Trust the system

Systems

What does that mean anyway?

It means a set path. Following steps. That if you do A it will lead to B and then C.

But I am having trouble with this one.

See I’m taking an online course. Or should I say retaking it because last time I got stuck… Lost momentum and then stopped.

Trust the system I said to myself after watching the video. What the heck does that mean anyways?

But as I thought about the challenges that lay ahead I also thought about the past. I realized wait a minute I have done this before. I have used systems to reach goals.

The most notable to me was how I managed to pay off my 46k student debt in just a little over 3 years.

I had a system.

A system built and tweaked by all the hurdles I had to jump. It had quite the feedback loop.

Through my dealing with student loan administrators I figured out exactly what I needed to do to reach my goal in the most efficient way. Which meant in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of money leaving my pocket.

The system wasn’t fun but it was consistent.

You see debt repayment is extra challenging for those who choose to slay their debt aggressively. Creditor systems are not built in the best interest of the payee.

This means extra funds funneled into a debt might not be  will not be applied in your best interest. I learned quickly that if I did not contact my debt holders my extra money would not bring in my repayment date. No, instead it would be frivolously used on future interest.

So my debt repayment system looked like this.

1. Make a plan for repaying debt in 5 years
2. Run simulations to figure out how much income would need to be set aside for debt
3. Add in bonus payments from tax refunds into scenario.
4. Set up automatic withdrawals for lenders required payment.
5. Go to work, earn money.
6. Get paycheck have required payment withdrawn
7. Log in to sites check balances
8. Pay extra money to meet my personal required payment
9. Wait a few days log in again
10. Check balance. Realize money was distributed incorrectly
11. Call lender talk to rep. Get money sent to the right place.
12. Wait few days. Check balance again.
13. Verify that extra payments are affecting totals correctly.
14. Run simulation with more aggressive payments
15. Pull in dates for 5 year plan and repeat monthly from #2

It was tedious work, I was micromanaging the heck out of it for 3 years. The first few months # 7-11  caused me a lot of irritation and frustration.

Can’t these people get it right?!

But once I realized it just had to be done. I did it. I didn’t wait hoping the money would find its way to the right place. No . I waited a day then I called to make sure it all got credited to the right place.

Did I have to do that?

Well no, not if I just wanted to follow their standard repayment option. But 10 years and 18k extra in interest was not my goal.

I needed my money to get to the right place everytime.

So I learned the limitations of the creditors payment system and set up a system to address them.

You know what happened?

Not only did I trust the system to meet my goal I trusted it to push me to beat it.

And I did.

So trust the system.

Calling up to 3 different lenders wasn’t fun. But I knew it would get me result. The results I desperately wanted.

Now my goal is different. I can’t run simulations to see the finish line. It’s a new skill. My teacher is telling me to trust the system.

Step D won’t appear until I’m on step C so I have to keep moving forward.

But since I still feel unsure I decided to write this down. So that when I get stuck I can come back and remind myself that I’ve done this before. I’ve used systems to push through difficulty.

That discomfort and challenge means growth and that my goal is waiting for me on the other side.

Trust the system.

Okay, I will