Getting Out of Debt By Thinking About It: I Don’t Think So
January 31, 2011I will have to admit that I have not read the book, The Secret. Right from the beginning, the whole concept turned me off so I didn’t read it. I guess that would be saying that I am judging a book by its cover. Well, so be it, I guess.
Here’s what turned me off, on their website it reads, “Money is magnetic energy. You are a magnet attracting to you all things, via the signal you are emitting through your thoughts and feelings. Discover how to become a powerful magnet for the creation of personal wealth.”
I don’t know about being able to attract money by thoughts and feeling – ok let’s just say flat out that I don’t believe that because a major component is missing. I will tell you what I do believe about money or anything else. What you focus your attention on is vital and without taking action, it is futile.
Let’s talk about focused attention for a minute. Your thoughts and feelings about money and investing are important especially when they are causing you financial harm. For example, someone who has high balances on their credit cards and is paying the minimum payment every month might have these self defeating thoughts:
“It will take me forever to get out of debt so why should I bother?”
“I’ll start paying down credit cards next month.”
“I am going to go ahead and charge my vacation and when I get back I’ll get serious about paying down my debt.”
All of these thoughts have two things in common, first of all, I’ve heard them directly from people who have high credit card debt on the Financial Helpline and secondly, the people who are thinking and saying this are not taking responsibility for their situation today. They are thinking somehow – some way in the future, their situation will change or they can somehow change their behavior in the future (instead of just doing it right now).
The thought that could be the “magnet” that attracts money could be, “I got myself into this mess and I am going to get myself out of it right now – not tomorrow or next week or next month, but right now.” Now that is a thought magnet. What they do from here is what creates wealth. Of course, they had to have the thoughts and the feelings to go with it but the action steps are the key. Right thinking without right action is just right thinking.
Here are some examples of “right actions” to eliminate consumer debt:
- Write down a list of all of your debts starting with the highest interest rate, noting the minimum payment and balance due. Once you have the list, add up all the minimum payments. Pay the minimum on all of your credit cards.
- Stop using your credit cards.
- Make a commitment to live below your means and find extra money to pay off your debt.
- Go through your budget with a fine toothed comb looking for places to cut – even $10 or $25 here or there in order to eliminate that debt. Find a sum that works for you that you can commit to every month and take that extra amount and add it to the payment with the highest interest rate. Pay that until it is completely paid off.
- Celebrate!!!
- Then take that whole amount (the extra you were paying and the minimum payment from the first card) and add it to the next card – the one with the highest rate. Celebrate when paid off!! Repeat until every card is paid off.
It’s true that without right thinking you aren’t going to attract money and create wealth. But wishing for it won’t make it happen and just thinking about it won’t make it happen. However, right thinking and a little action will. Think about that!