Most people like to think they live their lives and determine their reality based on their logic and reason. But in reality, most decisions are based on our emotions.

When it comes to a battle between the willpower and the imagination, your imagination will win hands down every time. And your imagination is ruled by memories, by visualizations and by your emotions.

A number of years ago the motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, “People justify their purchases with logic but they buy on emotion.” How true, how true. You know, we may talk ourselves into things, but really we take action (or don’t) because of how we feel about those choices or that decision.

For instance, why do you drive the car or truck that you drive? Because it feels comfortable to you; it’s something that felt right to you.

Many will say, “Oh no, not me! I bought that car because it’s logical. Or, I need this truck for my work.” Uh-huh, right. Well, maybe you do use it for work, but it felt like the right thing to do—or you’d never have bought it.

So you justify logically what you did on emotion.

What about your clothes? The style of clothing you wear. Do you wear the same style of clothing as your 10-year-old children do, and you’re 45 years old? If you do, you may want to check out other alternatives.

These decisions are the pain or pleasure principle at work. You do what you do because you have an emotion that says this is the right thing.

What about your hair style? Again, you have your hair the way you have it because of how you feel about that hair style versus other styles. It gives you something. Whether you shave your head, let your hair grow down to your feet, or anywhere in between those two, you have the hairstyle you have because it feels like the right thing for you.

Why do you live where you do? You live there because it’s a comfortable place. The job you work, the friends you have, all the toys and goodies you’ve collected over the years, you have them all because they felt like the right things for you.

We justify our purchases with logic but we buy on emotions. And the emotions that we buy on, are about either avoiding pain or gaining pleasure. Be careful what “buying decisions” your emotions prod you to make.