DebtGoal.com users know that we like to talk about the psychology of debt, and how psychology often used against us by lenders.

Here’s a psychological trick that you can use to your benefit:  tell friends about your goal.  Why?  Studies show that if you tell other people about your goal, you’re more likely to stick to it and have success.  Consider it positive peer pressure.

1. A 1973 study by Pallak, Cook, and Sullivan asked people to minimize energy use.  Those who made a public commitment to do so and have their names published in the newspaper reduced their energy consumption by 10-20%.  Those who made a private commitment or no commitment did not reduce their consumption at all.
2. A 2007 study by Richard Wiseman of over 3,000 people attempting to achieve new year’s resolutions found that for men, goal setting improved success by 22% and for women, 10% were more likely to be successful when they had the encouragement of others.

Simply put, when you tell other people, your chance of success goes up by 10%.  That’s a pretty good impact.

Now that you’ve set a goal to get out of debt, tell your friends about your goal.  You’ll be glad you did.

Scott Crawford is CEO of DebtGoal.com, a do-it-yourself system for getting out of debt and lowering your interest costs.  DebtGoal.com incorporates all of the techniques discussed in this post and can help users understand and get visibility to and manage their debt finances.

Tags: debt reduction, DebtGoal, Goal, support

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009 at 12:13 am and is filed under DebtGoal, Goal, Paying Down Debt. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.