February is here and it’s the first official day of The Debt Movement! In honor of Jeff Rose’s incredible goal of calling us all to pay off $10 million of debt within the next 90 days, we thought we should spend a little time talking about the mental barriers that keep us from getting out of debt. There’s a lot more to securing a solid financial future than simply crunching numbers on an Excel spreadsheet!

 What do I mean by this? What I mean when I say “mental barriers” is not the circumstances we find ourselves in or the things we were or weren’t taught about money. But rather, I mean the things that get in the way of our intentions becoming our goals. Whether you’re struggling to find extra money to apply to debt payoff or you’ve come up with a solid plan, you may find actual payoff hard to do. That’s because these mental barriers can get in the way – and we want to help conquer them.

The truth is, you may or may not even be aware of the behaviors that prevent you from paying off debt. But what you should know is that we all suffer from some of them at one time or another. Just like none of us are immune to debt (nope, not even the super-wealthy), none of us are immune to mental barriers. So take a look at the list below and answer yourself honestly – which ones apply to you? Then, on every Thursday for the rest of The Debt Movement, I’ll pick a behavior and discuss it in more detail. I’ll talk not only about what the behavior is, but also what causes it and how to nip it in the bud. So sit down and join us for this discussion – we just might all learn a thing or two about ourselves!

To start, ask yourself if any of these thoughts have crossed your mind:

• I don’t think debt is a big deal; after all, everyone has it.
• I want to get out of debt, but it’s not my top priority.
• I don’t really believe that I’ll ever have a good financial future.
• I hate budgeting.
• It’s not like I can put that much into savings anyway.
• Even when I pay over the minimum, I don’t feel like I’m making progress.
• I don’t know how to break the cycle.
• I don’t know how to wait when I see something I want.
• I need to maintain a certain appearance within my community.
• I don’t need to ask for help – no one would understand.

If you’ve answered yes to one or more of these thoughts, you are not alone! I know a few have crossed my mind more than once! Now, what are we going to do about this? Click on the links in the bullet points above to find specifics on how to work through the barrier that’s most relevant to you. Or, head over to our series wrap up for a breakdown of each barrier and what to do. Together, we can work together to tackle these barriers and work to eliminate debt. So join the ride, and let’s work on this together!