Doing little things to change habits works better than using ironclad (and often flagging) willpower every day to make a change. If you can come up with ways to make changes that come close to replicating past behaviors that are satisfying, then the changes are more likely to stick. Creating a void (i.e. not eating) in a routine is harder to cope with than behavior changes (i.e. trading potato chips for carrot sticks).

Very well said. This is a very key realization, which I think many people who apologetically say “don’t I deserve a treat because I work so hard” etc, haven’t gotten yet. But that’s ok, maybe they will understand it later.

First, directly at Eric’s question. You can’t be gazelle intense for 10 years. The point of gazelle intense is a mad dash to get out of debt. 10 years is a mad dash its a mini-marathon. If that is how the numbers are working out, then the plan needs to change. More income, sell cars and houses, etc.

As for getting long term motivation, I have found that connecting to a ‘personal context’ to be the most important. Frame your short term action as steps to longer term goals that fill your soul with pure joy, like children, or the perfect career, or working from home, or starting your own business, or volunteering, or travel that you are so excited about you can’t help but attack the short term goals with eagerness and joy.

That said there are those, like myself, who heed the advice listed in this article because it works. We’re not cold turkey people. We’re more like chilly chickens. We need incremental successes with long-term goals to achieve our desires and to necessitate changes in our lives.

I think several of the 7 tactics are applicable depending on your personality type, either introverted or extroverted. For example, I highly doubt a severely introverted type would be willing to share or become an example to others. That’s not to say they’d never do so, it’s just improbable. Whereas for an extrovert, sharing and becoming an example to others would be welcome tactics for taking short-term intensity into long-term.

My question lies in how does one address the different characteristics of people with advice like that which Trent gives in this article?

I think the first four tactics are practically universal. But the last three really depend on the character and personality of the individual as whether those tactics are effective.

And like you said, and just like losing weight, setting short term goals like 5 pounds a month vs 100 pounds some time in the future helps with motivation and periodic feelings of success which help keep you on track.

However, I did turn into quite a boring guy, always arguing the price of coffee.

I learnt to just prepare to pay a high price if my friends were in majority in favor of coffee shop coffee. Realising that and being prepared – financially – saved a great deal of hardship on my friendship. Nowadays, if I’m not prepared to pay a contingent high price of coffee, I’d rather stay at home to avoid strain.

I find that that sometimes works, and at other times, just making a moderate short term goal/decision, like “I’m going to brink my own coffee for this entire month” works either just as well or as a stepping stone. The goal could be even more moderate, like, “I’m going to bring my own coffee, but on Fridays only I’ll go to the cafe and buy one, even if I don’t feel like it”. How this one works is that (for me) it contrasts the absurd relative expense of buying the coffee at a cafe, with the lack of expense and ease of just packing your own coffee.

After meeting the shorter term/more moderate goal, I often find that my habits and perspective have changed enough that the old behavior feels “foreign” to me, making it MUCH easier to make a long term commitment since I’m no longer as attached to the routine or habit, having formed a new routine and habit.

For Eric, whose comments prompted the above post, the answer is YES. YES, you can be “gazelle intense” for however long it takes and can certainly live a “life worth living”. (?????–I’m wondering what your criteria are for this statement.) I can promise you if you DON’T attack with a “gazelle-like intensity” you won’t much enjoy that life. I speak from experience.

The peace and freedom that comes with the knowledge that you are “taking care of business” or have gotten started on it, with a plan in place is better than any entertainment, “toy”, trip, new car, or eating out experience you can even imagine.

It took me until I reached the ripe old age of 54 to realize all of the above. Eric, don’t waste those years like I/we did.

Oh, and MY wake up call? It was when I realized how much my mom had sacrificed while “doing” for her grandchildren and me. We had just come to accept/expect that the “Bank of Meme” had a money tree in a back room. When my mom got sick and I had to pay her bills and get a handle on her finances I nearly fell out at the debt she had accumulated because of us. It literally made me sick to my stomach. I had to put her on a plan but realized we needed to “walk the walk” as well.
13 months later I have no debt, a fully funded six month emergency account, and a smaller, more immediate needs emergency account.

Life is good.

Divide and conquer works best.