How to stick to a budget: Self Discipline or Habit Forming?

I don't mean to give away the farm in the first sentence, but I think the answer is both.  However, there's more to it than that.

ChitownGirl recently posted about a day in which she overspent on food, causing a potential crimp in her budget.  In the comments, self discipline was noted as the key to saving money.  I don't disagree, self discipline is critical, but to me that sounds like will power.  For those of you who have tried to lose weight or quit smoking, did you find that sheer will power is the solution?  I think there's more.

Have you played organized sports?  I'm no athlete, but I played some high school tennis, and did Judo up to a purple belt (yea, that's a real belt color).  You probably know that being good at a sport involves a tremendous amount of repitition.  In tennis, we would get a bucket of balls and serve, serve, serve go fetch the balls, then serve some more.  What was this to accomplish?

We always hear about Michael Jordan or Kobe Byrant staying after practice to shoot an extra hundred jumpers.  Derek Jeter or Tony Gwynn staying late for extra batting practice.

What are they trying to accomplish?  They are already among the greatest at what they do.  Why do they need to keep doing it?  I believe that answer provides us some insight into how we can better manage our money and stick to a budget.

Anything that is difficult, but good for you, requires self discipline.  But it is only through self discipline that we can turn that difficult, but good for you thing into a habit.

When Michael Jordan first shot a jumper, he probably used both hands, elbows out, and missed wildly.  Over time, he learned better form, but was inconsistent.  "keep your elbow in," he probably reminded himself.  "Watch your follow through," Pete Sampras surely admonished himself.  And over time, they did.  But as he dominated Wimbledon after Wimbledon, Sampras wasn't scrutinizing the mechanics of his serve.  And as Jordan rose up for NBA Championship winning shots, he wasn't actually thinking, "okay, Michael, this is the moment, don't forget to keep that elbow in."

Through practice and repition we turn that which is good for us into habits.  If you are in the habit of eating out for lunch every day, or stopping for a triple foam-half soy-grande-mocha latte, it certainly does take self discipline to break the habit.  And once it is broken, good habits take it's place.  Make your coffee at home,  brown bag your lunch to the office.

And, even Jordan must keep shooting jumpers in practice.  And even Pete Sampras must continue to work on his serve.  Even the greatest are not perfect.  Allow youself the occasional indulgence.  Don't beat yourself up when you miss the game winner.  Get back out there tomorrow.  Keep practicing.

Comments

[Tim MMF]

I agree 100%. Making it a habit is probably the easiest way to keep on track. But it also takes self discipline to do the practice to make it a habit.

Btw, how's the engagement going? You two planning out the wedding yet?

[mapgirl]

Habits are hard to break, but easy to form. It takes about 21 days to create a new habit. So I guess that's all it takes to break a person from their Starbucks coffee.

[lamoneyguy]

Yea, I have heard that 21 day thing. I think it depends on what the habit is. It's probably easier to develop bad habits than good ones. I know that if I skip the gym three days in a row, the fourth is very easy. Whereas, three days in a row in the gym doesn't necessarily make that fourth much easier (a little though).

Tim, the wedding planning coming slowly. We're plannin for a 2008 date, so no rush. I just put up a post about the registry. Some of the stuff we're thinking about.