Experiences, not Acquisitions

Hi, I'm Aki Tan and I'm a hoarder.

I hoard books, not bears, by the way...

The above picture is a small fraction of the burgeoning collection of books and magazines that is threatening to bring down my bookshelf. I have a box of craft materials that is not very used. I have rolls and rolls of washi tape and files of scrapbooking paper. 

Why do I have so much stuff? Well, partly it's GAS = Gear Acquisition Syndrome. The term is more commonly used for tech gear but in this case, I think the same applies to the books, magazines and craft materials that I have.

Which is why I read (and re-read) the articles in Flow Issue 5 with interest. There were 2 articles which I felt spoke directly to hoarders keen for rehab. In one of the articles, "How Great Small Can Be", Alain de Botton wrote:

"Why, then, if expensive things cannot bring us remarkable joy, are we so powerfully drawn to them?... Because expensive items can feel like plausible solutions to needs we don't understand."

So it becomes easier to buy something than to do serious soul-searching to find out what is it we're missing. After all, it only takes a walk to the store and an opening of the wallet. And research has also proven before that impulse buys can indeed bring a high level of satisfaction. (A Google brings up a list of research, I have chosen to link this one: Effects of Impulse Purchases on Consumers' Affective States.) 

This is true for me, for the craft materials at least. When I moved into my new house, I had a whole room which I used as a study/studio. With all that space to play with, I suddenly found myself able to buy and store all the paper I ever wanted, and paper being paper, of course took up space. I couldn't bear to use all the stuff I bought, though, 'cause what if I wanted to use it for another project? What if I used it and it didn't turn out right?

I acquired and acquired and one day, I realized, they become 'plausible solutions to needs' that I didn't understand fully yet. I wanted to Make Good Art, and so I bought all those things thinking that I would some day. But my real need wasn't to buy materials, it was to actually do stuff with them.

It took a lot of acquiring before I realized that the only thing I was doing was collecting materials but yet I had nothing to show for all the buying I was doing. At some point, I told myself, that's it, now it's time to start making. 

And when I started making, this led to another kind of satisfaction, which was the kind that authors Botsman and Rogers (What's Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption) referred to. 

"We want to fulfil our needs with the material or experience that these products offer." Yes, the experience from the products, not the products itself. 

This is a good reminder every time I am tempted by something new. I ask myself: Am I more interested in buying the book? Or reading it? Do I want to make art, or buy paint? The reminder here is that what we are really interested in is the experience that comes from the product. If the experience can be had with something already in possession, then further purchase is unnecessary. Even if acquisition is necessary, sites like Carousell can help one to buy something secondhand and usable instead of buying a new items.

Nowadays, I let myself be a bit more free when I use the materials, since it's clear that I have nearly a lifetime of craft materials hoarded away. Do I get tempted now and then? Of course I do, and I do end up buying some more stuff. The difference is now I give myself more permission to use and misuse the things I buy, so as to continue to gain the benefit of experience rather than the short-lived one of acquisition. There were times when I wasted some stuff by making some real fugly things, but I was also rewarded at many other times with something that just looked good. It is those times I look forward to, because those remind me what life's experiences are all about. They are about experiences and not products. 

 

Collective Hub #outofthepagesiread

One of the magazines I've picked up this year is Collective Hub. I found this magazine in a cafe and flipping the first few pages got me hooked enough that I went searching for it at various bookstores around SG. Too bad I couldn't finish that issue before my brunch!

A brief about the magazine, according to their website:

"Collective Hub covers business, design, technology, social change, fashion, travel, food, film and art."

But it was their philosophy that I felt was well carried out in their pages:

OUR PHILOSOPHY

We are insatiably curious, naturally collaborative and uniquely creative.Collective Hub exists to foster and empower a community of people to live their best lives at work and in play. We offer pragmatism and inspiration in equal measure to help create a world of dreamers and doers.

The magazine features a variety of creative entrepreneurs and managers working in various fields. There does seem to be a creative focus to it as well. The June issue which I managed to find has various art inserts, some with inspirational sayings that appeal to the Piscean in me. Like this one from Terry Pratchett:

"Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colours."

True to its philosophy, it also comes with practical advice as well. For one feature, there are interviews with nomad entrepreneurs and tips on how they made it work, useful for anyone who works best outside an office.

What I found most inspiring, though, were their features. Interviews with various entrepreneurs who went off the beaten path, discovering their own dreams and journeys in life. And I think this is one of the most powerful parts of the magazine.

Because it gives me this thought: Why aren't I doing that? Why aren't I doing all these cool stuff that other people are doing? Why didn't I think of that first? Why didn't I make the first move that these people did?

And even if I managed to answer these questions satisfactorily, another pops up: What then, am I doing about it?

So this is the more powerful aspect of the magazine for me, that it inspires me, that it makes me reflect, rethink and look back on my life and that it gives me hope for the future that it doesn't always have to be what everyone else says it is. 

The magazine is a monthly publication but Kinokuniya unfortunately doesn't bring in many copies, probably due to low popularity. Please start asking for it more at the bookstore so that they bring in more!

Out of the pages I read....

I'm a magazine buyer and hoarder. I love to browse the magazine racks to look for interesting articles and I don't mind spending money on some of the more expensive overseas publications. I do feel the money for the articles is worth spending on because of the quality of the writing. Many of them are also smart enough to manage their content so that what is published on paper is different from what is published online. 

And anyway, isn't it nicer to read on paper than on a screen? ;) 

But at the same time, I do wish that I could get more learning out of the magazines I read. I find sometimes that after reading, the magazine goes into a bag to be thrown away or given away. How would I know that I am retaining the information that I read or even applying them in real life?

So I thought of a plan, namely the

The 3-Stage Magazine Cycle (#outofthepagesiread for a nicer title)

Stage 1: Buy and read

The easiest stage of all, requiring the least effort, haha. 

Stage 2: Read and Do

The hardest stage, because this requires an action to derive something tangible. For the arty magazines like Daphne's Diary, Flow or Mollie Makes, this can be in the form of an art project. For magazines with stories like Frankie, this can be a piece of fiction. For non-fiction like Psychology Today, more essay-style articles. 

(Sounds easy, but the thought of the work involved sends me into shivers actually)

Stage 3: Sell

Just to extract that one last value, attempt to sell the magazine on Carousell and put some funds towards, er, the next magazine. :p Anyone who wants to support me in this step is welcome.......

Mind you, I prefer to do this for the more expensive foreign publications. I think local stuff like 8 Days is cheap enough for me to just read it la.

And another thing,

Why Do I Even Bother?

Firstly, I think it's a great way to get inspiration for art or writing projects. Some magazines like Daphne's Diary and Frankie have beautifully done pages and articles and there have been a number of times I have been inspired by what I read. But I don't always act on them and in the end, no product at the end. So it's a good way to exercise creative muscle.

Secondly, some of these magazines have great information that can't be found locally. Psychology Today has well-researched articles from universities and scientific institutions and it's all very up-to-date. This is information I want to share and remember and writing about it is one way to do so.

Thirdly, I'm hoping this would cut down on mindless magazine buying. Yes, the amount of money I spend on these publications is crazy, sometimes. Sometimes, I even find myself buying them simply because it's a habit to do so. I did this for Oh Comely, till one day, I realized the articles were inciting lesser interest in me and I decided to stop buying it altogether, unless a feature was particularly interesting. 

What's my chance of success?

Right now, I think the difficulty level is very high! Doing craft and writing takes time to do properly, and I'm not sure I can do enough activity at Stage 2 before I buy the next issue! Not only that, but from my short stint selling on Carousell, I also know that Stage 3 also takes up a fair amount of time! Would the money earned back be even worth the effort of trying?

Yet, 

The first reward only comes with the first step.

If I don't even make the first step to try because I was convinced it would utterly fail, I would not get anything at all. At least by starting on it, I can learn something out of it even if I fail miserably. At the very least, maybe it would make me think twice about indiscriminately buying more magazines.

And I already have the first reward, which is a blog article about the plan! Who knows if someone else would stumble onto it and get a great idea to do it? That'll be nice, to think that I passed a good idea along. :) 

So wish me luck! I'm going to start with the first article soon so I can get things done before the next issue comes out!