This past weekend I spent a lot of time contemplating where I was in life and where I wanted to go. To be honest, I feel like I’m running in place. I’m expending a lot of energy trying to get things done, but I’m not going anywhere. I’ve felt like this once before…when I was in debt and had to move back into my parents house. It’s a little different this time because I don’t have debt, but the feeling is still the same.

While my situation deals more with life and personal choices, I realized that this feeling probably happens to a lot of people. We become comfortable in our daily routines and avoid changing them. New things and better opportunities could be just around the corner, but we remain stagnant in the face of change. This also applies heavily to our finances.

As an example of what I mean, let me tell you the story of one of my members. For anonymity’s sake, let’s call him Steve.

Steve was a very successful business owner who had several employees working for him and a business that was growing. He was good with his money, except that sometimes he liked to let his wife going on lavish shopping trips, but overall he was financially responsible. He had his accounts with my credit union, including a vehicle loan that he had always paid on time, every month.

Then the recession happened. Things started to slow down for Steve, but still he seemed to be maintaining his business. His cash flow was dwindling a little and we started to see one or two late payments every now and again. The other problem was that the wife was still going on the lavish shopping trips.

Steve came to us one day and asked what he could do to lower his truck payments. He was beginning to feel the struggle of the economy and thought reducing his payments could help. After looking at the situation, we realized that his credit score and performance with others would qualify him for a higher rate than he already had and it wouldn’t lower his payments any. It was not in his best interest to refinance the vehicle.

Steve looked around town to see if anyone could help him refinance his vehicle, but he ran into the same problem again and again. It began to get worse, too, the more his credit card balances piled up. He and his wife were trying to live the lives they’ve always had. But, when he was 90 days past due and our collections department called and said they were going to issue the repossession, he stated his case and asked that they work with him. Frankly, we have a lenient collections department – what with being a credit union and all.

They agreed to make payment arrangements that would allow him to catch up, if he agreed to make his payments on time and keep in contact with them. He agreed. I don’t know what the payment arrangement was, only that he had defaulted on his end, even after we tried to work with him. His car was repossessed and his accounts with us frozen. Ultimately, though, the problem was that Steve was not adapting to the changes around him. He was trying to live like his business was still successful. He allowed his wife to run up their credit cards on shopping trips while he struggled to make the loan payments.

He remained stagnant in the face of change.

Oftentimes people trying to get out of debt, or those facing problems similar to Steve’s, want to make the changes necessary to do better, but they want it to be easy. They want to keep their lifestyles and habits the same, but they expect different results. In sales, there’s an adage we liken to the definition of insanity. It goes: insanity is when you do the same things over and over again, but expect different results each time.

Simply put, people in debt stay in debt because they don’t change their spending or their savings habits. Instead of sitting down and writing out a plan and a budget, these people tell themselves they’ll start tomorrow and they’ll spend less. Well, tomorrow comes and they spend more, justifying their expenses as needed items or “deserved” items. This self-entitlement spending is a crutch that keeps us from getting out of debt. And these same people continue to put off ’til tomorrow what can be done today.

If you’re reading this and find yourself in the same boat, you should ask yourself: are you stagnant in the face of change? Are you saying the words, but failing to put them into action? If so, there’s no time like the present! Sit down and write out a plan…and by the way, this works for finances and personal well-being, so don’t feel like I’m only talking to those in debt. That plan should be based on the goals you’ve set for yourself, both long-term and short-term. Once you’ve got a plan concretely written down, figure out a way to make it happen.

In my case, I spent the weekend going over why I feel like I’m in a rut. I need some changes. One thing that’s been bothering me is the amount of clutter in my house…I simply have too much stuff. On the one hand, though, I don’t relish just getting rid of stuff. That’s money down the drain. On the other, I think I would *feel* better for having it out of the house. So, my plan for this particular issue is to sell what I can, donate what I can, and then toss the rest. This issue is relatively small in comparison to others and certainly what many other people may be going through. But, it’s an example all the same. I’ve identified the problem, made a plan to fix it, and now I just have to implement it.

Tell me, are you feeling stagnant in the face of change?

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