Since then, I got together with my boyfriend, had 2 kids, bought a house, got into debt, woke up to see the financial mess, discovered Gail. During all those years, I forgot about the power that small image gave me. Times have been really tough. Now that I’m on the right track financially and that I just found out we’ll be having our third baby, maybe it’s time I got a little encouragement from a vision board. It sure would help to keep my focus. It would also help to keep my spirits up when there is a setback or when I get discouraged.

Thank you Gail for another really good idea! And thank you to all the people who post in this blog. It helps to read you everyday!

For now, what keeps me focus is to write daily in my personal journal and to read Gail’s blog.

I have images of desired destinations I plan to travel to, inspirational quotes that strike a chord with me, statements showing the large debts I’ve paid off (this one works especially well to keep me motivated financially) as well as a BIG sheet of paper posted with the remaining sum of money left to be paid off in BIG BOLD numbering, so that I can always remind myself to keep focused on it.

I too believe in mental imaging; since the media and advertising corperations are all to aware that exposing people to constant images will have a profound and lasting impact on their daily lives and desires, I believe the same programming can be done BY US and FOR US.

All The Best Everyone!
Try it out!

That, and looking at my children. I am better at knowing what I want for THEM, than what I want for MYSELF, but often the two go hand-in-hand.

About month ago I wrote on 12*12 paper all goals too save for Like finally two wk vacation instead of long weekend out town. The cc will be pd. off by end of yr instead of July. Than after vacation half of that saving can go to auto payment. It’s a set bac but we got savings for different categories if something happens. We got cash instead of paying interest on something else that needs to buy for life…

Great day to All!

We never thought of it as a belief board because we never believed that we were actually going to succeed. And because of our past history and the ability to keep making mistakes our road to debt freedom was not a success only journey. But eventually we had to believe because of the irrefutable evidence. We kept track of all our payments and it was always very satisfying to erase the balance owing number and replace it with a smaller number. The relief as the numbers went down and the supreme relief when a debt was paid in full and we could erase an entire line from the board was wonderful.

We gave the blackboard to the kids next door because we are not going to need it again. Just like when you lose weight you have to get rid of the fat clothes. We do have a kind of belief board now – it is our planned spending account.

Speaking of losing weight and paying down debt. A lot of similarities. Careful planning, going slow and steady, flexibility, hard work and making permanent changes to your habits works for both. And in both endeavors the chances of slipping up are very real and then of course comes the guilt and justifying and giving up. I ate a donut so I might as well eat that gallon of ice cream that just might get freezer burn. I took Mom out for her birthday and the martinis just kept appearing as if by magic so I blew the entertainment and grocery budgets so I might as well blow the clothing budget and get us matching shoes.

The way I have learned to handle every mess I create is to give myself a break and accept that I can fix it and change what I am doing so as not to do it again. While losing weight I ate 7 small meals and snacks a day. That’s having to plan and make 49 decisions a week or 2548 a year. Exhausting. Bound to mess up sometimes but one can learn to always have some raisins in one’s pocket so as not to be tempted by the donut. Note to self – put in plastic bag to avoid the fuzzies.

While getting to debt free I had to juggle and balance our current income against present day demands, past foolishnesses and future needs. Exhausting. Bound to mess up sometimes but one can learn to instruct the waitress as soon as one is seated to absolutely NOT bring more than two martinis no matter how much we whine and plead and pout and throw bread sticks. An easy fix before one has tasted the first one. Not so easy when the booze and those nasty little olives have swept all inhibitions aside.

for example:
“ugh, you are eating that crap again, you’ll never have clear skin that way”
(shake shake)
“I slipped this time, but having that fantastic spinach salad for dinner will give me the energy and good taste that I am REALLY craving! Good work, keep it up and you’ll have clear skin in no time!”

It’s not me ignoring the slips, I have to find what works (and doesn’t work) for me. I found if I beat myself up over failures then it’s easier to give up, so I focus on the little accomplishments as they happen and how GOOD THEY FEEL to keep me on track!