Actual vs. Potential Value

The Difference Between Actual vs. Potential Value

Many people appear to be unaware of the difference between actual and potential value of objects, especially those with hoarding tendencies but others too. They hang onto items they don’t use because “they have too much potential to throw away.” They believe that potential value must inevitably become actual value, that is, something they really use.

So how can you tell the difference between potential and actual value? The easiest criteria is that items that have actual value are IN USE and items with only potential value are not. Regardless of the frequency of use, items with actual value don’t merely sit on a shelf, in a cabinet, or in a pile. Things in piles probably have only potential value, as things can rarely be used from a pile, at least not without wasting time looking for them or digging them out.

A few words show that an item’s only value is potential: Should, Ought, Might, Could, and Maybe. {Please email me if you think of others!} Why? Look at the meaning behind each word:

“Should” and “Ought” mean that you feel obliged to do something with an item but aren’t currently doing it.
Worth exploring: Why do you feel obliged?
Is that obligation based on anything real?
What would happen if you never fulfilled that expectation?
Who is imposing the expectation?

“Might” and “Could” mean that perhaps you will do something with the item in the future but perhaps you won’t – you aren’t committed to acting.
Worth exploring: Is keeping an item, giving it space in your home worth any potential use?
What would happen if an item with only potential value were gone?

“Maybe” means that you can imagine a possible use for an item without any plan or commitment to implement that idea.
Worth exploring: Given how much else you have on your to-do lists, is even thinking about how to use an item with only potential value worth your time and energy?
How would being relieved of the burden of remembering and thinking about ideas for using that item feel?

Words that indicate actual use of an item include: “Am” (as in “I am using it”), “Will” (“I will use it on ____), “Do” (“I do use it with ___ frequency”), and “Every” (“Every ____ I use it for a specific and regular purpose”). Items described by these words have actual value.

The difference between actual vs. potential value is also shown by how long an item has been in your home or workplace without being used. With the exception of work supplies (for you work from home), every item that comes into your home needs a deadline or regular cycle for its use. For most items, this deadline needs to be based on a rational analysis that includes:

How often do these items arrive? For items like newspapers that likely arrive daily, the deadline should usually be one day to avoid becoming buried under unread newspapers.

What is your capacity for managing the item? Many people subscribe to far more magazines than they could ever possibly read, leading to growing stacks of expensive, flashy, current (at least until they fall behind, as they must), guilt-inducing, and seemingly-important-for-staying-informed magazines. Few people can keep up with more than one or two magazines a month, so subscribing to more is a recipe for falling further and further behind, and feeling worse and worse about themselves.

What use do you make of the item? Many people subscribe to magazines with health, housekeeping, money management, or other tips but they use NONE of this information. In many cases, articles are saved from the magazines, only to go in a pile or file, never to be seen again. The actual value of these articles is ZERO because no use is made of them. The only value a “tips” article has is its capacity for influencing your behavior. If the article lives only in a pile or file rather than your actions, it has no impact and thus no value.

Ask yourself before subscribing to or renewing any magazine subscription:
What actual use have you made of material from a magazine or in your piles or anything like it in the past 12 months?
How long does it take from the time you receive a magazine until you read it?
How many magazine articles have caused you to change your behavior in the past 12 months? If none, why subscribe or save the articles?
If you expect to read saved articles or magazines later, or finish books, or complete crafts or repairs projects, what will make that happen? Saving potentially useful items until you retire on the expectation that you will have more time is a fantasy – many people don’t really have as much as free time as they expect after retirement (self-care, housework, and errands take longer as we get older, and medical appointments occupy increasing amounts of time) and for many people, not having the structure of a job to go to means that they are less organized and disciplined about getting things done. Plus, aging tends to reinforce existing behaviors rather than trigger new ones, so this period of life tends to not lead to great bursts of action and creativity (it can – for those who are very disciplined and determined).
How many articles, magazines, books, crafts or repairs projects do you have waiting for action? How many do you complete in a month? This should be the maximum number that you allow to remain in your home. If none, do yourself a favor and don’t save any – reducing this kind of pressure is one of the easiest stress reduction measures you can take.
What stops you from implementing good advice from a magazine or book immediately? If you aren’t going to take the advice immediately, when will you? What mechanism will ensure that this actually happens? How often do you go back to these sources later to implement their advice? The truth is, if you don’t begin using the advice you just read immediately, the overwhelming odds are that you never will.
“Expert” advice often sounds good when you first hear it but calm reflection shows that it's not such a good idea after all. How often have you tried an idea from a book or magazine and found it caused problems or didn’t work? (Ideas in magazines in particular are often simplistic, overly specific, and from unreliable sources.)

What changes do items undergo the longer they are kept?

Do they become discolored, wrinkled, brittle, torn, or degraded by pests?
If clothing, does it still fit? If you want to lose weight so items will fit, what exercise and food plan (not a short-term diet – these don’t work) will you follow forever to ensure that they do and continue to fit?
Do items become out-dated? Magazine information has a short shelf-life – it’s soon superseded by other information that rejects the previous advice. Clothing goes out of fashion, equipment becomes obsolete and parts unavailable, software and books explaining them become obsolete as soon as the company decides to stop supporting it.
Many items’ usefulness wanes with interest, changes in available time, affordability (retirement may mean that some hobbies become financially impossible); some examples are sporting goods, musical instruments, carpentry projects, and some crafts
Are you still able to use it? Many items that are useful for healthy people become completely unusable if injuries or illness limit activities.
Are you only saving it because you invested money in it and throwing it out would mean that your money was wasted?
Is it in good condition? If it needs repair, how realistic are beliefs that you actually will repair it? If you repair it, will you use it? Do you actually NEED it (i.e., it will serve some function that no existing item can do)?
If you kept something that seems to have too much potential to get rid of it, and now both time and money are invested in it, are you only keeping it to redeem your investment? At what point would you have enough proof that it isn’t as useful as you expected and could let it go?
Is the activity represented by the item still a priority in your life? If the desire to undertake some great goal sweeps over you, other activities may need to be set aside for longer than the materials or supplies will remain usable. (When I decided to write two new books, lots of other activities became irrelevant, so I dumped my sewing fabrics, yarns, etc. in favor of focusing on the books. It's nice to have fewer things to think about.)

It’s also difficult to determine what we actually need vs. what we want because we don’t know what the future will bring. We try, rightly, to prepare for a variety of situations so that we won’t be caught off guard. But none of us can really predict the future so we will always be wrong by some amount. Being over-prepared is perhaps safer than being under-prepared, but over-preparing means over-spending and storing and tending stuff we never need, not the most efficient use of time, money, energy, or space. Careful thought is needed to balance appropriate preparedness with having healthy finances and space.

So given how much confusion there is over actually vs. potentially useful items, how can you tell them apart before acquiring them? Several tests may help:

Before seeing the ad or product for sale, was it something you thought you needed? How soon after acquiring it would you definitely use it?

What is your track record with using such items? If you never used one or not in a long time, what proves that you would use the item if you had it?
What would happen to your space if you bought this item? Your finances? Your time? Your health?

If you waited 30 days before buying the item, would you be more or less likely to make the purchase?

Every item we acquire and keep brings pain along with whatever benefits it gives (or potentially gives). That pain includes:

Caring for the item: every belonging needs some sort of cleaning, correct use (requires studying and remembering {or re-reading!} the instructions and filing them to be able to find them when you can’t remember; and perhaps calling the company to ask what the instructions mean), repairs, and maintenance to hold off deterioration.

Finding space for the item: even the largest home has finite space and bringing in more items than you have room for means giving up an existing item (and finding a new home for it and transporting it there), paying for storage (one of the biggest wastes of money there is), or sacrificing your quality of life.

Acquiring has many costs: shopping trips, actual purchase, care and maintenance, storage, disposal in some cases – every stage of ownership has associated expenses, and all expenses mean sacrificing some other use you could make of your money, or going in the red financially (always a bad idea, especially for items you aren’t really using).

Time: shopping, cleaning, maintaining, moving, and ultimately, disposing of belongings limits time available for more interesting activities.

Pressure: every item you own creates pressure to use it, creating a subtle but ever-present source of stress. Our belongings “talk” to us, inducing guilt and shame when we don’t use them (“you spent all that time and money and you don’t even use it”, or worse, “you wasted all that time and money”) that lowers our self-esteem (“you are such a fool” or worse, “you are a failure – you can’t even stop yourself from throwing away your money or acting like this”). These thoughts ramp up the pressure: “I must use it to redeem what I spent, how long I’ve kept it, and how much I have suffered for doing so.” When you don’t or can’t use it, the pressure and self-recrimination increase, which can lead to depression, low self-esteem, and often, increasing acquisition.

Preventing Unnecessary Acquisition
Don’t look at ads on TV, the Internet, in magazines, or on podcasts or radio. Avoid catalogs – they are cesspools of temptation and manufactured need. Hit the mute button on the TV the minute the commercials come on – TV ads are more insidious than other ads because movement and sound convey advertisers message more powerfully. Ignore store windows.

Screen all phone calls; restrict incoming calls to those that allow caller ID. Use an answering machine and don’t answer calls from unfamiliar numbers. Tell telemarketers to remove your name from their call list.

Always shop from a list. Don’t buy anything without a clearly defined need.

Many people acquire things for which they have no immediate use because of a condition young people call “FOMO”: Fear of Missing Out. This is the idea that if you don’t have or do something, your future or life will somehow be impoverished. This often leads to bad decisions. If you do something mainly because you fear not having the opportunity later, you aren’t acting rationally but under the impetus of an emotion. When you are ruled by any emotion, your ability to rationally analyze consequences or outcomes is impaired. If the desire lasts and seems important, step back from the emotion and try to understand it in terms of the overall direction you want your life to go in.
Each task associated with an item creates a burden, one that increases with every item we own. It's one thing to have this burden for items in actual use and quite another for items that aren’t. Relieving yourself of the burden from any item not used in the past year will make your life easier and less stressful. Freedom from such burdens feels good.

RESOURCES:
AdBusters (love their description: the Journal of the Mental Environment) https://www.adbusters.org/

Consumer Reports – the back page of each issue

“Overcome Hoarding and Transform Your Life: How to Choose Life and Hope Rather than Things”

“Setting Priorities For What To Keep And What To Discard”

Previous | Next

Articles Index

Office Organization | Time Management | File Systems | Hoarding