THE 3 DAY RULE…
“We’ll buy a lot of clothes when we don’t really need them. Things we buy to cover up what’s inside. Cause they make us hate ourselves and love their wealth. That’s why shorty’s hollering “where the ballars’ at?” Kanye West ‘All Falls down’
Spending is fast becoming South Africa’s pastime. With advertising fast becoming more and more efficient in making people hate themselves and make you believe you need a Tag Heuer watch to be in control and on time. Everywhere you go everyone is trying to sell you something. I have a special financial definition for us South Africans; we are newly issued shares, we are new in the marked and vulnerable to any small change in the market. When you a small player in the mist of all this big markets, you fast become pray to their dirty tactics. For example advertising. One cannot fight things hidden in plain sight. Ads tailored in a manner that successfully manipulates our spending habits.
The THREE DAY RULE was originally tailored to help those silly overzealous guys that want to call a girl right after they get her number. Lol hold on brother, at least give her some time to miss you, if you did leave an impression that is.
In one of the episodes on How I Met Your Mother Barney went on to explain that Jesus via waiting 3 days to come back to life was a great influence in having the 3 day rule invented.
“Jesus waited three days to come back to life. It was perfect! If he had only waited one day, a lot of people wouldn’t have even heard he died. They’d be all, “Hey Jesus, what up?” and Jesus would probably be like, “What up? I died yesterday!” and they’d be all, “Uh, you look pretty alive to me, dude…” and then Jesus would have to explain how he was resurrected, and how it was a miracle, and the dude’d be like “Uhh okay, whatever you say, bro…” And he’s not gonna come back on a Saturday. Everybody’s busy, doing chores, workin’ the loom, trimmin’ the beard, NO. He waited the perfect number of days, three. Plus it’s Sunday, so everyone’s in church already, and they’re all in there like “Oh no, Jesus is dead”, and then BAM! He bursts in the back door, runnin’ up the aisle, everyone’s totally psyched, and FYI, that’s when he invented the high five. That’s why we wait three days to call a woman, because that’s how long Jesus wants us to wait…. True story.” Barney, How I Met Your Mother
After going through this I was like, hold up. Maybe we can harness some genius from this. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where your instincts take over and you end up buying something you never really needed? Like you get home and soon as you try on those new shoes on you instantly wonder why on earth would you have spent that much on them? It wasn’t even a planned purchase and now you off budget for the rest of the month and will most probably have to call mommy dearest to help you out, or borrow money from a friend or even use up your credit card. Balleritis much.
Let’s then adopt the 3 day rule and apply it to this situation. How about the next time you see something you really really like and is quite pricey; why not quickly get out of that shop, because the more you are in there the more reasons you are going to find to buy that specific item. That is how stores make their money, the environment in the store is usually cooled off, clean and everything placed neatly side by side with a cute sales lady trying to convince you that everything looks good on you.
It’s usually not easy snapping out of that splashing trans, but just think of your wallet, tell yourself you will be back in 3 days to come purchase the shoes, by that time you would have thought it through, bargained enough with yourself and most probably saw your sneaker collection and thought that maybe I have enough shoes and do not need more, or saw that the fridge is empty and that R999 for the sneakers might as well go towards groceries, electricity and some petrol.
What the 3 day period does is, it helps you think straight and be rational about your choice of purchase. The 3 day rule also helps emotional spenders break away from the habit of buying stuff in hopes of getting some form of happiness and getting more appreciation form the outside world. New clothes can never attract the opposite sex, and if they do, then you hanging around the wrong crowd. So next time you decide to make a big purchase, just stop yourself and walk out, see if you still want to do the same thing 3 days later; you might actually shock and impress yourself! The 3 day rule helps you grow above temptations, it matures and gives you a clear mind.
“I got a couple past due bills, I won’t get specific, I got a problem with spending before I get it. We all self-conscious I’m just the first to admit it” Kanye West
