How Do You Stay Motivated When Getting Out of Debt Feels So Slow?

Speaker A00:00:00

Have you ever noticed how getting out of debt feels exciting at first, but then one day, it just feels slow. You make that payment, you do the right thing, you skip the extra spending, and you look at that balance, you're like, that's it. That's all it moved.And you start wondering, am I even making progress? Is it even worth it? Am I going to be doing this forever? Well, friend, you're in the right place today. You're not doing it wrong. You're not failing.You're just in the middle. And middle is where most people quit. Not because they're weak, but. But because they're tired.So today, I'm going to help you keep going without burning out. Hey, friend. Ralph Estep Jr. Here.Welcome to Financially Confident Christian, where we learn how to walk through life and money with wisdom, with peace, and with heart, anchored in God's truth, and without burning out. Mission is simple.To help you break that cycle of financial shame and build those steady habits rooted in faith and truly become the kind of believer who handles money with clarity, with confidence, and with spiritual purpose. Yesterday we talked about how to choose a debt payoff plan that works for you.We talked about the snowball method and the avalanche method, and we put together a clear path forward. Today we're going to talk about what happens after that.Excitement fades when you're doing all the right things, but the finish line just feels so far away. This episode is for the long haul. A listener wrote me and said, ralph, I started strong with my debt plan, but now it just feels endless.How do I stay motivated when progress feels so slow? And that's an honest question. And it tells me something important, which is great. You haven't quit. You're just tired. You're facing that burnout.Because underneath that question is this. What you're really saying is, I'm doing the work, Ralph, but I don't feel the reward yet. I'm so afraid I'm going to lose momentum.I don't want to give up, but I'm feeling discouraged. And, friend, this isn't a discipline problem. It's what they call a middle mile problem.Almost every meaningful journey gets hardest right there in the middle. Because the beginning has the excitement. Oh, I want to do this. And the end has the yeah, I did it celebration. But that middle feels quiet.But guess what? God meets us in the quiet. Let me say it this way.In the middle is where you learn whether you're chasing a feeling or building a life, because motivation is a feeling. But faithfulness, that's A decision and debt. Freedom is built more by faithfulness than by hype.And over the years, I've walked with so many people through debt payoff journeys. And it is a journey. And let me tell you right now, the ones who finish, they're not always the ones who go fastest.They're the ones who learn how to encourage themselves along the way. Motivation isn't something you find once. It's something you tend. Like a fire. Think about a fire. You got to keep feeding it.Think about one couple in particular. These folks were faithful. They were consistent. They were very patient. But halfway through their plan, they felt worn down. Listen, I've been there.So we made one small change. We stopped measuring only the balance. That's what we were doing at first.We were measuring the balances, and we started measuring the distance traveled. Think about that for a second. Think about, like a diet. It's so easy to say, well, my goal is I want to lose 50 pounds.But that seems discouraging when you're in the middle. But if you say, hey, look, I've already lost 40 pounds, I've already lost 35 pounds. We did the same thing with the money.There were months with no new debt. We celebrated that. We celebrated payments made on time. We celebrated habits held under pressure.And one day they said, we're not where we want to be, Ralph, but we're not where we started. And see, that was a shift, because discouragement shrinks when progress becomes visible. So here's today's general question.What if staying motivated isn't about pushing harder, but but about seeing progress differently? Let's talk about how to keep going. Here's the thing I'm going to encourage you to do. Celebrate small wins on purpose.If you only celebrate the finish line, you will feel discouraged the whole way there. So celebrate these things. Another payment made. Another week without adding new debt. Another no that predicted your future. Friend. These are victories.These small wins aren't childish. They're fuel to keep you going. But you got to make progress visible. What you can't see is hard to celebrate. So put it where you can see it.I love this idea. A simple charge on the fridge. A progress bar in an app, A notebook where you cross strings off. Because that visibility fuels that motivation.Here's another secret. Keep your why in front of you. Debt freedom isn't just about money. That's part of it, but for so many people, it's about peace. It's about margin.It's about generosity. For a lot of us, it's about Rest. So when motivation fades, purpose carries you. Put your why somewhere you're going to see it.Maybe put it on your phone lock screen or on a dashboard note, or maybe right inside your wallet. Because that temptation is loud and your why needs a microphone. And number four, don't do this alone.If you don't hear anything else I say, don't do this alone. That isolation will drain your strength, but encouragement restores it. Share progress with a trusted friend and ask someone to check in once a week.Because that accountability doesn't mean pressure, it actually means support. Friend, here's what I want you to do today.I want you to write the date you started this debt payment plan and write one thing you've done consistently. Write one when you've been minimizing and write your why in one sentence and then write your next payment date and amount. That's it.That's how you turn that fog into focus. Hebrews 12:1 says this Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Not a sprint, not a rush. Perseverance. God honors the steady runner.Lord, we thank you for the strength when progress feels slow. Renew our motivation. Remind us why we started and help us see the ground we've already covered. Give us perseverance, Lord, in this and not pressure.We trust you with the pace and we trust you with the progress. In Jesus name, Amen. Here's today's step. I want you to rate your why for becoming debt free in one sentence. Just one sentence.And then I want you to place it somewhere that you're going to see every day. And when your motivation fades, let that purpose speak directly to you. Friend. Discouragement doesn't mean you're failing.It means you're human and inside the financially confident Christian community. People often say, this is where I found the strength to keep going when I wanted to quit.It's a place that's safe, it's a patient place, and it's a place built for the long haul. And I want to encourage you to go and join us there at financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join. That's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join.You're always welcome to join us. And let me leave you with this slow Progress is still progress. Faithfulness still counts. And God is not rushed. So keep going. Keep.You're closer than you think. Go out there today and be the financially confident Christian that I know you can be. You can do this. I have faith in you. Have some faith in yourself.Stay financially savvy. God bless you. And you have a great day today.