Automating achievement

It turns out that the most effective way to tackle credit card debt is to allow your bank to do most of the work for you.

First, you’ll want to set it up so that all your recurring debts and pre-budgeted expenses are paid for. This creates a safety net of desposible “safe-to-spend” income each paycheck.

Next, while you continue to pay your minimum payments on all your cards, choose a primary card to terminate and increase your payment amount for it.

Then simply set up an automatic (daily) contribution to fund the your goal (paying off your primary card), having the money pulled from your "safe-to-spend" allowance.

Seeing the money pile up, without having to do anything, will reinforce you're motivation to continue to save. And because it's automatic, because you're not having to make the decision to save over and over, it's significantly easier to do just that.

Once you have your first card paid off, pick another card (probably the one with the most interest) and repeat the strategy. Do it for all remaining cards until you're debt-free.

By eliminating the friction of decision-making, and making it less necessary to focus on, you’ll make it easier to accumulate results, and by extension, want to continue to commit. It’s a positive cycle that reinforces itself.

Set a goal. Minimize decisions. Make it automatic. Track your results. It's a simple method that probably works for a lot of things.