Here’s Why This Ramsey Money Expert Says You Don’t Need More Willpower for Your Money — You Need This Instead
Written by
Ellie Diamond
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Molly Sullivan
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Jade Warshaw knows a few things about mastering money. Before becoming a money coach and author, she and her husband paid off $460,000 in debt and escaped the trap of buying items they couldn’t afford. Now, she makes her living helping others do the same.
What she doesn’t do is force people to depend on willpower. In a recent TikTok, she explained that willpower and discipline will inevitably fail, but a system has your back, even when you’re tired.
Willpower Isn’t Reliable
“Willpower runs out,” Warshaw said in her video. “It burns out. That’s biology.”
Psychology research backs her up. Multiple studies have shown that willpower draws from your body’s limited supply of energy. When you exert your will to avoid an impulse buy or decline a fancy dinner out, it draws on that supply and forces your psyche to protect what’s left.
The more you rely on the force of will to control your finances, the harder your mind and body will have to work to protect your energy. That effort makes it even more challenging to resist the next temptation, and the cycle continues — often until the temptation subsides or you give in.
The temptation to spend will never go away, and willpower will never be limitless. The only way to escape this cycle, Warshaw insisted, is with a reliable and repeatable system.
You Need a System
When Warshaw talked about a system, she’s not referring to a budget — though she encouraged that, too. She called a budget “the foundation for building the life you want with your money.”
That’s not surprising given that Warshaw is a Dave Ramsey personality. Ramsey Solutions has published extensive content on the benefits of budgeting, regardless of your financial situation. But in this case, Warshaw is referring to a decision-making system that identifies the root causes of your choices.
When Emotions Run the Show
Warshaw understands that people make money decisions with their hearts and heads. But if emotional drivers become too strong, they can take over and lead to choices that aren’t in a person’s financial best interests.
That might look like buying a new suit for work because you feel nervous about an upcoming presentation, and you convincing yourself that new clothes might instill confidence. At other times, it means saying yes to dinner because you’re afraid of losing status in your social circle.
When you’re overwhelmed, frustrated or otherwise worn out, willpower alone isn’t enough to get you through.
Getting Discipline Off the Hook
You can win battles with willpower on occasion, but it’s not reliable in the long term. You’ll end up in a cycle of success when your emotional energy tank is full, only to fail when it empties. You try again when you have more self-control, but the cycle continues.
“You need an emotional diagnostic system that’s going to tell you what emotion is running the show right now,” Warshaw insisted. What behavior is it triggering in you, and how can you interrupt it and stop the cycle?
The first step is to identify that emotion and what it’s telling you to do. That thought process immediately separates you from the impulse to make a particular decision. Once you have that distance, you can identify alternatives and evaluate their potential impact on your finances.
Everyone’s system will look slightly different. Start with the basic approach and adjust each step until it meets your needs. Practice using your system every time you notice yourself relying on discipline until switching gears becomes second nature.
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