Getting to Debt Free Forever

I’ve often said that getting to debt free is simple but it isn’t easy. And that’s the problem most people have with biting down and getting to work. They would rather whine about how horrible life is, complain about how stressed they are or simply stick their heads in the sand that get busy. If you’re one of the people who is procrastinating about taking control of your money and your life, you first have to figure out why you’re procrastinating.

At the University of Konstanz in Germany, a team of psychologists wanted to see if our tendency to procrastinate had anything to do with how we think of the task at hand. Could it be that if we see something as psychologically "distant" – like getting to debt-free – that makes us resistant to tackling the task immediately.

A group of students were asked to respond to a group of questions by e-mail within three weeks. The questions had to do with run-of-the-mill tasks like opening a bank account or keeping a diary. Students were given different instructions for answering the questions. Some were asked to think and write about what each activity in an abstract way as in what the task implied about personal traits: what kind of person has a bank account? Others were asked about the concrete steps of each activity: speaking to a teller, filling out forms, making an initial deposit. Then the psychologists waited and waited… and waited. They recorded all the response times to see if there was a difference between the two groups.

Guess what? There was. A very clear difference. While all of the students were being paid upon completion, those who were asked to think about the questions abstractly were more likely to procrastinate. Some never got around to the assignment at all. Those who were focused on the concrete steps – the how, when and where of doing the task -- got the job done sooner.

It seems that just thinking about what you want to accomplish in concrete, specific terms reduces our tendency to procrastinate.

Blame your fear. Blame your sense of failure. Blame your belief that you can’t do it yourself. Whatever excuse you use, you’re guaranteeing your failure.

Take the bull by the horns, lay out a plan of action, make that plan specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely, and you’re on your way to debt-free forever.

Start now. Each time you put off getting started you allow the problem to grow in size and complexity in your mind. For as long as you’re not doing something about a problem you’re allowing the fear to build. Stop living in fear and start doing something different.
Break down the steps. Make the plan concrete. Make the steps manageable. Setting a goal of being debt-free forever by the end of the year is great, but only if you also say how you’re going to do it. “I’m going to cut $200 in unessential spending from my budget and apply that to my debt repayment.” Those concrete steps are what will make the plan actionable.
Enjoy the challenge. Yup, it may feel like you’re about to climb a mountain, but how you approach the mountain will make all the difference in the world. If you keep looking at how high it is and reinforcing how impossible it is to get to the top, you’ll fail. If you see each step you take up the mountain as something to celebrate, you’ll eventually reach the summit. Attitude counts.