“The Panera & Fitness Effect”
I came across an advancement in my emotional intelligence when I started to delve into the justification of my purchases that I now call “The Panera Effect”.
I found myself justifying the cost of things that I buy based upon how it makes me “feel”. Feelings are personal to all of us and its heavily based upon our experiences. Take Panera Bread, for instance.
When I take my family to Panera, my kids get all excited because they love those darn over-priced sandwiches. They just “feel” great throughout the entire process from going there, while eating it, and then telling themselves how great it was. When there is feeling attached to a purchase, that expenditure is irrelevant.
Of course Panera has great food, but paying close to $50 for lunch for one day??? Let’s take a step and think about that for a moment (see receipt below).
When there is a feeling attached to a purchase, the price of that purchase is justified in our minds.
We don’t NEED a Panera sandwich (we want it) but there are many things in this world that we NEED. Our needs are water, shelter, clothing, and yes, toilet paper. When we talk about disposable purchases, price definitely comes into play.
We don’t really need to purchase those fancy heavy-weighted paper plates for a bbq. We go with the cheapest or close to it – just enough cost to hold those delicious ribs we smoked. Same goes for plastic silverware or napkins.
Why?
Because we do not have an emotional feeling attached to those purchases.
For a large portion of the population, “The Panera Effect” does not apply to their fitness choices. Individuals tend to make their fitness gym choices based upon price even before considering value. Location definitely is of importance as well.
Panera Bread provides disposable value in the form of satisfaction but it is not sustainable. One cannot buy $50 Panera lunches every day ($50 x 31 days = $1,551 /month).
Individuals tend to make their fitness gym choices based upon price even before considering value.
Every single person has gone through the roller coaster ride of starting a fitness workout plan or a nutrition diet only to stop it weeks or months later.
This process gets repeated numerous times in our lives which is why you tend to see many people focus on their health and fitness at the beginning of every year.
They WANT to get better. For some of us, we NEED to get better for serious health reasons.
If you were able to put a price on your health, how much would you pay?
Taking it further, would you pay for results or just the cheapest membership?
We tend to spend $50 and up on one meal but somehow a gym membership is too much? Most reputable class-based memberships are $160/month and up which equates to only $5+/day but its health rewards are valuable, not disposable.
The best decision you can make for your health & fitness is to seek out a fitness facility that has the ability to provide you true value, has a feeling component to it, and equally important, gets you injury/pain-free results. Being in close proximity to your home helps too.
Imagine you feeling excited about going to your gym/fitness facility, loving it when you are there, feeling satisfied after your workout, and you are receiving sustainable results.
Oh, and the bonus is that you have now stopped your roller coaster fitness ride for good as your fitness a priority the entire year (not just at the beginning).
If you can find a place like that, you have now felt your “FITNESS EFFECT“.