New Laptop Purchase Story

One time, I was diagnosing a client’s chronic low work productivity. The reason was finally revealed 3 months in: he was distracted by games installed on his work laptop.

His personal laptop had died years ago, and his conservative relationship with money kept him from buying a new one. So whenever he got stuck on a task, he’d take a “quick” break to play games, and suddenly 1-2 hours would be lost.

It took six sessions of trust-building for him to share this without fear of judgment or shame. 

Suddenly, I wasn't a career coach; I was a life coach, navigating the sensitive territory of his relationship with money, self-worth, and investing in himself. We had a deep conversation on measuring ROI.

Quantitative context: A new laptop can feel “too expensive” in isolation. But it’s very different in the context of a monthly budget and hours of lost productivity.

Qualitative context: We should consider the intangible ROI too. How much is improved focus and peace of mind worth? Often, the emotional and cognitive gains are priceless investments in ourselves.

Self-worth and follow-through: Investing in ourselves requires the belief that we’re worthy of that investment—and we have the discipline to follow through. In his case, it meant buying a new laptop and committing not to play games on it during work hours.

At the end of that session, I asked if he could commit to uninstalling those games from his work laptop. 

I was in for a big surprise: He bought a new laptop that same evening.
In the following session, he reported a 5x increase in productivity.

Even more beautifully, our conversation shifted his overall relationship with money: he finally replaced his worn-out headphones too, a purchase he’d deferred for years.

When coaching creates enough psychological safety, even the stickiest habit patterns can loosen—enabling the smallest changes that often lead to the greatest freedom.