On Debt

Debt is a fascinating concept, and it has a huge impact on our lives whether we like it or not.

Debt and Society

I tend to avoid financial debt unless it has zero interest, and I’m horrified of things such as credit cards and other predatory tools of lending that exacerbate inequality. Of course, abstaining from personal debt is generally good for you, but we don’t really have a say in how much our governments borrows on our behalf, and it can backfire at any moment.

Most of the economic downturns we faced in the past were caused by an excessive debt and the same scenario will probably keep repeating. I guess it’s safe to say that the financial debt is just a single manifestation of a broader tendency: it seems that we would often prefer more “good” things happen to us now even if it damaged us in the long run.

It’s Not Only About Money

Debt is everywhere. An outsider might be surprised how often you hear the word “debt” in casual conversations between software engineers. That’s technical debt, compromising software quality to ship something faster. It’s a big reason many apps feel so unstable and half‑baked.

As with financial debt, views on technical debt are split. Some see it as a necessary tool while others avoid it at all costs. There are also “debt junkies” and “perfectionists” camped at the extremes, and both extremes usually lead to disastrous long‑term outcomes.

Personally, I wouldn’t sleep well with financial debt hanging over me, but I’m okay with a certain level of technical debt. The difference is significant: you’re not contractually obligated to pay technical debt back. There’s no repo man for sloppy code.

People who stress too much about technical debt often tie their ego to their code, which is generally a bad practice. Let’s be honest: the main source of technical debt is the business side, tight deadlines and budget constraints. You don’t have to take it personally. Sometimes it makes perfect sense to show a rough proof‑of‑concept to a potential investor and keep the lights on, rather than going bankrupt perfecting a product no one asked for.

Debt to Ourselves

It’s dangerous to overestimate our ability to pay back debt. When personal debt spirals out of control, the stress is immense. But even commitments with no external repercussions, the ones we make only to ourselves, can be a heavy mental burden.

Every time we tell our future selves to quit a bad habit, get fit, read more, or achieve any personal goal, we take on a kind of psychological debt. If we announce that commitment publicly, the pressure, and the potential for guilt, only grows.

Opinions on this are split. Some believe public commitments are a powerful motivator. Others see them as a form of self‑imposed poison. Personally, I lean toward the latter view.

Getting Rid of Debt

I care a lot about promises given, whether I give them to myself or to someone else. I used to expect the same from everyone else but it turned out to be a bad idea, but that’s a different story.

It’s pretty easy when it comes to financial debt: we can deal with this issue by paying it back and not taking on more. Yes, it means spending less than you can, but I never had any issues with that, and I believe that the urge to spend everything you have and even more might be a problem worth solving as early in your life as possible.

It’s much harder when it comes to the promises we make to ourselves and I burned-out a few times trying to bite off more than I can chew. I used to set big goals and rough deadlines, and to achieve them by all means necessary. Looking back, I think it wasn’t always the best strategy. The same approach of not taking on new debt and paying back the old one might work with this kind of debt too. In theory, it’s even easier: no one forces us to pay back the old debt except our own selves. Unfortunately, we can be our worst enemies and it can be really tough to negotiate any “debt reduction” with our own selves.

Shifting Focus

What worked for me is shifting focus from the exact goals and deadlines to continuous progress. It’s tempting to procrastinate for a while and then to do everything “the night before the exam” but it’s always a gamble and, as any kind of gamble, it comes with a lot of stress and uncertainty. It seems pretty obvious, but I can’t stop seeing those patterns of behavior on every level from individuals to nuclear superpowers.

Many people say they expected more “pleasure” from achieving their big goals. I guess it makes sense, there is no “high” that can last forever, but I find that setting small goals and achieving them every day is more rewarding than focusing on something big or pushing yourself to meet unrealistic or excessive deadlines. It’s just more fun to feel the progress every day and to take pride in that than to push yourself to the limit and to burn-out later.

Examples

I use this approach for anything that doesn’t have critical deadlines and I’m satisfied with the results so far:

• Learning. It’s not that hard to learn a single new thing about the topics that interest me. Focusing on a short and isolated topic also helps to understand things on a deeper level.

• Personal Projects. I have a few personal projects (including this website) and limited time so I can’t put aside everything else and focus on them full time, but it’s not an excuse for abandoning any of them. Consistently adding small improvements helps me not to feel that I abandoned my long-term commitments.

• Housekeeping. I like to start my day with listening to a podcast and doing some housekeeping while it plays. This way, my “housekeeping debt” do not pile up, so I don’t have to spend a few hours on Saturdays doing something not very pleasurable. Also, listening to podcasts improves my English, which also amounts to something if you consider that there are 365 mornings in a single year.

Conclusion

Debt comes in many forms, some nastier than others. While “avoid all debt” is sound personal finance advice, what about the promises we make to ourselves?

The key is to be realistic, don’t demand too much of your future self, but demanding nothing isn’t an option either (unless you’re a Buddhist saint or an extreme nihilist). It’s fine to have goals and the will to reach them, but it helps to focus on the process rather than the goal itself.

When it comes to long‑term commitments, I believe consistency beats a single, concentrated effort every time.