Gear Not Stuff: October Edition

Great gear under $100, with suggestions from the 2% crew.

Housekeeping:

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• For those who missed Wednesday’s post, we covered the power of Exercise Snacks and how to use them in your life to boost your health and make your workouts more accessible.

It’s the second Friday of the month, so it’s time for Gear, Not Stuff.

The concept for Gear Not Stuff is simple.

We live in a world of mass consumerism and have more stuff than ever. As I point out in Scarcity Brain, the average home contains at least 10,000 items.

If we want a new item, we no longer have the pause of traveling to a store to buy it—we can buy it right from our computer, phone, or TV. Online retailers also leverage elements of the scarcity loop to increase the probability that we’ll buy.

Our shift to material abundance has changed our relationship to our possessions, and curious forces are now leading us to acquire more stuff than we need. Minimalism, you’ll know if you read Scarcity Brain, has also failed us. Luckily, I found a smarter way we can get more from less.

In thinking about how we can make smarter purchasing decisions, I’ve begun delineating between gear and stuff.

Stuff is a possession for the sake of it. Stuff adds to a collection of (too many) items. We often buy stuff impulsively to fix boredom or stress or to solve a problem we could figure out creatively with another item.

Gear, on the other hand, has a clear purpose of helping us achieve a higher purpose. Gear is a tool we can use to have better experiences that make us healthier and give our lives meaning.

I’ve had to learn and think a lot about gear due to the nature of my work and the wild scenarios it throws at me.

This month, we’re covering a few everyday items that cost less than $100, as suggested by you.

• A better coffeemaker.
• A better protein shaker bottle.
• A solid pocketknife and a magical note of currency.

Let’s roll …