I’m no runner; I don’t jog. I’m not even a loper. But I know what a marathon is: a footrace run on an open course usually of 26 miles and 385 yards. It’s a long race. Everyone crosses the finish line—some still running, others walking, and I’ve even seen situations where some crawl the last few meters on hands and knees.
Runners train for marathons and have a plan that goes something like this: Pace yourself. Preserve your energy. Hydrate regularly. And above all, know your enemy, which is the strong desire to quit.
The marathon runners I know have an idea of their time, but what matters isn’t how fast they run but that they don’t give up. No matter how long it takes, they are determined to finish.
A sprint, on the other hand, is a short race where the runners come out of the blocks at top speed, burning through their energy and endurance to beat a certain time. It’s all about getting to the finish line as fast as possible.
Debt payoff is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes a plan, training, perhaps even a coach. For most of us, we’re talking about a long journey.
Those who blast out of the starting blocks in full-on sprint mode don’t last long. They just can’t keep up their unrealistic notions to throw every possible dollar against their debt, foregoing important things like a contingency fund. They have completely unrealistic expectations. They live as though they'll just put their lives on hold, get out of debt and then start living again. Sounds great, I suppose, but how long could you keep the promise to not buy any clothes, go on vacation or spend money on entertainment until you are debt-free?
The adage that “slow and steady wins the race” is the best way to get out of debt. Slow and steady, sticking to a solid, rigid yet realistic plan. That’s what Debt-Proof Living is all about. It’s a comprehensive method created for the long haul. It’s not a sprint—it’s a long journey that for me was awesome. It was and continues to be life-changing.
This is so important to know and understand: We didn’t put our lives on hold while we did a mighty sprint to get out of debt—we changed the way we managed our money, pitifully small as it was at times. We stopped wasting money. We spent with intentionality. We gave 10 percent, saved 10 percent. I surrendered my credit cards and made a commitment to live with cash. Progress was slow at times. The end seemed so far away. But you know what? We did it. We finished that race. We paid back more than $100,000 in principal balance (that would be more like $300,000 in 2024 dollars) plus thousands in interest.
It took us 13 years to pay off that horrific debt I had amassed. Still, it was joyful—and we endured all the way to paying off that very last dollar of our debt monster. That was the unsecured debt. And we just kept going and, more than 12 years ago, paid off our mortgage in full.
We live a completely debt-free lifestyle. No car payments, no credit card debt, no mortgage—no debt. It brings tears to my eyes just to put those words down. What a life transformation. What a miracle. I am so grateful.
The amount of time it took to become debt-free doesn’t matter now. What matters is that we kept going. We didn’t give up!
