One of the main reasons people have a hard time overcoming their debt is that they set unrealistic goals for themselves. Then, when meeting those goals is harder than expected (or nearly impossible), they get frustrated and all but give up. If you really want to pay down your debt, you need to learn to set reasonable goals for yourself.

Many people say that they want to pay off their debt in less than five years. This is a noble goal, but take a look at the total amount of debt you owe and compare it to your income. Do you make enough money to pay off your debt and live reasonably with that time frame in mind? It’s one thing to say you’ll live off of top ramen and water to save money and pay off your debt, but after a few months of a ramen and water diet, you’ll probably re-think your five year plan.

One of the easiest ways to set reasonable goals for yourself is to take your larger, loftier goals and break them down into smaller projects. These smaller projects will be easier to tackle which will help to ease the overwhelming pressure that often accompanies a larger goal like becoming debt free as soon as possible. It also helps give you a sense of satisfaction because you will be able to see that real progress is being made!

Let’s say that your larger goal is to become debt free (we won’t worry about a time frame right now as everyone’s debt is different). What are the steps you should be taking?

By now you should have a budget in place with a tentative payment plan in place. This makes you a few steps ahead of those who have merely said “I will get out of debt soon.” It means you have taken some active steps toward your goal of being debt free.

What should your next goal be? Being debt-free is a noble goal, but part of setting reasonable goals for yourself is figuring out the steps you need to take to realize those goals.

Perhaps you should figure out a “pay off” order with your bills. Decide which bills need to be paid off first, second, etc. This way you can work through your debt systematically instead of just making payments on everything and hoping that the overall total eventually goes down.

Now what? You have a budget, you have a payment plan, you have an order of accomplishment on your bills… what else can you do? What can you do by the end of the day to put money toward your debt? What can you accomplish in a week?

Setting reasonable goals is far more effective than simply sitting under the umbrella of a large and overwhelming goal. Reasonable goals give you results you can see (almost) immediately and they will give you active steps to take which helps to provide you with incentive to keep working toward your own, personal finish line.

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