Getting Out Of Debt (Part 4: Stick To The Plan)

Continued from Getting Out of Debt (Part 3.5: More on Expenses)

The last piece of the debt relief puzzle is called sticking to the plan. Like most of the other points I’ve made in this series on getting out of debt, there isn’t anything about this concept that should surprise you. This is just another tender morsel of truly common sense. In finance, as in any other area of life, the results you reap from a plan are a function of how well you stick to it.

Yes, you could argue that when circumstances change, and when it’s obvious that following the original plan will no longer produce the intended result, you need to have the flexibility to deviate from the plan and to chart a new course. I agree. That’s also common sense. For the purposes of this post, let’s assume that you’re working from a great plan, and that you have the flexibility and common sense to alter the plan if circumstances demand it.

A while back, I did a post on planning as it relates to developing your income. Today, when I talk about sticking to the plan, what I mean is adhering to the practices and principles of debt management, as described in all the previous posts in this series. What I mean is, keep doing all of the things you now know to do. Stick to the plan!

Recently, one of my coaching clients succeeded in an effort to eliminate over $14,000 in debt that had plagued her life for nearly a decade. She’s now completely debt free. She did it by following the practices and principles I’ve been talking about in this series. When I first met with her and assessed her situation, I told her it would take her two years, but she did it in just 18 months! What I found most remarkable about her victory was the strength of will she demonstrated by consistently following the plan we created for her.

It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t pretty, either. Eliminating all of her debt required very hard work, and making decisions based entirely on what would advance her financial position, without regard for her comfort or happiness in the moment. She made some really huge sacrifices in terms of quality of life, trusting that these sacrifices would pay off in the future, and they did.

Throughout those 18 months, we talked more about managing her mental/emotional duress than we did about debt. It took a huge amount of courage and perseverance for her to stick to her plan. It meant keeping a job that she hated, and getting a second job to supplement her income. It meant disciplining her spending and denying herself the joys of frivolous shopping. It meant cooking a lot and bringing her lunch to work. It meant regular and consistent management of every aspect of her personal finances. It meant 18 months of suffering in service of a greater purpose.

Not everyone I’ve coached has succeeded at getting out of debt. Those that have are the ones who stuck to the plan, no matter how hard it was. What’s hard is being patient and disciplined, despite the overwhelming temptation to give up and make poor financial decisions! It’s hard to watch people you know spend their money according to desire, while you spend yours according to your plan. It’s hard to keep doing what you know to do, when you start to question whether the long term gain of financial freedom is worth the short term sacrifices required by your plan.

This is the final piece of the debt relief puzzle. No matter how hard it gets, remember that sticking to your plan is the ONLY way out of the situation your in. The truth is, no matter how difficult it may seem to stay the course, the sacrifices you make now are inconsequential when compared to the experience of freedom, happiness, and limitless possibility available in living a debt-free life.

Some of you have been in debt for so long that you no longer remember, and can scarcely imagine life beyond debt. Is it really worth the sacrifice? The answer is absolutely, positively and without question, yes. Take the coaching and find out for yourself.

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