Day 6 - Feel-Good Factor

Day 6 - The Feel-Good Factor

Wow, you're still here, doing this. I applaud you! Is it going well for you? Do you finally feel like you have a grip on what we're doing here? Was yesterday's post helpful?

Today I will talk about:

The Feel-Good Factor

Let's do this:

The "Feel-good factor" is usually defined as a quality in something that makes people feel happy and positive about their lives, a product, the economy, etc.

A very efficient product, with a well researched design and that is also pleasant to the senses, contains a "feel-good factor", because it makes you feel good while using it. When a products does its job well and sometimes even performs over its intended initial use, it gives you a pleasant feeling.

Many many companies have compromised good design for other things like price cutdown or speed of manufacturing. However, what is very worrying is that many many companies have compromised ethics, morality, equity, fairness, eco-friendliness for the same reasons (speed and cheapness) etc.

With this compromise came a series of effects that we don't directly connect to products, but that are the consequence of the use of those products.

When we buy or use a product, we don't think about how it makes us feel. We usually end our analysis with whether it has done its job or not. However, if we become a little more aware of how the product makes us feel, we begin to see and understand many more things about that product.

Take... a mere pen for example. If it helps us write what we need, it's effective. If it helps us write in a beautiful way (I don't know how they do it, but somehow some pens make me write more beautifully), we're sold. The way it makes us feel is the difference between an ordinary pen and an extra-ordinary pen.

There's one very important "feel-good factor" that we haven't yet thought about - what I call "the charitable feel-good factor". When we do good deeds, including charitable things, selfless things, we feel good. Why? Science has tried to explain it and some argue that it's because it makes us feel superior, gives us a sense of abundance in comparison to our peers, a sense that we are the successful individuals of our tribe.

The other reason is that it gives us a boost of dopamine and oxytocin (happiness hormones) because it is in our DNA to be giving, to share resources and to cooperate, it increases our chances to get help in return in case we become powerless, by creating bonds with those around us, thus ensuring survival.

Whatever it is, this feel-good factor is very important when dealing with products, because it might make a world of a difference. Take for example fair-trade products. We know that using these products helps the people who gather the raw materials lead a good life, thus igniting the "charitable feel-good factor", making us feel good about ourselves for not being completely selfish.

When one has low self-esteem, doing small good deeds like this might increase the level of happiness hormones in the brain and might give them a boost just big enough to nudge them out of their misery.

So, when in [self-]doubt, buy ethical products. They will make you feel as good as it makes the persons who produced them.

Any products that have any type of certification on them is better than a product with no certification what-so-ever. So reach for those each time you're at the supermarket.