Step Two

Step Two:  Get a Strategy and Put It to Work

I recently was reading an article on anxiety.  I was struck by what actually causes us to be anxious.

Anxiety isn’t caused by a situation.  Anxiety is caused by lack of control.  When we are in a situation where we have no control, anxiety is the normal response.  Once we find we have control in a situation, our anxiety goes away.

It’s like driving a car in winter.

You’re driving along, everything seems fine, you’re at peace.

Suddenly you hit a patch of ice and your car begins to skid—you have no control over the motion of the car.  Your heart races, you grab the steering wheel with both hands and hang on for dear life.

Almost as quickly, you skid off the small patch of ice and back onto dry pavement.  You gain control of your car.  Your anxiety begins to go away.  You say something like “whew!  That was close!” and you smile, knowing you averted disaster.

When we have control, we have peace.

How do we find control in an area?  It’s a simple equation:

Strategy + Action = Control

Want to get control of your health?  Have a fit-life strategy and follow it.  Want to raise happy, healthy kids?  Get a child rearing strategy and put it to work.  Want to get control of your debt?

Get a debt reduction strategy and put it to work!

But coming up with a debt strategy may be tough for you without some help.  Here’s why: 

If you were born after 1940, you probably weren’t taught much of anything about debt and financial success.

For your strategy to be effective, it must have several characteristics:

1. It must be workable for you

A debt reduction strategy is never “one size fits all”—your strategy has to be based on your lifestyle, income and debt load.

2. It must be based on sound financial principles

There are tons of resources out there supposing to tell you how to get out of debt.  Almost all of them “sound” good.   Very few of them are based on sound financial principles.

3. It must focus on long-term success

It can’t be just about getting your debt paid off.  It must focus on how you can live the rest of your life.  How will you buy a car?  How will you buy a house?  Pay for college?  Cover an unexpected medical bill?  These are real issues and not addressing them is a recipe for failure.

So how can you develop a strategy?  My recommendation is to get professional help.

The best resource I know of to give you instant control over your debt is one put together by Leo Quinn.  Leo is not only a financial whiz-kid, he knows the practical side as well.  He has helped thousands of people just like you get free from the black pit of debt.

Leo has a tremendous resource he’s making available to my readers here:

http://www.All-In-One-Business.com/stopdebtworry

(Look for my name on the page…)

Leo’s resource will give you a complete personal strategy for getting out of debt and becoming financially successful.

It’s pretty amazing.

Then, once you have your strategy down on paper, you simply put it to work.

That gives you control.

Make a decision now to get your own strategy in the next 24 hours.  Get it from Leo, check out what’s at your local bookstore, whatever.  Just make sure you do it in the next 24 hours.  It’s that important.

At this point it’s time for another exercise.  Just like your last exercise get alone where no one can hear you.  This time say this out loud:

“I have a plan to rid myself of debt and the power to carry it out.” 

Debt no longer has power over you.  You have made your decision.  You’re putting together your plan.  What’s your first action step?  Getting your strategy—and you’ve either already done that or will do that in the next 24 hours.

Saying this out loud puts to work a powerful psychological biochemistry to work in your brain.  But it must be true for it to work.  If you don’t intend to come up with a strategy in the next 24 hours, your mind will dismiss this as pointless voodoo.

Debt’s tyranny is over—you’ve just taken your first step as a free person.

Whether you go with Leo’s simple to implement, “cut and paste” strategy or you use something else, put it to work.  If the “debt fear gremlins” start nibbling at your toes, simple repeat your debt free mantra and they will go away:

“I have a plan to rid myself of debt and the power to carry it out.”

In Step Three I show you how to increase your income so you can dramatically speed up the process–and possibly even retire:

http://all-in-one-business.com/imarketer/2006/03/22/step-three/