How Do You Stay Motivated Paying Off Debt?

I want you to picture something of me today. Just think about walking you just on a cold country road, just open sky above you, this cool air all around you. You're just taking it all in.No rush, just moving step by step. Certainly not sprinting. No fireworks going on around you. Just steady forward movement. See, debt freedom isn't explosive. It's rhythmic.Are you trying diligently right now to pay off some debt? Truth is, for so many of us, debt is exhausting because it's not just math. When we really get under the covers, we realize it's months of saying no.It's watching friends move forward while you feel stuck. It's paying and paying and still seeing that balance stare back at you every single month. And some days, the hardest part isn't the payment.It's the weariness if you're right now doing the right things. But you're so tired in your soul. Today's show is for you. Hey, friend. Ralph Estep Jr. Here.This is Financially Confident Christian, where we work to break that cycle of financial shame and do it with confidence. And today's topic is all about how we're trying to stay motivated when debt payoff feels slow. So let's get right into today's listener question.Ralph I'm tired. This debt has been weighing on me for so long, and even though I see I'm chipping away at it, the progress is slow and it's hard to stay motivated.No, I don't want to give up, but I need a plan that'll keep me encouraged when it feels like I'm barely moving forward. Ralph what actually works when you're in it for the long haul?First thing I want to say, thank you so much for sharing that question, and I love your motivation. You're motivated, in it for the long haul, which is the best place to be. But here's the problem. You don't stay motivated by willpower.I wish I could say, hey, just push through it. Willpower will do it. But it doesn't work, does it? But you do stay motivated by those small wins and a steady rhythm. But the question still remains.How do we get there? Here's how we get there. First thing you've got to do, you've got to make the progress visible. You got to see it.See, debt payoff feels slow when you only look at the remaining balance. When you get those monthly statements and you just feel, oh, man, this isn't moving anywhere.You just see that remaining debt, it's kind of like looking in a mountain in front of you every month, you're seeing that same mountain. So here's one of the things I encourage you to do. Track what you've already destroyed.Yes, I'm using the word intentionally destroyed because I want you to change your mindset here. Here's something I want you to write down and keep track of this every week, every month, whatever works for you.Write down the total debt paid off so far, because then it's going to motivate you. Because then it's not about willpower anymore. It's about, wow, look what I've accomplished.Yes, maybe you've got a whole stack of more to go, but don't forget about where you came from. Put it where you can see it all the time. Because in so many of our lives, our brain needs evidence that the work is working.Here's another thing I want to encourage you to do. And I've seen people struggle with this. This is one of the biggest obstacles I see in my practice all the time.You gotta pick one strategy and stop switching.The problem is you hear this guru talk about, well, maybe you tried to do the snowball method and maybe that's not working for you, so you try to do the avalanche method. But here's the problem. Debt gets discouraging when you keep changing the plan.So pick an option, and I'm going to encourage you to pick an option and commit to it for 90 days. And we've talked about the snowball method where you take that small balance first and that gives you those fast emotional wins.We've also talked about the avalanche method where you really look at chipping away those highest interest rates first. It's the fastest when math wins.But right now, today, decide to pick one and commit to it for 90 days, because that consistency is going to beat intensity when you're feeling low and you feel like you're not getting anywhere. Here's another pro tip. Add some mini milestones to the journey on purpose.I never forget when I was younger, I used to walk this annual walk for charity every year, and it was 18 miles long. Well, if I had started off and just said, well, I'm going to walk 18 miles, I would have probably never finished.But I knew every mile or two there was a checkpoint. I could get something to eat, I could get something to drink and sort of celebrate my wins and see if you're in that debt payoff cycle.If your next debt payoff is 18 months away, your motivation is going to struggle. I'll give you another perfect example of this. Think of it like a diet. I've got 10 pounds to go and I'll have lost 200 pounds.For a lot of people, that's a person. But when I first started, I couldn't say to myself, hey, I've got to lose £200. I set milestones.I remember the first time my milestone was lose five pounds. And then once I lost those five, I set a mile, another milestone. Now last year I set a morning more aggressive milestone.I wanted to lose 70 pounds and I did it. But listen, it didn't happen overnight. It was day in and day out. But I kept my motivation because I set those milestones.So do the same thing in your debt payment strategy.Maybe you set those milestones at every $500 pay, or maybe every 10% reduced, or maybe you line up those credit cards and everyone that you knock out or get down to a certain number, those are the milestones that matter. And celebrate with a planned budget reward. This isn't the time to splurge. Don't go run up that debt again, but make yourself a marker.Because just like that long walk or that diet, that long obedience needs mile markers so you can keep moving forward. But you've also got to build some reality into it. And that's what I call building in a fatigue plan for those hard months. Because guess what?If you're like all of us, you're going to have months where you're just tired.You're going to have those months where, man, it just seems like every time I turn around, another bill's coming in, the car's broken, insurance bill hit. So you've got to decide ahead of time what you're going to do when one of those hard months come.One of the things that I truly recommend is on those hard months, you still pay the minimum fees and maybe pick a number and add that as extra. I'm going to pay the minimum and I'm going to add $25 extra.Now that might not be what you wanted to do, that might not fit into your long term plan, but that keeps that habit alive. I know there are days when I'm dieting, I'm really watching what I eat and I just have to splurge a little bit.And I just have to say to myself, you know what? Tomorrow morning I get started again. Because it's not giving up, it's staying in the fight. And listen, if you give up, you've lost the battle.But big picture thing, you've got to tie that debt payoff to freedom and not punishment. So many people look like debt payoff. Is this punishment? I made all these bad decisions, Ralph. I've ran up these credit cards. I ran up this debt.And for. To be honest with you, some people stay motivated by that fear and shame. But after a while, at least for me, that shame burns out.It just doesn't motivate me anymore. I'm kind of happy living in that shame. Instead, I think. Name what freedom looks like as you're starting this budget, this debt battle.Name what that looks like. Maybe things like this. I want to sleep again. I don't want to be worried sick every night. How am I going to pay my bills? Maybe for you.You want your marriage to breathe because you've seen how this has created so much tension between you and your partner. We've talked about that on the show. Maybe you want that margin to be generous. You don't to be worried about, man. I just got enough to meet my bills.Maybe you just want to stop feeling trapped. The Bible talks about debt being a slave. You've been a slave to the lender. And here's the thing. You've got to.You've got to embrace debt payoff is not you paying for past mistakes. Listen, we've all made those mistakes. We've all bought those things we probably shouldn't have bought.We ran up that credit card when we shouldn't have done it. But you're building a new future here. And that future includes God. And that's why I do this show. Because I've recognized something slow.Progress is still progress. Maybe for you, it's this month. I didn't add any new debt. Guess what? That's progress. So here's today's 1.Just a single step takeaway that you can do right now. I want you to write one sentence. Just one sentence. And I want you to keep it where you're going to see it. Here's what I want you to write.I'm not paying off debt to prove I'm good. I'm paying off debt to live free. And then track your debt destroyed number this week. I think it's really going to motivate you.Well, let's get today's Bible verse. And it comes to us from the book of Galatians, chapter 6, verse 9.Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. That motivates me, and I hope it motivates you. Because debt payoff is long obedience. It's. It's hard work.It's, it's big decisions over a long period of time. But God speaks directly to that tired heart that he wants to quit. And he says, do not become weary because you will get the harvest.How about we pray together, Father God, you see the weight this debt is carried. You see those sleepless nights, and you see the stress and the frustration and just the overall fatigue, Lord.And I ask right now that you strengthen, my friend, Right now is wherever they're at, and not just financially, Lord, but emotionally and spiritually at the same time. And when that progress feels so we know it's going to feel slow at times, Lord, remind them that faithfulness matters.And as your word says, help them not to grow weary in doing good, but give them wisdom for the plan, Lord, and discipline for the rhythm. And bigger than that, encouragement for the long haul. And Lord, as they keep going, let that freedom come.Let it come little by little and then fully. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Friend, I want to remind you of something. You're doing a hard thing. You're not failing. You're fighting.And God honors the fight. And God honors those faithful steps.And if you've got a question you'd like me to answer on the show, I want to encourage you right now to send it to us. Go to Financially Confident Christian. I'm going to give you that again and we'll put it in the show notes. It's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/questionbecause this show is all about answering your questions and helping you break that cycle of financial shame and truly live in confidence. So thank you so much for joining me today. Stay financially savvy. May God bless you. And you have a great day today.