7 steps to get yourself out of debt
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Today, I posted on my Facebook page that I will be out of both secured and unsecured debt by the time I am 40. A rainfall of friendly kudos preceded my announcement. Then, a friend of mine asked, “Ok… so how did you do it?” That inspired today’s blog.

Here is how I will be out of debt by 40.

1) I set an intention: In 2013, I set an intention with a timeline. “I will have no unsecured debt by the time I turn 40.” Originally, the car wasn’t on my radar. I just wanted the cards gone. Since 40 is such a milestone, that’s the timeline I set. At the time, I also set having a PhD by 45. But I haven’t quite tackled that. Tackle one BIG intention at a time to minimize overwhelm.

2) I put it in writing: It wasn’t enough to just want it. I had to put pen to paper. I wrote out all my bills and balances to get an idea of what I was really looking at. It was scary, but I kept going until every single bill with its current balance and payment was listed.

3) I got real: Once I knew what I was looking at, I devised a plan to start making it go away. I could eat an elephant one bite at a time. It wasn’t so scary to look at my smallest card and say. “Ok, I’m going to pay YOU off.” Yeah, I personalized it, sometimes going as far as to name them as I paid them down. “Ok, Credit One. This is your last payment. And once you are done, I’m going to cancel you because I don’t need you.” I did it and then used that money (an extra $50 a month) to pay down my next one and so on.

4) I took action: Then I actually did what I said I was going to do. I didn’t just write a plan and put it on the shelf. I worked it to the best of my ability and my circumstances.

5) I was open to how it would happen: I left room for the universe to work. It wasn’t like everything went according to plan at ALL! In fact, at one point I was so frustrated that I had a temper tantrum. Which leads to…

6) I consistently reaffirmed my desire: Reaffirm my desire. It’s not enough to set the intention once, I had to set it over and over again.

7) I kept doing it until I was successful: Consistently repeating steps four through six results in success that feels easy and free. It doesn’t feel burdensome or overwhelming.

I have a few thousand left on a car and all my debt is gone. But I won’t stop there. I’ll set another goal. At the beginning of this journey, my credit score was in the low 400s. I was recovering emotionally, mentally, and financially from a divorce with a bankruptcy on my record. I’m getting SO close to the 700s now I can TASTE it.

Intention: My next goal will be to build my credit from high 600s to high 800s by 42.

I’ll tackle that goal in the same way, always using purposeful intention as my guide.

I’m thinking of offering this process as a part of life coaching. I can set up steps one through three and, if the client wants, I can help with the rest through accountability. But, as all coaches will tell you – it’s your action that creates the result. With intention, planning, action, reaffirmation, and more action, anything is possible!

I mean it. Anything.

Are your goals SMART or LAME?

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You can plan all day long until you are blue in the face. Yes, until you make real goals and make them SMART, you might as well consider your brain a very high functioning toy. Entrepreneurs especially are great at that. New idea! They play. New product! They play. However, in all that playing and planning, some end up trying to put the roof on a house with no foundation. They get the steps out of order so, like a house with no foundation, the ideas don’t stand on their own.

SMART goals are nothing new. Yet, often, people get so caught up in the excitement of “getting going” that they put on the jet packs and fire off in the wrong direction.

Here’s how to set a SMART goal.

SMART goals are:

Specific: What EXACTLY are you looking to accomplish?

Measurable: What METRIC are you going to apply to this? What does success look like in NUMBERS?

Attainable: With the resources you have at your disposal, is this DOABLE?

Realistic: Can this really happen or are you dreaming up a big pretty business UNICORN?

Timely: How LONG do you give yourself to accomplish this goal? How much TIME will it really take?

Today’s Exercise: Think of one goal you have. Just one. Make it a shorter term one – say within a month. Now, make it SMART. What changed about your goal? Does it seem more or less attainable?

Discuss your experience below.

By the way, LAME goals are:

Lengthy

Assumptive

Malicious

Expensive

More on that later…

For now, we now have a NEW LinkedIn Group for FREE HELP for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Business Leaders. Go there now and cash in on your What Works Quick Question and meet others like you around the world.

Is your little voice a genius?

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What Works clients are often found scribbling madly in their Genius Books. That’s what we call that little journal you keep by your bed. You never know when that little voice will deliver inspiration. In the case of my dad, Wayne, his genius time hit in restaurants. He would be sitting there having a meal and BOOM… IDEA! As a result, his pockets, the center console of his truck, crammed into books, were hundreds of ideas about what could be built and how he would build it.

That little voice resulted in a motel, some apartments, more than a few city contracts and a lot of toys bought as a result of the material rewards they brought. But writing it down isn’t enough – you have to take action. Stare at those little notes all you want, checks won’t show up in your mailbox unless you do something to make them show up.

Today’s Exercise: Locate your scribbling, your great ideas. If you don’t write them down, START! It doesn’t have to look pretty. Scribble every time that little voice speaks, on whatever you can grab at the time. Collect them over a week’s time and next Friday, look at them. REALLY look at them. What can you take action on? What would make a good short, mid-term and long-term goal? Pick ONE thing and start taking action.

That little voice can work for or against you, friend. It can also talk you down. It can tell you that the government shutdown makes it impossible. It can tell you that you don’t have enough capital, you aren’t smart enough, you don’t have enough education or experience. As much as those ideas pop and give you that adrenaline rush we all crave so much, it can stop you before you start.

Need some help prioritizing those scribbles or want more ideas on how to make that little voice work for you instead of against you?

Reach out to us! We’re here to help.