Reasons Why People Dream Living Debt Free But Still Living in Debt
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Living Debt Free seems to be a dream life for many people. However, for certain people, this dream is beyond their ability to achieve. If you dream to be debt free but you still keep receiving the bills from your creditors each month, you are not alone.
Before this I wrote a post about why people are in debt and I wish people will understand why they are in debt after reading the post. By understanding the reasons, they will change and improve. However, lately I found that this is not enough. There are a group of people who know the why, the steps and also the facts to get out of debt but in reality they are still in debt.
Don’t you think it is strange that people who know everything about debt free but they are still in debt. I believe the process of being debt free is just like getting your weight under control. Everyone wants to have a good looking and healthy body but there are still people who are over-weight. This is because it takes “something” to achieve it and this what I want to discuss over here today.
Besides a Dream of Living Debt Free, What else are needed?
Yes, we all knew that dreaming is not enough. A dream will be a dream forever without any practical actions. Without action, you are considered daydreaming but if you take actions, you are considered as goal chaser. So if you want to have a debt free life, then you must know what else it takes for you to take more actions consistently.
Determination
We need a strong determination to take action. I still remember a theory from Anthony Robbins that people will take action and do something after they make their decision. So if you have a dream and don’t take any action, then you have not decided yet. This is what determination about. I saw a lot of people want to get out of debt and they know why they must do it and even understand the correct steps to do so. But they are not success because their determination is not enough. In their mind, they haven’t decided to quit their debts yet and still continue to generate more debts.
So how you can build up this determination? If you read my post the selling theories that I learn from Anthony Robbins, you will understand that all our mind and behavior are driven by pain and pleasure. So we can leverage on this theory and build up our determination.
First you must think what are the pains, stress, sadness that you get from your debts. Maybe you are stress each time you receive a phone from creditors, maybe you are stress that you have to figure out a way to pay the minimum payment each month. Maybe you worry about the bankruptcy which can ruin your life and etc. Just keep thinking all the pains of the debts each day to remind your mind. One day you say “enough” to the pain and determine to take action. I am also using the same theory to build my determination on weight control too.
Plans
A plan is the second requirement to get out of debt. However, this is the requirement that people always miss or skip. People will lose their focus easily if they don’t have a goal with a plan. This is why people will choose not to take actions. If you don’t have a plan, you will feel overwhelmed and don’t know what you can do. There are simply too many choices for you. However the story will be different if you have a plan that record your goals, steps and strategies that you can use. You will feel much easier because all you have to do is just follow the plan and you will achieve what you want.
The most common plan for you to get out of debt is starting a budget and decide how much of your income will be used to pay the debts. From my own experience, a budget is a must for every one of us who want to succeed in personal finance. First you can understand your spending habits and where are you now financially through a budget. Then you can understand how you can generate the most money out from your budget to pay off your debts. In your plan, paying debts is the main focus for you.
Self Discipline
I found that those who can get out of debt and never fall back to it are strong in self discipline. In fact, lack of self discipline really generates a lot of problems to us.
If you want to have a debt free life, then you must control your habits on spending, money management and also buying. People get into debt because they don’t spend their money wisely. After that they don’t have any clues to manage their money properly. Actually we cannot blame them as most of us are high in IQ but low in FQ. Last but not least, controlling our buying desire is the key to get out of debt successfully.
In most cases, I found that people who are in debts are because their buying desires. I can tell you that this is the biggest obstacle that you and I must overcome in order to succeed. Usually people will buy something according to their emotion and desires. Buying desires are so strong until they never think before they buy. Let me give you an example, lately I read a story that a man bought a book for 3 times and he never knew this before he clean up his store room. Buying the same book for 3 times? There must be some problem here.
My suggestion for self discipline is set some rules for yourself. Maybe next time when you want to buy something, you set a rule that you must make at least 3 times of income to buy it. Or maybe you can start a competition with your friends or family that how long you can stay away from those shopping centers, shopping TV channels and also shopping web sites. As long as you set some rules for yourself, then yourself discipline abilities will be improved.
No Pain, No Gain
I am following an exercise program to keep my body in shape. In the program, the instructor always says “No Pain, No Gain”. That’s mean without making some sacrifice or taking some pain; you will never gain or achieve anything. If you want to get out of debt and achieve your dream of living debt free, then you have to suffer from fighting with your emotions, desires and habits. I knew this is not easy but ask yourself this question: Do you want to be debt free? If yes, then just do it!
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I agree but I don’t necessarily think that a daily reminder of the pain has to be primary for coming up with a debt reduction solution. Unfortunately it does take that for some people but for me I like to take an approach of something positive like I can’t wait until I am debt free and I can quit my day job to manage my hobby, or work part time and spend more time with my family etc. I think positive motivators are just as powerful and negative and painful ones. Great article…thanks.