I’ve been walking you through the stages of change, or the stages that mark your readiness to transform a habit. This week, I introduce stage three, which is called preparation. It is when a person intends to take action soon, but she needs to get all of her ducks in a row and to make [...]

Last week, I described how you can get stuck in the second stage of change (contemplation). In this stage, you can think of multiple reasons why you should change a given money habit. But you can also think of multiple reasons why you don’t want to. Procrastination and feelings of ambivalence are common. What do [...]

This post is the third in a series examining the “stages of change,” or the stages that mark your readiness to transform a habit. Last week, I presented the first stage of change (precontemplation). This week, I introduce stage two, which is called contemplation. It is when a person feels strongly pulled in two different [...]

Last week I suggested that if you have decided to change one of your money habits, it is helpful to know your starting point, also known as your current stage of change (Prochaska, Norcross, & DiClemente). If you know your stage of change, it will help you design appropriate challenges or “homework” for yourself. These [...]

Which of the following people is most likely to succeed in completing a marathon? Person A believes that if you can walk somewhere, walking beats running hands-down, every single time. Person B can think of a million reasons why participating in a marathon would be a good idea, but he can think of an equal [...]

In the last two posts, I’ve explained how people who feel “stuck” on a particular financial goal are often not quite ready to take action. They have some work to do at an earlier stage, called the contemplation stage of change (stage two), in order to shift the balance in the direction of change. One [...]

The last post explained how people who feel “stuck” are often in the contemplation stage of change, unable to shift the balance in the direction of change. This week, I present some thoughts about what does NOT work to shift the balance. Imagine that you have just moved to a new town and you want [...]

Fill in the blank: “I really want to __________ (e.g., pay off my debt, save more money, make larger contributions to my retirement account), but I seem to be stuck.” When it comes to making an important change to our behavior, we’ve all gotten stuck before. We think to ourselves, “I just can’t find the motivation,” [...]

This week, reporter Naomi Mannino wrote a comprehensive piece for Bankrate.com proposing several creative ways to break bad financial habits.  I was honored to be interviewed for the article.  Here is a selection: Does it really take just 21 days to change a habit? Experts say it’s not that simple. “Breaking bad habits successfully depends [...]

Think about a time when you had a setback while working toward a financial goal. We’ve all experienced it before.  You’re plugging away, feeling pretty good about your progress, and then poof!  Instant relapse.  You are flooded by emotions that drag you down and refuse to let you get back on track. Think about what [...]