Episode: 347 - Conquer Financial Procrastination: Start Your Journey to Debt Freedom
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The "someday" mentality is an all-too-common mindset that plagues many of us. It's the idea that we'll get around to managing our finances—starting that budget, tackling that debt, or investing in our future—someday. We tell ourselves that someday is a magical time when everything will fall into place. But here's the hard truth: "someday" often remains just that—a dream, quietly sabotaging our journey to financial freedom.
Understanding the "Someday" Mentality
At its core, the "someday" mentality is a form of procrastination. It allows us to defer important financial decisions to an undefined future. We convince ourselves that we will deal with it later, without ever deciding when later is. This mindset stems from how our brains are wired—seeking immediate gratification instead of thinking about rewards in the distant future. Furthermore, the concept of future self-continuity explains why it's easy to disregard the interests of our future selves. That future self can feel like a stranger, and making sacrifices today for someone we don't yet know can seem unimportant.
The Dangers of the "Someday" Mentality
Living with the "someday" mentality has consequences for your financial health:
Missed Opportunities: Delaying important financial actions means missing out on the benefits of compound interest. For example, postponing retirement savings can greatly reduce your future nest egg.
Growing Debt: While you wait for "someday," your debt continues to accumulate interest, making it increasingly difficult to manage.
Financial Stress: The constant reminder that you should be doing something about your finances contributes to stress and anxiety, impacting both mental and physical health.
Unfulfilled Dreams: "Someday" often translates to "never." Dreams of a debt-free life, a comfortable retirement, or financial peace remain just that—dreams.
Breaking Free
The good news is that breaking free from the "someday" mentality is possible, and it doesn’t require a complete life overhaul overnight. Here are some practical steps you can take:
- Connect with Your Future Self
Take some time to visualize your financially secure future self. What does that life look like? How would it feel? What actions can you take today that your future self will thank you for? Creating a compelling vision can motivate you to start acting now.
- Set SMART Goals
Make "someday" specific by setting SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For example, instead of vaguely deciding to save more money, set a goal to open a retirement account and save a specific amount monthly, starting on a designated date.
- Start Small
Overwhelm is a major reason why we defer financial tasks. Break down large tasks into smaller, manageable parts. Begin with simple actions, like paying an extra amount on a debt or researching investment options for a few minutes.
- Automate Your Finances
Automation is your secret weapon against the "someday" trap. Set up automatic transfers to a savings account or automate debt payments. This removes the need for monthly deliberations and ensures consistent progress.
- Break Tasks into Bite-sized Pieces
Financial planning can feel daunting. Divide big goals into smaller steps. For example, track your spending for a week, categorize expenses, and then identify one area to cut back. Each small victory moves you closer to your ultimate goal.
Conclusion
The "someday" mentality is a barrier, but it's not insurmountable. By understanding why we fall into this trap and taking small, intentional, and consistent actions, we can start making real financial progress. Challenge yourself this week to commit to one actionable step, whether it's setting up an automatic transfer, starting a retirement fund, or defining a SMART goal. Remember, the key to overcoming "someday" is to start today.
Resources Mentioned
The Totally Awesome Debt Freedom Planner https://www.debtfreedad.com/planner
To learn how to take the stress out of your finances so you can breathe again, follow this link: https://www.debtfreedad.com/lwp-masterclass-opt-in-page-podcast
Connect With Brad
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TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@debt_free_dad
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Transcript
Ryan Nelson:
So today we're diving into something that plagues a lot of us the someday mentality. You know what I'm talking about. Someday I'll start that budget. Someday I'll get serious about investing. Someday I'll finally tackle that credit card debt. We tell ourselves these things, thinking someday is a magical time when everything will be easier, clearer or we'll just feel more like doing it. But here's the hard truth Someday is a dream stealer and it's quietly sabotaging your journey to financial freedom. My name is Ryan Nelson, and my wife and I paid off $160,000 in debt over eight years while we were raising three kids. So what exactly is this someday mentality? Well, at its core, it's really a form of procrastination, a way of putting off important financial actions for this undefined future. It's basically saying I'll deal with it later, without ever defining what later really is. So let's think about it for a second. What later really is? So let's think about it for a second. I know I need an emergency fund. I'll set that up someday. My company has a 401k match. I should really sign up someday.
Ryan Nelson:
We really need to talk about our life insurance someday. Why do we do this? Well, a big part of it is just our human psychology. Our brains are often wired for immediate gratification and we tend to value smaller rewards now more highly than a larger reward in the distant future. That someday, when you're financially secure, feels a long way off, and that Netflix binge or the new gadget or toy, it feels good right now. It feels good right now. There's also a concept called future self-continuity and for many of us, our future self, the one who will benefit from the smart financial decisions we make today, can feel like a completely different person, almost like a stranger. So making sacrifices for that stranger, that person you don't even really know today, today doesn't feel very urgent or important. But the dangers of living in someday are very real and they're impacting your financial health right now.
Ryan Nelson:
When we constantly push financial tasks to someday, we face some serious consequences. First, there's the missed opportunity of compound interest for saving. You've probably heard it called maybe the eighth wonder of the world. It's where your interest starts earning interest. But here's the catch Compound interest needs time to work its magic. If you put off investing $100 a month for 10 years, you don't just lose $12,000. You didn't invest, you lose all of the potential growth on that money. So, for example, delaying starting your retirement savings by just a few years can mean tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars left in your nest egg. Second, while you're waiting for some day to deal with that debt, that debt isn't waiting. It's growing. Interest charges pile up, making the mountain of debt even harder to climb. What might have been manageable can become very overwhelming.
Ryan Nelson:
And then there's the financial stress and anxiety, that nagging feeling in the back of your mind that you should be doing something about your finances. That takes a toll on your mental health and physical health. Studies show that it takes a toll, and living in a state of financial inaction is stressful. And ultimately, the biggest danger is that someday often translates to never. Those dreams of a debt-free life, a comfortable retirement, the ability to provide for your kids' education or simply just having some financial peace of mind, they remain just dreams because someday never arrives. So don't take my word for it.
Ryan Nelson:
Listen to some other voices of wisdom. Karen Lamb famously said a year from now, you wish you would have started today. And this was me and my wife. For years we would promise ourselves that that someday was at tax time, or that someday was when we came into a little bit of money or we got a raise, and that someday just never materialized. And every year that passed by we would be frustrated, like if we would have just committed and started a year ago. Think of how far we come, committed and started a year ago. Think of how far we come.
Ryan Nelson:
Or Benjamin Franklin you may delay, but time will not. Time is our most valuable asset in finance and it's always slipping away. So you may delay decisions, you may delay doing anything about your finances, but time moves on, and I've said this before in our podcast and I'll continue to say it but time moves on. And I've said this before in our podcast and I'll continue to say it If you do nothing, nothing changes. Like if you do nothing, chances are it's. It's not about a massive overhaul overnight. It's about taking intentional, consistent steps, starting today.
Ryan Nelson:
Here's a few ways that you can conquer someday. Number one is connect with your future self. Remember that future self continuity idea. Let's strengthen that connection. Take a few minutes this week and really visualize your future, your financially secure self. What does that life look like? How would it feel? What did your present self do today? That your future self is incredibly grateful for Making that vision clear and emotionally compelling can provide powerful motivation to act now.
Ryan Nelson:
Make someday specific with SMART goals. Someday is vague. Actionable goals are specific. Instead of I'll save more money someday, make it a SMART goal. And SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. So here's an example. Let's make it specific I will open a retirement account or contribute to my employer's 401k. Measurable I will save $200 a month. Achievable look at your budget. Is this realistic? Adjust if needed. Maybe you can only do $100 a month to start. Maybe it's only $50 a month to start. Is it relevant? Does this goal align with your values and needs Like? Again, looking back at your future self what do you want to do? What does your future self look like? Does this align with what your retirement goals might look like? And then time bound. I will start this on June 1st, july 1st, august 1st. Suddenly, someday has a plan and a deadline. It's not just this wishy-washy in the future, maybe I'll do it.
Ryan Nelson:
Number three is start small, and by small I mean ridiculously small, if necessary. Overwhelm is a major reason we retreat to someday, so break it down. If tackling all your debt feels like climbing a mountain, focus on paying an extra 10 bucks on one card this month. If investing seems complicated, start by researching one low-cost fund for 15 minutes, or just do some research on retirement funds in general. The act of starting, no matter how small, will build momentum.
Ryan Nelson:
Number four is automate. Automate. This is your secret weapon against the some day debate. Set up automatic transfers from your checking account or to your savings account on payday. Automate your investment contributions. You can a lot of times. If you have an employer that does this, they'll just take it out of your check every week. Automate extra debt payments. Once it's set up, you don't have to decide to do it every month. You don't have to go through the every month, you know, trying to figure out what you should do or how you should do it. You just have a plan in place. It takes the willpower out of the equation.
Ryan Nelson:
Number five break big tasks into bite-sized pieces. Financial planning, getting out of debt it can feel huge. You want to create a budget. Step one track your spending for one week. Step two categorize that spending. Step three identify one area to cut back. Each small win makes the next step easier. The someday mentality is a real barrier to achieving your financial goals, but it's not insurmountable by understanding why we fall into this trap and by taking small, consistent and specific actions, we can kick someday to the curb and start building real financial progress. Your challenge for this week is pick just one thing from this episode, just one. Maybe it's setting up that automatic transfer. Maybe it's starting your retirement fund. Maybe it's defining one smart goal. Maybe it's just having that long, put-off-money conversation with your partner. Whatever it is, make a commitment to do it. Not someday Today.
Brad Nelson:
Now listen if you're ready to break free from living paycheck to paycheck which, if you're listening, I hope you are. You want to reduce financial stress. You want to build savings. You want to finally pay off debt for good, but you're not sure where to get started. Don't worry, we've got you covered. Here at Defridat, simplify my Money is sent each Sunday to your email. We make it easy and Simplify my Money. It's your step-by-step roadmap to better financial control, and you're also going to learn easy-to-follow strategies to manage your money effectively. You're going to get stress-free money decisions that will help you simplify your financial life with proven tips that actually work. You're also going to gain the tools and the confidence to tackle your financial goals head on. You can sign up for Simplify my Money by clicking the link at the top of the show notes. Thanks for joining us on today's show and we will see you guys on the next episode.
