It’s almost the end of 1st quarter already-whoa! For those of you in sales- good luck hitting your numbers during the next week or so. For accountants- our thoughts are with you during busy season.
Many of us started 2010 with a few goals
We wanted to make this year better than the last. We wanted to lose weight, pay down our debt, quit smoking, get a new job, etc. How are you doing on your personal 2010 goals? Have you lost sight of these goals completely? Have you “quit” your goals?
You’ve all heard it before, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” It’s funny how we never think of ourselves as insane but, according to this definition, most of us are.
This year I had to face my own insanity and break the madness. I’m hell bent on achieving my #1 goal: paying OFF my debt. I imagine my battle with debt (although still well below that of the average American’s) is similar to those who battle with their weight. It is very psychological and at times hard to control.
The Change Process That Has worked for me
I’ve used the following process to help me make a big change in my life. It can easily be applied to losing weight, saving money, or searching for a new job. So far it’s working really well for me.
Confession to yourself. It started with looking at the number instead of ignoring it. Really facing it. Hating it, but facing it.
Confession to Accountability Partners. My anxiety was eating me alive, so I finally told my parents, boyfriend and best friend the number-all parties are strongly against keeping balances on credit cards. Confessing was where it really began for me.
Now I have a team of cheerleaders encouraging me to “get ‘er done”! Plus, I can’t suddenly appear with new things and go out all the time anymore because they are watching. It’s also easier for them to understand when I have to say no to stay within the budget.
At the end of each month I check in with Katie and tell her how much I paid off, and what I did good and bad. It has led to much progress.
Taking Action. I only had 3 credit cards, and I cut them up one by one. It was really hard for me to let go of that last one. It was my security blanket. So my boyfriend cut it up while I wasn’t looking…
Getting used to discomfort. I’m not cut out for credit cards. I never bought anything too extreme when I did use one, just some trips to TJMaxx, Target, and those “but it was on sale!!” purchases that add up over time.
Thanks to my credit card, I had never allowed myself to feel the discomfort of saying NO. Crazy, isn’t it? The more I face the discomfort, the easier it gets. I still don’t like it, but now I can tolerate it. I think getting used to discomfort is the best thing you can do for your life, your career and your goals.
Create systems that work for you. I’m on a cash only system now. Who wants to shop en masse with cash? No one. If I get tempted, it’s easy to look in your wallet and say, “I truly cannot buy this.”
I stay out of stores. Sometimes this requires closing my eyes while walking past (you should see all the awesome stores around my office-they are my enemies). I know, it’s ridiculous but its true.
I also plan far ahead. Again, so basic but something I wasn’t doing. I always figured it would “work itself out.” I spent a lot on gifts and said yes to every dinner invitation. Not anymore. I have to plan ahead for my hair appointments, wedding gifts and car maintenance.
Make sacrifices. I decided to move out of my 25th floor Gold Coast apartment to move into a less glamorous neighborhood with Katie. I’m doing this because it is helping me reach my goal faster. It is also a factor of admitting that what I was doing wasn’t working.
Rinse and Repeat. With the help of your cheerleaders and a bit of focus, you will get comfortable being uncomfortable. Being uncomfortable is what leads you to change. Create systems that don’t allow you to fail. Keep it up over time. Review (and celebrate!) your progress regularly.
Let us hold you accountable
- What were your 2010 goals?
- What systems did you create for yourself to avoid temptation and falling back into your old habits?
- Are you afraid of changing in order to get yourself to where you want to be?
- If you fell off the wagon this year, why did you? Do you plan on getting back to your goals?
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If anyone can relate to where you're at in your career, it's Nicole Crimaldi: Nicole spent 5 years in corporate America, switched career paths, worked at a start-up, survived a layoff and is now self-employed. Nicole believes that career satisfaction is a huge part of overall happiness. Therefore, she started Ms. Career Girl to help other women get off the treadmill and onto a more fulfilling path.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Nicole,
You beat me to it
. I’m planning on writing this exact post on April 1st. But I’ll share a few of things that I’m working on.
1) Quarterly Marketing Plan: this has hands down been the greatest tool that I’ve used in the growth I’ve accomplished in q1. By sharing it with people I’ve actually had a few things happen. It’s kept on track. It’s also helped me with accountability because people will comment on it to this day and I wrote it in December.
2) Daily/Weekly Review of Goals: I have a list of 10 or so personal/professional goals and I review them daily. While I’m not at each of them I think of something i’ve been running across in self help tapes I’ve been listening. You probably won’t be at your destination for 95% of the journey, but that doesn’t mean you should stop the journey.
3) Sidetracks: So I had this one goal of 1000 subscribers by April. Unless I get 500 subscribers in the next week (unlikely), then I won’t make it. But that was largely due to the BlogcastFM launch. So that was actually a positive sidetrack for me.
And in less than a few business days I’ll be part of the iphone mafia, and apparently it changes your life, so I’ll have some productivity changes coming I’m sure.
Get ready for the iPhone to change your life…I used to have a Blackberry and the iPhone blows it out of the water. I’m absolutely in love with it.
I think keeping your goals top of mind and reviewing them often is so important. I keep mine saved to my desk top at work so I can glance at them regularly. I also have a picture on my fridge that motivates me to get my financial act together. But just like dieting, after you pay off your debt it requires serious maintenance. Otherwise, you’re back to square 1.
Looking forward to reading your post on April 1.
In the meantime- READERS, SUBSCRIBE TO SRINI’S BLOG! It is awesome! (I hope my lame attempt there helps you get a wee bit closer to 500 more subscribers!)
Nicole
Hey Nicole – Congrats on the progress you’re making paying down your debt! I know 2010 goals was really the focus of this post, but debt’s a scary thing, and really easy to get into – so I wanted to say thanks for writing about this topic.
I’m in a similar situation, between student loans and living a little too large for a couple years, I’m working hard to pay off/down my debts in 2010. I confided and found support through a few close friends and family, and took similar steps as you to curb spending. I’m paying off as much as I can each month, closed any unnecessary credit lines (kept one for emergencies, but I don’t carry the card with me). I had to give some things up, and it is not easy, but I’m living within my means, and overall I feel SO much less stressed and happier!
Not to mention, my friends and I have become a lot more creative – we eat in more and try new recipes and have really started to take advantage of the great things Chicago has to offer – for FREE.
Tracey,
Doesn’t it feel great to just come clean about it? There’s no doubt in my mind that “living too large” is the reason for my debt. It’s really easy to do in a huge city full of new restaurants and a plethora of bars and entertainment.
You finally wake up one day and realize that nothing is going to change unless you change it.
I like being open about my weakness of debt because I think a lot of people in their twenties are going through the same thing (and in most cases way worse than my situation). I was hiding it from myself for a long time and all that did was create more stress and more debt in the end.
I think our generation needed a wakeup call from endless sources of cheap and easy credit. While having the biggest Escalade in town used to be cool, now people look down on it as and call it excessive. I’m glad being more financially conservative is in style at the moment.
Also, having accountability partners is the only way to get through it. Over spending is an addiction and that isn’t something you can overcome alone!
Good luck with your journey to being debt free. Maybe one of these days we’ll start a Chicago support group- like AA for shopaholics.
Nicole
I had a little bit of an easier time getting out of credit card debt thanks to some family generosity; now I just have to keep myself out of it! I desperately need a budget! I’ve never done this before, except when I took $100 out in cash every week and that was my “entertainment” money, but I’d cheat with that too. I realized, while trying to compile said budget, that I have no idea where about half of my money goes each month! Sure, I can track bills, but those credit card payments? Where was that money originally spent? So, for the past three months, I’ve been tracking EVERY SINGLE PENNY. At the end of this month, I’ll have a three-month track record I can expand into an annual budget. I’m actually really looking forward to it and finally getting this aspect of my life under control! I’m starting to save for things too — with their own accounts: wedding, vacation, rainy days. It’s really liberating.
Good luck with your goal, Nicole! It sounds like you are really making some progress!
Jen,
Good for you! Congrats on taking a step towards identifying the issues.
Are you tracking all of this by hand? I like mint.com. It automatically feeds your checking account activity into categories which you can then view as a pie chart. When I first did this with mine, I was pretty shocked that I had spent $775 on dining out and entertainment that month…I also realized that Walgreens was getting way too much of my money-why? I have no idea!
Like you said, it really is liberating. I’m just starting to feel that the more I do this the more it will feel great.
I think part 2 of this is scenario is eventually making more money whether it’s through a promotion at work, finding a new better paying job, or doing sidework that you love and get paid for. Most of us started getting into debt bc our income: debt ratio was out of whack. Cutting costs is great, but eventually we’re probably going to need to earn more money if we want to live like that.
Nicole
Nicole,
I just read this post and am on mint.com as we speak. I can’t wait to get started. I love how many new ideas your post has brought to my life!
-Aimee