Do You Want to Get Out Of Debt

I have heard many people state that their financial objective is to “get out of debt.” I don’t
believe this is a worthy objective. Being “in debt” means that you have encouraged someone
to finance your dreams!
What do you really mean when you say you want to get out of debt? I have noticed that some
people are really asking to be excused from the obligation of repaying their debt. It is as if
they are really saying “I want to get out of PAYING my debts.” So, one possibility is that saying
that you want to get out of debt is just a way to make your request to break your repayment
agreement appear noble.
Rather than focusing on getting out of debt, I suggest that you ask yourself if you have
enough money to accomplish your dreams. Can you afford to do the things that would allow
you to fully express yourself? Make a list and timetable of all the things you would like to do
for the world as an expression of who you are. Add up how much money you would need to
make those contributions. Use that amount as your financial goal.
Next comes the task of figuring out how you will achieve that goal. A joke told by financial
planners depicts an unskilled client by saying, “His financial plan is to win the lottery.” Make
sure your plan is a bit more substantial. Ask yourself “What do people want? How can I
provide it by doing the things I love to do? What can I do to be $ xxxxx more valuable?”
Some people avoid thinking in terms of how they can learn to be more valuable. Instead they
think about how they can get more for less. “How big of a discount can I get?” “Where can I
get what I want for free?” “How can I get someone to give it to me?” and sometimes even
“How can I steal it?”
The reason they are so driven by their need to receive without providing value may be related
to a mistake they made as children about the meaning of love. When Mom, Dad, or others
gave them things they felt secure, wanted, and important. From those experiences, they
made the mistake of assuming that love means getting without giving in return. As a result,
endless bargain hunting becomes a way of validating that they are loved. That may also lead
them to underestimate how valuable they can be which often discourages continued
development of their skills. They miss out on discovering the good feeling that results from
giving more than you take.
You have a right to get full enjoyment from your life by expressing yourself doing the things
you love to do. You can make that possible by aligning your heart's desire with what others
want. Ask yourself “What is the MOST valuable way that I could spend my time today?” Then
find someone who wants that service or product and arrange to get paid for providing it.
If you have doubts that this approach can work, here is an example that happened in one of
our US Attitudes courses: Students in the course are divided into groups of six and taught
how to work as a team to provide value. On the last day of the course they are given six hours
to go into the community and test their skills by providing a valuable service and getting paid.
In six hours one of the groups came back with $21,000.00 in cash!
When setting your New Year's resolutions, try making a plan of how valuable you would like
to be in the coming year. You will discover this to be much more effective than “getting out of
debt!”