When I ask my students and clients about their financial intentions, I always want to know what the money represents to them. What will they do with the additional income?
At the end of the day, we are motivated not by money itself, but by the new experience that more money offers us. That new experience might be hiring a housekeeper or nanny, or traveling the world, or upgrading our home. None of us are particularly inspired by money for its own sake.
That’s why one intention is absolutely toxic to our efforts!
And that intention is the one that doesn’t change our experience at all. Not one little bit.
That intention? “I want to get out of debt.”
Debt is tricky.
After all, we are in debt because we decided that we wanted an experience that we couldn’t afford at that moment … and we wanted it badly enough right then and there that we decided we’d go into debt and pay for the experience later.
That experience may have been getting an education, hiring professional help, upgrading our home, or buying a new pair of shoes. It doesn’t matter whether we made the choice to go into debt for a “good” reason or not. What matters is that the new experience we created by going into debt has already happened. It’s in our past. We already gave ourselves a new experience!
Paying off our debts, on the other hand, doesn’t change our current day to day experience at all. Sure, it might ease some stress and anxiety. But what we are doing, every day, won’t really change when we pay down that credit card bill.
What I find, time and again, is that an intention to pay off debt leaves us stuck and terribly unmotivated.
We are here, after all, to experience ourselves in ever new and delightful ways, to express more and more of our Divinity into our humanity. Paying off debts just doesn’t move us forward into our Divine self-expression.
Let’s face it, the intention of getting out of debt just isn’t very sexy.
At the same time, keeping our financial agreements is incredibly important from a karmic perspective! Because responsibility and power go hand in hand, financial irresponsibility always ends up coming back to haunt us as financial disempowerment!
So how do we resolve the issue of debt? How can we keep ourselves motivated and moving towards our financial intention AND keep our financial agreements and pay off our debts?
Here’s the solution:
Figure out a reasonable dollar amount that you will allocate towards paying down your debts, each and every month. Maybe it’s five hundred dollars a month, maybe it’s a thousand, or maybe just a few hundred dollars … but decide on a dollar amount. The point here is NOT paying down your debts as fast as possible. The point is to pay them down responsibly, as dictated by your existing financial agreements.
Now figure out something you really, really want to do with an increase in income. Again, this is not about creating the end-all-be-all lifestyle of your dreams, practically overnight. The point is to give yourself the goal of a new experience, preferably within the next three to six months, that is going to inspire and motivate you. Maybe that experience is a trip. Maybe it’s redecorating your bedroom. As long as it’s something you WANT (not something you “should” want), any new experience that you can realistically create by increasing your income is fair game.
Figure out exactly how much more income it’s going to take to make this intention your new reality.
Add these two amounts – how much you will allocate towards debt, and how much you’ll need to give yourself the new experience you really WANT.
And now add a bit more – a few hundred dollars at least, maybe even a few thousand, depending on your starting point. This additional amount is going to accumulate in your bank account. It’s not going towards retirement, it’s not going towards debt, it’s not going towards anything sensible. It’s going towards the future experiences you want for yourself. Basically, this additional amount is what is eventually going to keep you from going into MORE debt down the road. Because the truth is, you’ll always want to create new experiences for yourself with your money. That’s it’s purpose!
And that’s it – the total of all three amounts is your financial intention!
As much as possible in your perception, roll the amount of money you put towards debt every month into what you consider your “basic living expenses.” Automate the payments that go towards your debt so that you can pay as little attention to them as possible.
And now focus on giving yourself the new experience you really want so that you move towards your financial intention with motivation and inspiration!
To your abundance,
Andrrea Hess