Strategic Gift Shopping
With Strategic Gift Shopping I wanted to write a book that not only entertains but hopefully provides value in different forms. It’s intended to be both a ‘HOW TO’ and a ‘WHAT’. The book stems largely from me having fun writing and presumably having gotten something right in the gift shopping arena. The more these strategies help people, the more fun and smiles there’s going to be in relationships and the better off everyone will be. There’s of course a relationship tie in through the overall positive aspects of giving and receiving gifts, but I don’t pretend to be a relationship expert. Here, on the other hand, I believe I’m tested, having done ‘multiple tours’. If through the book I’m able to impact lives even outside my own circle in a positive way, put smiles on faces, then I’m happy.
First I started putting things on paper just to see how things would flow and if there was something that would stick and sell. Then things sort of started falling into place and what had started as jotting down my own approach became something with many, hopefully useful, angles that I felt deserved to be polished up and put on display. It’ll be exciting to see, how widely this thing gets adopted and endorsed.
It’s notebook size, so that the so inclined could indeed have it on them if they wanted to refresh their memory and get ideas. Hopefully many buy in to the strategy and if a ton of women endorse my system and tell their guys that ‘if you adopt this approach’ you’re a winner’ then I’ve truly succeeded…
Why do you think people should be looking to continuously improve themselves?
Continuous improvement is an interesting concept. To me, it’s about living life to the fullest, making the most of the time we have available. Not only getting out of the comfort zone but expanding your comfort zone, if you may, is highly rewarding. It’s fun to realize, when you’ve stretched yourself that ‘whaddya know, it was doable after all’. It’s like practice, and practice is really about working on minimizing the margin for error. Got to do that, if you want to succeed.
Tell us more about how you like to give old things a new spin in your spare time.
‘New spins’ is my kind of creativity. Not sure if my imagination would ever direct me to fiction writing, but there’s a lot of untapped potential in merely ‘turning the tables’ and looking at things from a new perspective. In my profession, opportunity can come knocking in different forms. An old concept used in one industry can be neglected or unheard of in another, but hold a lot of potential, when adopted right at the right time. A lot of useful things can be massaged and be put to new uses. In domestic and family life, the best fun one can have is goofing around with things that have their uses in something entirely different. I’ve used my wife’s exercise ball as a ‘flight simulator’ for a 4 year old, old promotional sweat bands for (relatively) safe indoor archery, etc. And in the book, ladies’ magazines transform to ‘field intelligence’, just to give you another example.
Why do you think gift shopping is so stressful?
Yes, stress and anxiety. I guess gift shopping, or anything else for that matter, wasn’t stressful, if you did not care about the outcome. But if you do, there’s always some stress. And if it’s about people you care about the most, there can be an additional layer of stress. Generally, I’m a guy who does not stress too much (some, appropriately, but not too much) and as there’s a tool that I’ve used to accomplish a ‘stress-free’ stage in shopping for gifts, I wanted to share. Voice it.
If there’s anything I can do with my book in terms of reducing stress in relationships, then that’s a bonus.
What are your worst experiences of gift shopping?
My worst experiences in gift shopping probably relate to the times when I’ve bumped up against my dead-line, with no real ideas and with time running short. Not a place you want to be in, but totally avoidable, as I’ve tried to explain.
Why do you think people should deal with challenges head first?
‘Head first’ has a double meaning, as you probably guessed. I have a couple of mottos, one of them being ‘no hesitation’ if you’re thinking about doing something. That does not mean that even if you’re looking to take a plunge, you should take it without looking at the terrain. Or take just any plunge. I do try and pick my challenges and my head is an ally for the heart. If those two are aligned on something, I tend to follow.
Why do you think kitchen appliances are always fall-back gifts?
Kitchenware or appliances is a category, that I’ve excluded from my list of gifts, the main reason being that it has the tendency to reinforce traditional family roles. Cooking and cleaning are chores that need not pile on one partner alone. I use a frying pan a good deal myself, but have never really been excited about the prospect of getting one (or something in the category) gift wrapped. I want to extend the same courtesy, if you may, to ladies also. Certainly, there may be cases where someone really, really would like to become a world-class barista, something to help in that could be gift-wrapped as well, but if cooking or cuisine is not a dear hobby, I’d focus on gifts that take you out of the kitchen and break the routines, not ones that reinforce them.
What is next for you?
‘What’s next’? I tend to have a couple of irons in the fire. A couple of healthy challenges in front of me in my professional practice, some unfinished work at the house (as always) and an action list and some targets on the favorite pastimes front. Right now, after a wonderful summer, I’m looking forward to getting the book launched. The coming winter will hopefully bring early snow so that I get my practice on the snowboard (otherwise I’ll start falling behind my sons). When it comes to writing, I do have a piece or two waiting, one being a diary of my Fridays off one fall with just me and my youngest, finding out how the world turns when you’re ‘off the grid’. It, too, comes with some new spins on old things. We’ll see when I get that one out.