If you spend just a few minutes working on your debt as hard as you work on your job, you’ll at least create intelligent debt— debt at the lowest possible cost. You’ll also become aware of what you really owe, freeing up the paralysis you feel dealing with it. And with your knowledge, you’ll be facing your debt from a position of power, instead of one of weakness. The credit card companies are expecting you to behave a certain way—to be ignorant of the real costs of your debt and too lazy to change it. They want your money. You have got to want your money more than they do, or they’ll get it.