A better approach

According to research, we get a dopamine surge from buying stuff that causes us to want more and more.

Delayed gratification when the order arrives a few days later also makes is more physiologically rewarding than shopping in stores.

Some online shops have made it especially easy to shop with a one-click buying process. Most major retailers offer free shipping, and only one in ten consumers return stuff they've bought online.

Americans are also taking up more space with all the stuff they are amassing. Self-storage units are rapidly increasing too.

Food scientist Sam J. Porcello invented the newer version of the Oreo. He was one of the world's foremost experts on cocoa and helped develop the extra indulgent chocolate and white chocolate-covered Oreo.

The original recipe for Oreo cookies contained lard (pork fat). With the changing climate of the low-fat 1990s, the lard was replaced, and the cookie became kosher and unexpectedly also vegan.

• In 1984, The Oreo Big Stuf was launched. Individually wrapped, the snack was a massive 316 calories (a single Oreo contains about 53 calories) and took around 20 minutes to eat.
• Oreo cookies are also used in pie crusts, churros, and ice cream cones.
• In January 2017, Virginia-based The Veil Brewing Company released a version of their chocolate milk stout infused with real Oreo cookies. It was sold out within a week.
• Game of Thrones Oreo: One winter, a special edition Oreos came out embossed with the crests of the four remaining (at the time) houses. The cookie company went to the production company that made the main titles for GoT Elastic. The Oreo-meets-GoT universe took about 2,750 computer-generated Oreos with 20 million crumbs scattered throughout the Oreo-scape.

1. Identify your driving forces: the big shifts in society, economics, technology and politics in the future and see how it will affect your company.
2. Identify your critical uncertainties: pick 1-2 of the driving forces (with the most impact).
3. Develop a range of plausible scenarios: Form a kind of matrix with your two critical uncertainties as axis and depending on what direction each of the uncertainties will take, you are now able to draw four possible scenarios for the future.
4. Discuss the implications: discuss the various implications and impacts of each scenario and start to reconsider your strategy: set your mission and your goals while taking into account every scenario.

• Don't fall into the trap is to be paralyzed by the multitude of possibilities. Keep it simple and focus on two major uncertainties.
• Don't believe that you have to choose one particular scenario and build your strategy around it. Scenario planning is not about choosing just one option for the future but rather dealing with all of the possible outcomes to develop a strategy that will stand the test of all scenarios.
• When developing your different scenarios, try to not look at the short term. Do not hesitate to look far ahead, anticipating what the market and competitors are going to be over the next years. 

But you don’t have to constantly be battling your fears. You only need to be courageous for 20 seconds at a time.

If you courageously confront fear for 20 seconds every single day, before you know it, you’ll be in a different socio-economic and social situation.

Many organic farmers, especially the large ones, don’t skip pesticides and fertilizers, they just use natural options, which are hardly risk-free.

Any additional nutritional benefits from organic foods, compared with conventional, are very small.

Ultimately, if you want more nutrients, eat more vegetables, organic or not.

Your first step is to figure out what counts as a true emergency. 

Not all emergencies can be predicted, but many can. Car repairs, medical expenses, higher-than-normal bills. Even having a list of things that you can and cannot spend an emergency fund on can help you stay on track and avoid spending it when you shouldn't.

You’ve probably heard that time is your greatest investing asset. It’s true. The more investments earn and grow on their own, the greater they become.

Investment value is also greatly impacted by the amount invested.

When we notice the relationship between money and time, we realise that wealth isn't necessarily an abundance of money, but an abundance of time. When you gather a lot of money, you collect a large store of time which you can use as you want.

Financial independence is then geared to having saved enough, so you're no longer required to work for money. Yet, many people spend so much time gathering stuff but don't set aside anything for the future.

An irony of modern society is that many people work more to have more money to buy more stuff, but because they have so much stuff, they need more money, which means they have to work more, which means they have less time. To escape this vicious cycle:

• Deliberately reduce your spending below the level needed to maintain your lifestyle.
• Spending less helps fund your future. Living with a lesser lifestyle means you don't need to save as much for retirement.

A consumer spends money and follows trends while an investor puts capital to work and takes advantage of trends.

Chronic consumers often go broke, and persistent investors often get rich.

• You feel the need to reward yourself after a hard day of work by buying new clothes/accessories or eating out.
• Lifestyle creep controls your expenses. When your income increases, you buy a new car or a more expensive house.
• You reserve your credit card for unexpected expenses instead of using an emergency fund.
• You rationalize using a credit card to buy things you might not purchase with a debit card.
• When something is on sale, you feel the urge to buy it, even if you wouldn't have otherwise bought it.
• You follow social trends.
• You don't think you have money to invest or the time for it.