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I wish, I want, I commit.
How do you start your ‘get out of debt’ statement? Do you wish it will happen, want it to happen or commit to making it happen?
The language that you use and the feeling associated with what you say has a big impact on your ability to be successful.
For example, if you wish that you could pay off your credit card balances in a year, chances are you won’t because you’re only wishing for it to happen, and there isn’t much effort behind wishing.
In essence, all it takes is sitting there and hoping that the money will appear to pay off the debt or that you’ll somehow change your spending ways, freeing up cash to put towards the bill. Even though we learned that wishing makes dreams come true, I’m here to tell you it only happens in fairy tales.
Wanting is a bit better. When you want something, like wanting to pay off your credit card in a year, you’re willing to put a bit more effort in achieving it than the person who is still sitting around and wishing for the bill to be paid .
But wanting still lacks something critical. It lacks that powerful energy that moves us from wanting to really making it happen. It lacks YOUR commitment.
Saying, “I commit to paying off my credit cards in a year” means that you are taking your responsibility in achieving this goal seriously.
Think of it this way…when you make a commitment to your children to take them to the zoo, you know that if you don’t you’ll really be letting them down.
You know that you have made a promise to them and that your integrity is on the line if you don’t follow through. The same thinking applies to achieving your goals.
Now, a lot of self help guru’s will tell you that you must keep your commitment, and I agree. But we all know that for some reason or the other, often times, we break our commitments. Usually it’s because we don’t have the personal resources to ensure we maintain integrity in our commitments.
Here are a couple of tips to help you maintain those commitments so that you CAN reach your financial goals:
1. Don’t Rationalize
When you break your next commitment (and I hope that you don’t), don’t rationalize your behavior.
[tweetthis]Rationalizing is acceptance of what you know in your heart & soul to be wrong. [/tweetthis]
Every time you rationalize, and therefore justify your behavior, it makes it less likely that you’ll keep your commitments in the future. With every rationalization, you lower your standard of an acceptable life and make it harder and harder to keep commitment in the future.
Instead, acknowledge that you didn’t keep the commitment, and think of ways that you can ensure you don’t break your commitment in the future. Figure out why you broke the commitment in the first place, and learn from the experience.
2. Come Up With a Plan
Figuring out why you break your commitments is a very important step in gaining the resources you need to keep them in the future.
Brainstorm all the reasons why you failed in keeping your commitment, and then develop a new strategy so that you don’t repeat the mistake. This helps to give you a plan for your future and increases your chance of success.
3. Try Again
Now that you’ve rid yourself of rationalizing and have a plan on how to keep your commitments in the future, it’s time to try again. You have new tools at your disposal and you can keep your commitments as you retrain your brain into moving closer and closer to your goal.
Use the “commit” language when developing your financial goals and make a promise to keep your commitments and you’ll see a vastly different financial situation a year from now.
