Have you been wanting more always? Are you content with what you have? Always wanting more especially the things you don’t need may affect negatively your financial goals. Wanting more may become a habit especially if you are not content with what you have.
Wanting more is not bad, but depends whether what you want is beneficial and can lead you to your financial goals. For example, you are reading this article because you may want more of budgeting, investment and maybe pay off your debts.
You may be working on your budget because you want to save for your vacation. You also work on paying your debts so that you can be secure in future and that you are able to save and invest.
Wanting more becomes a problem if we do it in order to measure our happiness and success. Once we acquire things to fulfill our happiness, we end up getting frustrated if they work against us. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people need to feel safe, cared for, loved, and admired. Material things may not provide such satisfaction hence a person ends up being frustrated.
According to research, people use 20% of the things they have. So, we purchase items that makes us feel happy for a while and then we forget them. This is because, such things may not provide a feeling of safety, belonging, love, only human beings can.
Why do you always want more?
This may be an interesting question for you to answer, but let see the few reasons we always want more than what we need.
1. To fill a void
Sometimes, we acquire things in order to cover our loneliness and grief. That is why we buy new things like dresses if what we need has human connection. For example, you need a job and so you will buy a new cloth so as to impress the panel during the interview.
We also buy stuff to be admired and feel confident. We try to impress other people with what we have that can be seen instead of who we are.
2. Social media influence
Social media helps us connect with family and friends. As we scroll through the Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, we re able to see what other people are buying, wearing and probably where they are going. If not careful, we get ourself to do what others are doing and we are caught up comparing ourself. You may end up buying stuff just because your friend or family have them.
3. Marketing effect
In this digital world, it is estimated that the average person sees about 6000 to 10000 ads in a single day. Even if we take the low number, that’s still a lot of subtle messages telling us that we’re not attractive, happy, and fulfilled without the things they’re trying to sell. This also shows that it’s not entirely your fault that you’re always wanting more stuff.
How to stop always wanting more
The following are some of the practices you can try in order to be satisfied and happy without having to always want more.
1. Focus on yourself
Take sometimes and know yourself. Know the experiences that makes you happy instead of buying things trying to look for happiness. Its good to know, the success of any society is as a result of human differences. You can stand unique and bring a difference in the society. If we can all be the same then there will be no beauty of diversity in the society. You can be successful by doing things in your way rather than copying what others have done.
2. Be happy with the little things you have
Always practice being grateful for what you have. If you always have a feeling that what we have is not enough, you will never be grateful.
See, when we’re stuck in always wanting more, our gratitude becomes very circumstantial. We think we need a reason to be grateful, we forget that we already have everything we need and more. Practicing gratitude for what you already have is how to stop wanting more things you don’t really need!
3. Have a record of what matter most
Always be clear of what is important to you. Figure out if these things you want even align with your passion or what you truly desire in your life. This is how to stop wanting more of what others have and determine what you want for yourself.
Define what you want in life, what your goals are, and your priorities. Then, use them to remind yourself of what you want to accomplish next time you’re struggling with wanting more. And cut anything that does not serve your ultimate goals.
4. Define your purpose of living
We all want to live with intention and on our terms – to find our purpose and contribute something worthwhile to the world. But, unfortunately, a lot of us are stuck on autopilot.
We want something else, but we keep going through the days without changing anything. Raise your hand if this is you. You’ve had the same new year’s resolution for more than two, three, five years now?
Changing your intention will work for you. Maybe this year you can start by creating a budget and commit to following it.
5. Take a social media detox
The easiest way to stop wanting things is by taking a social media detox.
As we said above, social media is full of people you know and don’t know showing off things they buy or expensive trips they are taking.
So, to stop the constant temptation of always wanting more, take some time away from social media and be grateful for the things you already have.
Winding up
If we are able to separate material things with our needs, it is possible to stop wanting more. And when you start spending mindfully, you also maximize your enjoyment because you get to have more and do more of what you love.
