WANTS and NEEDS

"Prioritize your needs and discipline your wants." goes a famous saying. 

Every day of our life is full of decisions. These are decisions of every type - what clothes to wear / mode of transportation to use / where to go / what to eat etc. Most of these decisions if not all are between two options i.e. 'wants' and 'needs'. Before we go ahead, let us know what these two things are.

Needs - Something without which our normal lives cannot go on or the desired work will not get done. There is no substitute for it. It cannot be eliminated or replaced. Good examples of needs are air for breathing, food and water. (Here I have given examples of the most basic necessities of life.)  

Wants - Things that we crave to fulfill our desire. These are things that may or may not be same as needs. Our normal life can still go ahead without them or our work can get done without them. In most of the cases there is a good enough substitute for these things. More than any other function our 'wants' fulfill our craving to have those very things. In most of the cases these are luxury items. 

Let me show it through an example. Imagine a middle class family of four. They need to travel for work, family commitments etc. The public transport in their town is not really efficient or it does not match their timing. So, they need a car. For a middle class family who needs a car, a second hand car is the best option. In case they need to go for a new car, there are options like Maruti or Hyundai cars which are well within the budget of a middle class family. It will perfectly fulfill their need. BUT they feel that a family friend has a BMW and a cousin has an Audi so they should have something to match. What do they do? They take a loan and buy a Mercedes. They do this because they want to show that they too have a high end car. For this they take a heavy loan. In addition, they also spend a huge amount on the regular servicing and maintenance of the car. The result is a heavy financial burden causing stress. 

Sounds familiar? I bet it does.

Every-time we need to make a decision especially about what to buy, it is a great idea to see if it is a need or a want. Once we do this analysis, we make the right choice and accrue many benefits. Some of these are - 

1. We save money.

2. We avoid a scenario of regretting our decision at a later stage.

3. We avoid stress.

4. We avoid a situation wherein we have to justify our own decision even though we may not be convinced about it.

How to do the analysis?

So, how to do the need / want analysis? Ask yourself a few questions. Some of these questions can be as follows -

a. What work do I need to get done? What is my time frame and the expected quality of the work? 

b. Which of the options available to me will get the work done best? (Without compromising on the quality of the outcome.)

c. Is it the only option available to me? What are the other options? 

d. Is it financially the most affordable option?

e. Is there a better option available? (Financially and qualitatively)  

f. What will be the fallout / side effect of each option? (Financial, stress, quality of the work etc.)

g. Can I avoid buying this thing altogether and get the work done in some other way? How will my life be affected if I do that? 

These are some suggestive questions. You can re-frame these as per the situation. It is important to remember that while making the final decision, you need to be absolutely honest with yourself in answering these questions.

In matter of spending time also

This analysis need not be confined to making choices in material things. It can also be done while deciding how to spend your time. (Activities you want to do like leisure (Wants) vs activities that you need to do for long term benefit like studies, professional improvement, exercise etc. (Needs)

In the end

I am not suggesting that we stop indulging our wants and desires altogether. Life is meant to be enjoyed and we must fulfill our wants once in a while. However, it is important to not make it a habit or an addiction. If it does become an addiction, we start mistaking our wants as our needs and stop cherishing the special things that life has to offer.  

Doing this need / want analysis will help you lead a happier life and make better choices in the long run.