I have been reading “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. If you haven’t picked it up, it is a great read if you want to understand the connection between your identity (who you say you are) and your habits (your daily behaviors).
Clift Notes: We are what we repeatedly do.
A lot of the people who come to me for help do not identify as “people who are good with money”. And it makes sense. When we start to talk about how they manage their money we find some habits that do not yield good financial results when done repeatedly.
If we repeatedly overspend or repeatedly fail to save for retirement, we are going to identify as “broke”.
How do we develop better habits to make a new identity? Is it a function of discipline?
No. Discipline is a lie.
Enter the commitment device.
A commitment device is something that today you does to prevent future you from needing to make a decision or have discipline.
For example. If you want to develop better eating habits, step one is always “clean out your pantry”. Throw away everything that is going to entice future you into making a bad choice.
Perhaps you struggle with a kid at home who won’t shut down the internet and go to bed. A commitment device would be installing a timer that turns the power off to the router at 10:00 PM. The kid doesn’t need to make the choice, and you don’t have to go nag.
Double win.
How to Use a Commitment Device to Crush Money Goals
The way I stay out of trouble with money is to make sure most of it gets funneled away from my greedy little hands before I get it. The commitment device for saving for retirement is investing in my 401(k). It gets taken directly out of my paycheck. If it never makes it to my checking account, it doesn’t get spent! (Retirement, check!)
The same works for getting out of debt. Automating payment transfers that occur at the same time I get paid ensures I make the debt payment I want. I don’t leave it up to chance and I don’t wait to see how much money I spend on discretionary items first. (Debt free, check!)
Want to save for a vacation? You guessed it! Automatic transfer to savings.
One new commitment device I needed to deploy during the pandemic was to disconnect my credit card number from my phone. With nothing to do during a lockdown, Facebook ads became my new “gotcha”. I cannot begin to tell you how many stupid things came to my door because I did not have to move off the couch to make a purchase. The simple act of getting up off the couch was enough to dissuade me. (See fitness goals)
Disconnecting Apple Pay and other automated payment options from cell phones has helped a lot of my clients get a handle on their spending. If you haven’t done that yet, that is a good first step!
If you want to identify as someone that is “good with money” find a money mentor and ask them how they did it. What are the key habits, that when done repeatedly helped them find financial success? Once you find out what those are, consider using a commitment device to help you develop those habits as well!