Staring at a mountain of debt can be extremely defeating because, for some of us, it can take years to knock it out completely. This can wear you down over time and sometimes can even cause you to give up on the entire payoff plan. This is where you need to re-motivate your debt payoff.
If you have a professional degree or just went to school for a long time, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Staring at debt greater than 6 figures is super intimidating. Once you have the courage and motivation to attack it, you may find it eventually fizzles as time goes on.
You are not one of those situations where you can pay off everything in 12 months. Your journey will probably take you multiple years. A lot of things are going to happen during that time and you may find yourself less enthused about debt payoff the longer you are working at it.
How to Re-Motivate Your Debt Payoff
1. Create a debt payoff vision board to re-motivate your debt payoff.
A vision board is just a fancy name for a place where you put pictures and words that represent what you want most in life. It is a tangible representation of your heart and mind’s greatest desires.
This is not an overly complicated thing. The whole point of the vision board is to keep you focused on exactly what you want to accomplish. If you are focused on debt payoff, you need a Debt Free vision board! When you start to get tired and burnt out, it will re-energize and recharge your focus to help you stay on track.
I have a debt payoff vision board in one of the main rooms of my home where I walk by it every day. It is a constant reminder of our goals and how much time we have left to achieve them. This helps keep me focused and encouraged every day.
It was super fun to make and actually fits in with all of our decor. I can’t imagine my home without it now.
Related Posts:
How to Make a Debt Free Vision Board
How a Debt Free Vision Board Will Help You Achieve Financial Freedom
2. Use a visual countdown to re-motivate your debt payoff.
A visual debt countdown chart for every debt you have can be an amazing motivator for debt payoff. If you love coloring, these will be right up your alley.
How to use the countdown sheet:
- Write the name of your debt
- Write the start date for beginning to pay it off
- Write the total debt amount
- Divide the image into quarters (horizontal line through the image)
- Divide the total debt by 4, this is the amount you need to pay off to reach each quarter of the image.
- Start paying off debt and coloring in your progress!
Instead of making one sheet for all of your debts combined, print a sheet for each debt so you can color things off faster and feel more encouragement.
If you only have one huge lump sum left to pay off, break it down into 5-10 smaller portions of debt and color a countdown chart for each chunk of debt you have broken it into.
These sheets will help you feel encouraged and motivate you to keep going!
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3. Talk about your future to re-motivate your debt payoff.
The more you talk about something, the more it sits in the front of your mind. When something is your priority you become hyper-focused on it and every action you do will be a reflection of what you are focused on.
Talk about your debt payoff in a positive way to keep your motivation up and others will start to support you on your journey as well.
Focus your conversations on what life will be like when you are debt free. The excitement and anticipation of how awesome being debt free will be will take over and you will be motivated to keep on the path!
If you are married this can be something as simple as having a “financial dream date” with your husband. This is where you can go out to eat and spend the whole time dreaming about your future together. I find these to be some of the best dates we have.
These re-motivate us and remind us why we are making sacrifices. We have so much fun dreaming about all the possibilities for our future together. Money doesn’t make a life, but it sure is fun to talk about what you can do once you have zero debt.
4. Find an accountability partner to re-motivate your debt payoff.
One of the very best things you can do for yourself to be set up for success is having an accountability partner. They will help pick you up when you can’t find the motivation yourself.
Being held accountable for our actions can be one of the most important determining factors if we are successful at reaching our goals or not. This is too important to just do it halfway.
This is your life and you should have only the best people in your corner, cheering you on and making sure you are responsible for your choices. Once you enter grown-up land, you will find it to be very easy to let yourself down, but you won’t want to disappoint someone close to you.
This person may be a spouse, best friend, co-worker or family member. You are looking for someone who will be honest with you and who you will listen to if they tell you something needs to be changed.
Find the person who you don’t want to let down. They need to be your accountability partner to help keep you on track and keep you motivated to continue on your debt payoff journey.
5. Saturate your mind with debt payoff encouragement to re-motivate your debt payoff.
A huge part of staying motivated during debt payoff will come from what you surround yourself with and what you are putting into your mind. Reading can be a huge way to refocus your mind and provide positive thoughts along your financial journey.
There are tons of books out there focused on finances that can help influence the way you are approaching your journey to becoming debt free.
Some of my favorites are theTotal Money Makeover, The Millionaire Next Door, The Legacy Journey, Rhinoceros Success, Love Your Life Not Theirs, Smart Women Finish Rich.
There are motivating podcasts about money as well that can be a great way to spend your time in the car. Podcasts to start with could His & Her Money, Dave Ramsey, Millennial Money.
Instead of scrolling through Pinterest for random things, look for blogs focused on financial topics. It is always great to get other opinions and hear other people’s stories, especially if they have been through what you are going through.
Great blogs with stories include Money Saving Mom, Busy Budgeter, Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruze, Ruth Soukup and, of course, Budget with Rachel.
Let’s be honest, debt payoff that takes years can be absolutely draining. You can find yourself lacking motivation at any time. Instead of letting this derail you and keep you from making continued progress, work on getting re-motivated. If you have a vision board, a debt countdown coloring sheet, keep a constant conversation about your future hopes and dreams, have a rockin’ accountability partner, and saturate your brain with positive influences, you are going to be re-energized.
Debt payoff is definitely a marathon and you will need a little pick me up from time to time.
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