Idea Pictogram, Author at ideapictogram

The Smart Way to Fail: How to Fail Often and Fail Fast

by Idea Pictogram | Oct 18, 2025 | ideas+business

Failing in business is common. But there’s a smart way to fail, and that’s to fail often and fail fast. There are so many stories about how entrepreneurs failed before they reached success that everyone should think of failing as the normal thing to do.

Failing often and failing fast is a necessity. Learning is the most important way to grow as an individual and as an entrepreneur. When you understand that you are not going to get it right the first time in any project you start, the possibilities open to you are endless. The principles of failing fast are useful in business, but can be applied to all things in life.

Look for safe ways to fail.
Don’t dwell on failure.
Learn your lessons and don’t forget them.
Exercise resiliency.
Try many new and different things.
Have a mentor or guide.
Refuse to give up and to think that failure is the end.
Have courage and don’t fear failure.

1. Look for safe ways to fail.

Think of ways to get started on your business while taking on minimal risk. Looking for safe ways to fail means that you don’t invest a ton of money into your new project. Minimize the risk by building your business with the least amount of startup capital. This will require some creativity, so look for ways to reduce the amount of money you need to start your business. What you don’t want to do is invest a ton of money in an idea that you later find out isn’t going to work. The smart way to fail is to fail with minimal risk. So start simple and start small. This allows you to fail often and fail fast.

2. Don’t dwell on past failure.

If you fail after your first, second, or hundredth attempt, move on. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and don’t dwell on failure. The sooner you get back up, the quicker you will reach success. You’re going to do this often, and you are going to do this fast. So don’t dwell on failure and move on quickly. Perfectionism is the enemy of forward progress. Your attempts are not meant to be perfect.

3. Learn your lessons and don’t forget them.

Keep a record of your attempts, especially what didn’t work, and what you can change. A failure ends up being only a failure if you don’t learn anything from it. Forget the failure itself, but remember the lessons. It’s called learning because you have to do something that you’ve never done before. You’re unfamiliar with what you’re doing, and not knowing how to do something can be uncomfortable. But once you’ve done something a couple of times, your muscle memory takes over, and it’s like doing something automatically without much thought. The smart way to fail teaches you many lessons, and as you get better at failing, you get better at learning.

4. Exercise resiliency.

If you are to succeed in business, you must toughen up and be resilient. I’ve heard stories of many people getting knocked down by what life deals them, but the most successful people are the most resilient ones who get back up and try again. You should be familiar with failing often and failing fast, because this builds resilience and lets you get back up faster. You become stronger and failure doesn’t break you.

5. Try many new and different things.

Business is all about experimenting. You have to try a whole bunch of different things before you can stumble on the one thing that works. Tweak each experiment and you’ll eventually find that momentum that leads you to your goal. That’s why with each reiteration, you’ll get closer to achieving your goal. Nothing works the first time. It’s by repeating these experiments with better knowledge of what works and what doesn’t work that leads you to success. Get as much experience as you can because experience is the best teacher.

6. Have a mentor or guide.

A good mentor or guide has a wealth of knowledge that they can share with you. Having a mentor on your side can save you time and energy, because they will tell you when you are taking the wrong step. They will show you the quickest path to success. Having a mentor is a part of learning. With their experience, they can show you the way to success, and the quickest way to get there.

7. Refuse to give up and to think that failure is the end.

Business is about experimenting. Think of these experiments as a maze. Are you going to get to your destination at the first attempt? No. You’ll take winding paths and meander. You’ll get led down the wrong path. But this eliminates the wrong turns and eventually you’ll learn and get to your destination.

The right thing to do is to keep trying. The wrong thing to do is to give up. Failure is not the end, it’s the beginning.

8. Have courage and don’t fear failure.

If you are afraid to try something new because you fear what people will think of you, or that they will laugh at you when you fail, just know that everyone’s memory is temporary. If there’s one thing good about short attention spans these days, it means that people will forget what you did and move on to the next thing to laugh at. The smart way to fail is to have the courage to fail often and fail fast.

The above tips are smart ways to fail. Like in life, nothing in business is certain, so fail often, and fail fast. That is the only way you will learn, become resilient, and find success. At first, it is painful to fall down and fail. You get scrapes and cuts. But the ones who succeed are the ones who will bandage their wounds and get back up.

Business books to read about failing often and failing fast:
Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
The Sweaty Startup: How to Get Rich by Doing Boring Things by Nick Huber

Time Management Tips: You Have More Time Than You Think

by Idea Pictogram | Sep 25, 2025 | ideas for humans

How to find time

I know you’re busy. Maybe you have a job, or multiple jobs, a family to take care of, and a mortgage to pay. When you prioritize what you should focus your attention on, the passion project or hobby that you’ve always wanted to spend time on is low on the list. How do you find time to do all of the things that you want to do? The first step is to learn effective time management. When you do this, you’ll find out that you have more time than you think.

The following is an interesting and eye-opening exercise. Record how you spend your time every hour for one week. You can log your time in a spreadsheet to keep it organized. I promise you, it reveals a lot about your habits, some of which you might not even be aware of.

After you do this, did you learn that you spend time mindlessly scrolling on social media on your phone or watching Netflix? Continue reading for more time management tips.

Sticking to an hourly calendar increases your productivity

Ironically, when I used a planner to time-block my calendar, I found that I had more free time than I thought. When you stick to a schedule, you’re being accountable for each hour of your day. This is a time management tip that makes you realize that you can check things off your to-do list and still have extra free time.

Do this exercise because if you don’t keep track of what you do with your time, you won’t know whether you’re spending it wisely. When you do this, you are more aware of how much time you spend being productive versus how much time you waste.

Using your time wisely and being productive makes you realize that you do in fact have more free time than you think. You just spend it doing wasteful things like scrolling on your phone.

To be more productive, eliminate any type of activity that wastes time. This eliminates distraction so you can focus on the important tasks.

If finding a spare hour or two here and there is tricky for you, it could mean getting up an hour early in the morning.

Make to-do lists and stick to them

People who are efficient with their time make to-do lists and stick to them. They have agendas and planners. They spend their Sunday nights planning out what they will do for the rest of the week.

They are extremely organized and have their schedules down to a T. Their time runs on a schedule, which they don’t deviate from. But life happens, and if they do deviate from their to-do list, they find ways to quickly catch up.

I’ve started to get back into the habit of planning my day ahead of time. I have a planner and write down what I’m going to accomplish every hour. I found that it helps me focus. It even helps me finish my tasks faster. The spare time that I have, I use to work on my personal projects.

What if you are tired by the end of the day and just want to watch TV?

It’s understandable if by the end of the work day you just want to relax and unwind. But why don’t you try taking a walk after dinner instead of spending your evening watching TV? Or read a book on a topic that will help you achieve your goal? Or watch a tutorial? There are so many other ways to be productive in your free time, while still enjoying what you are doing.

Deadlines are important

When you are trying to reach a goal, give yourself a deadline. This is a time management tip that works well. Put it in your calendar. It will motivate you to get it done. It’s true that if you’re given only an hour to get a task done, you’d use the whole hour. But if you gave yourself only half an hour, you’d manage to get it done in half the time. The remaining half hour is yours. You have more free time than you think.

Having a deadline is similar to giving yourself only a set amount of time to complete a task. At first it takes a lot of discipline not to get distracted and check your social media. But it takes practice. The more you shut out distractions and focus on your task, the easier it gets.

Time is valuable

Like money, treat it as a valuable resource. You don’t have all the money in the world, and you don’t have all the time in the world, either. So would you waste it? No, of course not! So don’t spend it doing things that don’t matter. Cut out activities that waste time. Focus instead on that hobby that brings you joy, like learning a new language or learning how to play the piano. Once you figure out your own time management practice using these time management tips, you’ll discover that you have more time than you think.

The Top Five Best Things in Life That Are For Free

by Idea Pictogram | Sep 8, 2025 | ideas for humans

One of the first blog posts that I published in my ideas+business page was aimed at educating you on how to sell what people want. It got me thinking on how to follow up on this important topic. Not everything is sell, sell, sell! There are in fact things in life that you can get for free. Not everything comes with a hefty price tag. So for this post I thought it would be useful to share the top five best things in life that you can get for free.

Everyone likes free stuff. Ever get frustrated by learning that something is not actually free? For example, signing up online for services requires you to give them your personal information like your birthdate. Definitely not for free.

While coming up with this list, I found myself leaning more towards the things we take for granted, the everyday things that we don’t appreciate enough.

These are mostly things that you would think about while trying to fill a gratitude journal, and are not tangible items we can own. They do not have monetary value in the usual sense. They don’t belong to anyone; they belong to everyone.

No one owns these, it’s free for people to enjoy. There’s no need to look for bargain prices, and there’s no haggling required to enjoy these things.

The Top Five Best Things in Life That Are For Free

1. Fresh Air
2. Water
3. A Walk Outside in the Park
4. Friendship
5. Freedom

1. Fresh Air

For those of you who are lucky enough to live in unpolluted cities, fresh air should top your list of the best things you can get for free.

To appreciate fresh air and feel gratitude for having limitless amounts of it, take a break from work or from studying and go outside. Breathe in deeply for a count of three, and exhale for a count of three.

Feel that? It’s fresh air, and you don’t even have to pay for it. No one can put a price tag on it, so have as much of it as you want.

I know what the next thing you’re thinking. How long will it be that fresh air is free and available to everyone? What if you live in areas where pollution is rampant, the air quality is low, and you can’t safely breathe it in unless it’s filtered?

My point is, this is a call to protect the environment. Take public transit or bike if you can, instead of driving your car. Protect the environment so that everyone can share and make use of it freely.

2. Water

Water is closely related to fresh air. It comes from the environment. Clean water is free, and I don’t mean the $4.50 one litre of bottled water at the grocery store, but the one from the tap. Okay, we have to pay our water bill, but you get the point.

Clean water is not available to everyone. In underdeveloped countries, clean water is scarce and hard to come by.

Everyone has turned on the tap for some water, and admit it, sometimes we’ve wasted that water. It’s something that we take for granted, so much so that we don’t realize when we waste it. It’s available instantaneously, like magic.

When something is freely available like it’s a normal, everyday part of our lives, it’s easy to overlook how lucky we are that we have clean water.

So next time you turn on the tap for a glass of cold, drinkable water, appreciate the fact that you can have it whenever you want it.

3. A Walk Outside in the Park

It’s free to take a walk outside in the park. Unlike having to pay for a fitness class, taking a walk in the park is free exercise. It doesn’t cost anything, and there are numerous health benefits.

During a busy work week, take some time during your lunch break to get outside, and bring a friend so that together, you can refresh your minds by breathing in all that free air.

Walking is a meditative exercise, and you only need fifteen minutes to reap the benefits. It makes you calmer and more focused. It gives you more energy to tackle all the things that are still in your to-do list.

You may have heard that sitting down is the new smoking. So do yourself a favor and increase your longevity by getting up, going outside, and talking a fifteen minute walk with a friend.

4. Friendship

This leads me to the next thing in the list of best things in life that you can get for free. Friendship should be given freely. Whether you meet in person or over the internet, being sociable can extend your lifespan and protect you from neurodegenerative diseases.

So call your friends or relatives that you haven’t kept in touch with over the years and invite them for a walk or for coffee. If you can’t see them face to face, have a FaceTime call. These people are important in your life, so cherish your friendships and keep them alive. It’s like watering a plant; your plant, or friendship, will die if you don’t take care of it everyday.

Cultivate the friendships that make you happy, and share your interests, hobbies, and everyday activities with them. Joining a social club or group is also a way to cultivate new friendships.

A good friend doesn’t have to be a rare commodity if you work hard at finding those who support you during bad times and share your joys during the good times.

5. Freedom

The last thing on the list of the top five best things in life that are for free is freedom. If you live in a free country, you probably don’t think of this everyday as something that we should appreciate. But you should realize that some people in the world don’t have freedom, or have ever tasted it, or have had it taken away from them.

Our gratitude for freedom needs to be something that we add to our gratitude journal everyday.

We can breathe in fresh air, drink clean water, step outside in the park without fear for our safety, and be friends with anyone that we want, without being punished for it.
So take care of the environment and take care of each other so we can prevent ourselves from putting a price tag on these things in the future.

You can see the point I’m trying to make with this list. The only way to keep these things free and available to everyone is prevent them from being threatened by our own carelessness.

The future is hopeful. Humanity doesn’t have to play a part in threatening these resources and making them scarce and enjoyable by only a privileged few.
There are actions that people are taking right now to protect the environment and each other.

By taking the time to appreciate what we can get for free, it will give us a reason to keep things free and accessible to all, because as soon as we put a value or price tag on them, they will no longer be free to everyone.

Putting an ownership on something that was once for free is an injustice. There doesn’t have to be a hidden cost to freedom.

How to Persuade People to Take Action in Six Easy Ways

by Idea Pictogram | Aug 5, 2025 | ideas+business

If you’re a business owner, getting your customer to make a purchase might be the hardest task you’ll ever have to do. Forget about hiring and coaching a team, being a great leader, setting up operations, and business strategies. If you haven’t got a fantastic sales strategy, then none of that would matter. Sales is a hurdle that discourages most entrepreneurs and makes them give up before they’ve even started. How do you make a potential customer part with their hard-earned dollars? How do you give them a good reason to want to do business with you? How do you overcome objections? In this blog post, I will review how to persuade people to take action in six easy ways. These six techniques will give you an idea of how to elevate your sales strategy to persuade your potential customer to do business with you.

Table of Contents:

1. Let your customer know the consequences of their inaction
2. Motivate your customer to take action
3. Give them a clear deadline
4. Guide your customer so that the decision is easy and obvious
5. Eliminate barriers that make their decision challenging
6. Warm up your customer

1. Let your customer know the consequences of their inaction

Many people don’t take action because of inertia. What do I mean by inertia? I mean that it’s easier, simpler, cheaper, and more convenient to stay still and not move. It’s easier to stay in their comfort zone than do something that makes them uncomfortable.

Exercise and physical activity is a great example of this. People find it challenging to stick to an exercise routine, even if they’ve paid for a gym membership and loaded up on that fancy gym gear. It’s easier to just relax in front of the T.V. after a grueling and exhausting day at work, or taking care of your kids when you’ve just spent time preparing them dinner and tucking them into bed at night.

People won’t take action unless you let them know the consequences of inaction.

To overcome that bit of inertia, show them the reasons why taking no action is actually the wrong decision for them to make. Your customer is comfortable where they are, so show them that their inaction causes even greater discomfort.

You must show them the discomfort of staying where they are.

Going back to the exercise example, haven’t you ever thought about working out more when you read a news article that explains the risk of having too much abdominal fat? Or drinking sugarless soda which instead spikes your sugar level?

Maybe you’re an advocate for climate action or a charity. For the climate action example, maybe you’ve shown them the dire consequences for the planet if the human population continues to cut down trees, drive SUVs that cause global warming, or dump their unrecyclable waste into landfills. All of these things would cause discomfort into any environmentally conscious citizen.

Once you’ve described the discomfort of not taking any action, your customer would be more persuaded to take that first step. I further describe how you can eliminate barriers for your customer that would encourage that initial step.

2. Motivate your customer to take action

There must be a motivating factor in order for a customer to act. If there’s no motivation for the customer to act, they would slip into indifference and apathy. When trying to make a sale, you must answer the question, what are people motivated by? If your product doesn’t answer that question, they are left wondering why they should buy from you at all. Give your customer the motivation by persuading them to take action.

You need to give them a reason that lights that fire in their soul. Dangle a carrot in front of them, and push them to act. This doesn’t just apply to sales. For example, maybe you’re a team leader at work, and you just can’t seem to get your reports to be motivated enough. Their productivity under your leadership suffers as a result.

This is when you really need to empower them to make their own decisions and take ownership of that project. If the momentum falls flat after that initial enthusiasm, pump up the energy and recharge that spark. Motivating people is all about lending them your infectious energy. It has to be so motivating that it’s contagious. Only then will your team or customer take action, and maintain that momentum.

3. Give your customer a clear deadline

This is one of the easier ways to persuade people to take action. Online stores love to use this technique to ramp up e-commerce. They put up a timer on their storefront counting down the days, hours, and minutes until the sale is over. This strategy works because of the “fear of missing out” and the creation of “scarcity”.

This is also something that you must use in the workplace if you’re a team leader. Your direct reports are less likely to procrastinate and get a task done if they have a goal to work towards. And as you know, every goal must have a deadline and be time-bound. When they have a deadline, it’s like turning that hourglass upside down and letting the sand run out until there’s no more time to waste.

To make a faster sale, use this technique. Envision how you can incorporate a countdown into your sales strategy. It could mean setting a deadline for them to take action before the sale is over. Some decisions, however, take time, especially if it’s a lengthy sales cycle. Sometimes your customer doesn’t like to feel rushed into making a decision, especially if the decision involves an expensive purchase. Use your judgement when trying to implement this technique. I go into more detail below about warming up your customer if this is the case.

4. Guide your customer so that the decision is easy and obvious

Most of the time, you have to make the outcome of their decision obvious. Don’t rely on confusing them into making a decision because it won’t work. If it’s too challenging to do something, they will not do it at all. The trick to overcome this is to make it easy. It must be effortless to take action. This is one of the easy ways to persuade your customer to take action.

For example, e-commerce and shopping online makes it easy to buy products. At first, the customer wavers between indecisive and decisive. What makes them finally enter in their credit card number and hitting the “buy” button? It’s because the online store is designed with the user’s experience in mind. There are many steps involved throughout the purchasing journey. Landing on the initial webpage that acts as their virtual storefront. Loading their shopping cart with products. Entering in their credit card number. Finally hitting the “buy” button. Making it easy means acting like a guide throughout their purchasing journey, or their decision tree. There are many steps involved, and you have to be there every step of the way or else your potential customer will just forget about it and go back to being inert.

From attractive graphics, colours, and fonts, your customer should have no choice but to continue through to the final step, because you’ve made the purchase or decision irresistible to them. Be available to answer any questions every step of the way.

From initiating that sales call to closing the sale, you should make the process so simple that it’s easy for the customer to agree to buy. Ever get lost because you didn’t have a map? It’s the same concept with sales. The customer needs a map that guides them in their decision.

5. Eliminate barriers that make their decision challenging

Your customer doesn’t have time to work out the kinks when making a purchase. If it’s too hard for them to decide, they will just move on to the next business that makes their purchase a no-brainer. With technology, it’s easier than ever to make the customer journey smooth, barrier-free, and effortless.

Once you’ve gotten rid of all the barriers, your customer will love you for it and come back for more. That one-time customer will soon turn into a repeat customer who’s loyal and brings in more referrals to your business.

Eliminating barriers means making the process easy. Think of ways to eliminate these barriers before they even pop up on your customer’s radar and even before they encounter them.

6. Warm-up your customer

There’s a reason why it’s called “cold-calling.” When you are cold-calling, your customer doesn’t know you and doesn’t have a good reason to buy from you. You haven’t yet built up the rapport that makes them familiar with your product. There are many books explaining how you can warm up your customer for better results. Some that I would recommend include Launch by Jeff Walker and Oversubscribed by Daniel Priestley. These two books both explain methods for warming up your customer before you ask them to make a purchase. To this end, you will have greater success in persuading your customer to take action.

Ever heard of the observation that it takes at least seven touch points for your customer to finally buy from you? These touch points can include social media posts, emails, and newsletters. It’s anything that makes your customer more familiar with you and your product. So every touch point should give them more information about your product, and should be persuasive enough that they pay more attention at the next touch point.

Getting your product in front of your customer only once will not persuade them to buy from you. That’s why lead nurturing and warming up your customer works. You must do this at least seven times.

The Final Word

Implementing even a few of these strategies will propel you forward to sales success. These techniques will guarantee that your customer’s journey is far more painless and quicker than your competition’s. Guiding them and showing them the right way at every step of the customer journey eases the potential pain points in your sales funnel.

When inertia is the default state of your customer, it takes leadership skills to motivate them into taking action. Show them two options: option A, the consequences of staying inactive, or option B, the benefits of making a definite decision. Then, make their decision process easy, clear, and obvious. It has to be obvious so that they won’t waver between these two states. Strategies I’ve just described include setting a deadline for them to make a decision, eliminating barriers in the customer journey, and making their decision obvious and clear.

The Seven Benefits of Being Frugal That Will Surprise You

by Idea Pictogram | Jul 31, 2025 | ideas for humans

I’m the type of person who practices frugality like it’s a religion because I’ve discovered many surprising benefits of being frugal. Being frugal is not only wise, it’s a way of life that has freed me from debt, stress, and worry. Not only am I debt-free, I’m also not tied to material possessions. I live free from the stress of having to take care of maintaining a house or a car or even a pet.

In today’s world, we live in a gluttony of material wealth. We’re unable to let go of things that weigh us down. We mistakenly pursue ownership of things that bring us status and power. But the joy they bring you is only momentary. In this blog post, I talk about the seven surprising benefits of being frugal, which I have discovered by limiting how many material possessions I own.

Table of Contents:

1. I have enough emergency savings to last at least six months
2. I live debt-free, and I do not even have credit card debt
3. I have peace of mind and I am stress-free
4. I am less materialistic
5. I live a healthier lifestyle
6. I have a greater appreciation for what I already have
7. The more I save, the less I want

1. I have enough emergency savings to last at least six months

Everyone should have emergency savings. Many people don’t have enough savings to last them three months. If you don’t have emergency savings, it’s time to start saving now. If you were to lose your job or if your business were to slow down and lose income, you’d be cushioned against bad times until things start to look better again.

If you have trouble saving, take a look at your daily or weekly expenses. Examine where you can cut down your spending. Do you pay for a subscription to an app that you never use? Or do you buy lunch everyday when you could just pack a lunch from home? Do you take an Uber when you could use public transit? These are just some of the ways to save money. It starts with taking an audit of your expenses and cutting down on the ones that are “nice to have” but are not absolutely necessary.

Get into the habit and mindset of saving money. Being strategic about how you spend your money will get you farther in your saving goals, and faster, too. The surprising benefit of being frugal is that it protects you during emergencies when your cash flow is stagnant.

2. I live debt-free, and I do not even have credit card debt

As soon as I receive a credit card bill, I make sure that I pay it immediately. The idea of paying high interest fees on credit card debt is enough to make me think twice about delaying the payment of my monthly credit card bills.

If you adopt the same mindset, you’d have no creditors knocking on your door. Also, credit card debt can pile up, creating a dent in your credit score. Protect credit score at all costs. Your credit score determines how much interest you’d be paying on things like car insurance and your mortgage, and whether you can get that business loan.

Being debt-free saves you from the stress and worry of wondering whether you’ll ever be able to pay back your loans. For example, if you have student loans and are drowning in debt, the first thing you must do is pay it off so you’re not saddled with high-interest debt. The less money that goes to your debtors, the more you can put in your own pocket. No one likes forking over their hard-earned money to someone else.

3. I have peace of mind and I am stress-free

Since I’m frugal, I don’t have to worry about paying off debt and whether I have enough money for shelter, utilities, and food. I don’t lose sleep worrying about it.

Also, if you want to start a family, you must have enough savings to provide for your children. You can’t do that if you’re buried under a stack of bills. Since I don’t have any bills piling up, I can rest easy knowing that I don’t have any financial obligations that can get in the way of providing for my family. And what’s more important than family? Life is stressful enough as it is. Being debt-free is an easy way to lighten that burden. The surprising benefit of being frugal is that it gives you a peace of mind.

4. I am less materialistic

Stuff is just stuff that you will later throw or give away. There is so much waste going into landfills. It’s mindboggling how we can continue to consume and to waste in an endless cycle. Because I am frugal, I don’t buy things that I don’t need. I am less materialistic. This means I throw away less waste, and I uphold my personal value of being responsible for the environment and for the planet.

Consumer spending creates a global problem of waste that ends up in landfills. It’s killing our planet. It might not seem like a lot when one person stops adding to that waste, but when a mass of people collectively say “No” to waste, it can really add up and make a great impact.

In addition, materialism feels empty after a while. You’ve got the latest tech gadget, for example, but after a while, that shiny object loses its appeal, and you’re back to craving the next thing to distract you. The benefit of being frugal is that you care less about physical things, and more about what really brings you joy to your mental and emotional state.

5. I live a healthier lifestyle

Since I don’t eat out in restaurants, I save more money and also live a healthier lifestyle. I will occasionally splurge on a meal, but never more than once a week or three times a month. That hamburger and fries, loaded with calories, carbs, and sodium, does not entice me enough to make me sacrifice my health.

If you get cravings for unhealthy food, replace that unhealthy meal with one that will keep you full. That includes protein and complex carbs that will not spike your sugar level.

I understand that eating out at a restaurant is what people do when they get together. They want to socialize and have a good time. But why not convince your friends to have a picnic or potluck, or cook food together at home? That way, you choose what food you eat and still have the chance to socialize while enjoying a meal together.

6. I have a greater appreciation for what I already have

I feel a lot of gratitude for what I already have, because I’m not constantly trying to replace these things with newer purchases.

There’s nothing that makes you more unhappy than being greedy for things you don’t have. For example, I already have a winter coat that serves its purpose of keeping me warm during the winter. So why would I need a designer coat that costs more but serves the same purpose? Some people shop for designer brands because they feel that it brings them status and makes them the envy of their social circle. But that’s not really the root of the problem. The root of the problem is that they don’t appreciate what they already have.

If there is one way of feeling gratitude, it’s to change how you think about your possessions and to value what you already have. The surprising benefit of being frugal is that you appreciate what you already have.

7. The more I save, the less I want

Savings and want move in opposite directions and in inverse proportion. Meaning that, when I save more, I want less. It mattered less whether I had the latest pair of shoes from Nike or the latest iPhone from Apple. These things won’t make you happy. Besides, at the speed that technology moves these days, the latest and hippest gadget will become obsolete and out of fashion faster than you can say smartwatch. So save more, don’t get distracted by shiny objects, and you’ll find that you want less.

The Final Word

There are a lot of hidden benefits to being frugal. Spend less and save more to unlock the convenience of not being tied to material possessions. Having lived through one or more recessions, the current generation is wiser about how they spend their money. Not knowing what can happen in the economy the next day, or next week, can stress you out if you’re not prepared or if you don’t have your finances in order.

Because of the unpredictable nature of the economy, have ample savings that can cushion you in hard times. Being frugal is not about penny-pinching. It’s about investing in your future and being smart about the choices you make when you spend money. It’s a way of life free from greed, and free from feeling unhappy about what you don’t have.

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