Col has hoarded so much stuff he literally owns a forklift to manage it.

This week on The Fink Tank, we dig into the psychology of keeping shit you don't need.

I LIVE for the moment when someone asks "do we have a cable for this?” and I can produce it from a cluttered box I fought to keep. That feeling is so good it almost justifies the years of stepping over the box.

Almost.

We’re at Mum’s place, the Fink family home where we grew up, attempting to declutter.

Progress is slow.

She rarely wants to throw anything out, and we quickly get distracted by sedimentary layers of keepsakes.

Our mate Pete Cook wrote a blog that’s helped with my slow recovery:

“I think when you buy a thing (as opposed to an experience) you pay for it three times.

You pay to buy it. You pay to own it (in physical space, head space, and possibly maintenance and repairs). And then you pay to dispose of it. And generally, we underestimate the cost to own and the cost to dispose.

It’s a good reminder to think twice about the next thing I want to buy.“

The complication is that throwing things out feels terrible too. Another item condemned to landfill, when it might come in handy one day.

It's a real tension, and we obviously haven’t solved it.

But Mum, Cato, if you're reading this, step away from the hard rubbish.

The Fink Tank started in 2019. The first episode came out in 2023.

If you've got an idea sitting on the launch pad, this one's for you.

It wasn’t called The Fink Tank back then. I didn't even know what it was. I just knew I wanted to publish something fun with my brother Col.

On the day this was recorded I'd been producing a curriculum series for Jaquie Scammell in a rented filming space. Col dropped in to take advantage of the setup and record some work-related content.

I seized the moment. Just before pack-down I jumped on camera with him and we made this playful video.

I posted it on Facebook in May 2019 and people loved it. Hundreds of likes and comments. I was delighted. The idea had legs!!

And then… nothing.

In 2020 and 2021 I produced over one hundred episodes of the video podcast What's on Your Mind for Digby and Alicia. It was hugely popular. People still talk about it.

I made a hundred episodes of a podcast. For someone else. And still didn't feel ready for my own.

In early 2023 Col and I finally recorded content for the first few Fink Tank episodes. It still took me FOUR MONTHS to get over my block and publish episode one.

Since then we've put out more than 120 episodes, a frankly astonishing and very un-Fink-like discipline and consistency.

It's built a small, engaged following. It feeds into our businesses. And, most importantly, it's a fun thing to do with my brother Col.

I look back sometimes and wonder what I was waiting for.

What are you waiting for?

When is it okay to break your own rules?

Picture this:

You’re the team manager of a social over 45s football team, where the mantra is every player gets a fair go.

Your team hasn’t won in two years. Your goal differential is a dismal -99.

Somehow, in the last game of another winless season, you’re 1-0 up at half time.

Your worst defender is sitting on the bench, due his 30 “fair go” minutes.

What do you do?

Every collective of people has rules. Families, social groups, sports teams, and organisations all have rules and norms about what is considered fair and reasonable.

When is it okay to break them?

I play crap level old-man football. The stakes are low, but feelings aren’t.

At the other end of the spectrum, Col has coached ultimate frisbee for the Australian team at international level. Winning matters. It’s the explicit goal. Yet some concession is still made to opportunity and fairness.

Whether at work or at home, I'm sure you've got rules that help ensure people are treated fairly.

I'm also sure there are times when it feels right to break them.