual action.