Everyone has thought about quitting on their financial goals. I don’t have enough fingers to count all the times I told myself that this year was going to be my year when it came to getting my finances together. Yet every year like clockwork, I would start with a bang, and then before you knew it, I would quit.

I would quit because

• Trying something new disrupted my comfort zone. I didn’t like the idea of having to get uncomfortable to be financially comfortable.
• I wanted things to come easy. I was impatient. I felt like I stopped eating out for a week than all my problems should have been solved. I wanted to rush the process. We’ve all done this before. It’s similar to starting a diet and expecting results the next day.
• I didn’t like the feeling of having to go without having to sacrifice to meet my greater needs. The irony in this is that I knew the sacrifice would lead me to something better, yet I didn’t want to do it.
• I let my emotions dictate my next move. Instead of relying on common sense and taking the time to think things through, I let my feelings decide for me.

We all know that finances can be intimidating. It’s full of unfamiliar jargon and rules, and even when we want to keep going, the overwhelm and anxiety of trying to understand everything causes us to believe that we don’t have what it takes. As a result, we shut down and walk away. The sad part is, each time I gave up, I would have moments months later, where I would wonder how things would be different if I just kept going. This behavior continued until one day; I got tired of announcing to the world that I was going to fix my finances. If I was going to keep talking about it, I had to stay committed despite all my reasons and feelings for wanting to give up and actually do something about it.

Related Post: What to do When You Feel like Stopping Your Debt Snowball

Five Steps to Take Before Quitting on Your Financial Plan

Before you let circumstances, a bad day, or your feelings force you to give up on your financial goals, do these five things.

Step 1:Write down your feelings. Put them all on paper. Include every bad word, every negative thought, and anything else that comes to mind when you think about your finances.

The reason for this is that often, when we get things out of our head and on paper, it reduces the feeling of stress and overwhelming emotions inside of us.

Step 2: Write down what your life would like if you went through with quitting on your financial goals. What would life look like three months from now? What would you have achieved financially? How would your bank account look? How much debt would you owe? Describe how you would feel.

Step 3: Now that you know what your life would look like if you quit on your financial goals. I now want you to write out what it would look like if you decided to keep going. What things would have checked off your list? How would knowing you’re reaching your financial goals make you feel? How would your bank account look? How much debt have you been able to pay off?

You may find that what you wrote down for Step 3 is a lot more than what you wrote down for Step 2. When we choose to keep going and dream big, the sky is limitless. When we decide to give up and default back to our old behaviors, there’s only so much that happens, or we can do before we’ve reached the bottom

Step 4:  Before choosing whether or not you’re going to quit or keep going, I want you to take 24hrs to give yourself time to think over the things you’ve written down. Admittedly this may be easier said than done, but give yourself time to walk away ( as much as you can) and focus on other things. Enjoy a movie, read a book, go for a walk, hang with friends, or do other acts of self-care. When the 24 hours are up, look back over both of your lists. Do you still want to quit, or do you want to experience all the things you wrote down if you decided to keep going?

Step 5: Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If you find yourself in a frustrating situation where you want to give up and walk away, or maybe you’re finding that your approach for tackling your finances isn’t’ working out as planned, consider going to an expert for advice and guidance. An expert can help you see things in a new light as well as save you stress, time, and help you refocus your plan so that you can concentrate more on the things you love.

Related Post: The Financial Pivot and Switch

Maybe you don’t need to quit. Perhaps you need to Pivot and Switch to a financial goal that brings you more joy like my husband and I did a year ago. Here’s the thing about quitting. It’s not permanent! You can give yourself permission to start over. When I told myself to try again, it wasn’t because I was tired of the naysayers or felt like I needed to prove something to someone. It was because I knew that I needed to start over for myself and my family. That restart led me to pay off over $100K of debt and having an emergency fund with over six months of living expenses saved.