Ep. 70 Charles Clay: Shifting from Consumer to Producer

What does it mean to be a consumer? It often feels that this is an interchangeable term - another way of saying “the public”, when framed in terms of the economy. We are not humans but consumers – buyers of things. Fodder for the capitalist machine. Wikipedia, that great bastion of absolute truth, defines a consumer as “a person or a group who intends to order, orders, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs” It then goes on to quote President John F. Kennedy: “Consumers, by definition, include us all.” It’s true. We must consume. We must nourish ourselves. We must fuel our cells and muscles so that we can live. And if we’re to continue up Maslow’s pyramid, we must also be consumers of those material things that keep us safe, dry, and warm. We consume the attention of those most important to us to satisfy our need for love and approval. And there are our material needs that make us feel validated, that reinforce a sense of status, self-esteem and worth. But in this capitalist, consumerist world, it’s very easy for our identities – our very sense of self – to be attach to that which we consume. The bigger cars, bigger houses, newest sneakers, suggest that we are somehow better, more important, more worthy. The news and information that we consume align us with ideological tribes which give us a sense of belonging – whether that’s real or not. But just as we consume food to sate hunger, what emptiness is it that are we trying to fill with our rampant consumption of other things, and why do we seem to get hungrier, the more we devour. Back in episode 57 I spoke to meditation expert Tom Cronin, who suggested the idea that we consume because we believe that there is a hole inside us – a sense of lack – that needs to be filled. Only when it is full can we be happy, content, and realise our potential. But the truth, and the reason we can’t stop consuming, is that there is no hole. We already have everything we need to be happy, content, and fulfilled, and when we realise that, when we start to actualise ourselves and the inner abundance that is already within us, we will no longer be attached to all those things – that diet of food, information, ideas, emotional need, material excess, whatever – because we will no longer find ourselves lacking. We will no longer need to consume. We will no longer be consumers. So if we are not consumers, what are we? In this episode I speak with Charles Clay. Charles is an empowerment coach and author, and through his own story of a devastating back injury and his self-driven recovery he went on to develop a practice he calls the Laser Focus Method, to help individuals actualise their own potential. As part of this he encourages a shift from a consumer mindset, to a producer mindset. And as producers, rather than being subject to the world we live in, we become fully realised creators, ready to give back to – and shape – the world we live in, rather than simply consuming, and being shaped, by it. You can find out about Charles at www.charlesclay.coach, and also on his instagram where his handle is www.instagram.com/charlesclay.coach.