One of the biggest issues that I have had over the years with personal finance advice is the concept of creating a one-size-fits-all solution for everyone. Not only is this irrational, but it’s also leading many folks towards a false belief that if they do what everyone else is doing, they too will be successful. The belief is that even if you come from a completely different situation (financially speaking), this one magic pill will work as long as you agree to swallow it.

Hogwash. This is a lie being sold to you for the price of a book or an overly-priced recorded financial seminar. Unless you know exactly where you’re coming from first, you won’t be able to properly identify the problem and resolve it so that you are able to move forward.

Where do you begin?

The best place to start is by assessing your current financial situation. This part will take some time, but the time invested will be worth it, especially when you bring to the surface the things that you have been afraid to confront for several years.

It’s time to sit down and lay out all of your credit card statements, loan payment notices, and everything else that pertains to debt. If you agreed to receive paperless statements, then head straight to your inbox to grab the latest ones and have all of that information handy.

You’ll be noting down the total amount due as well as your payment amount. This will help to give you a good idea of where you stand. Too many times, we are in the dark even when it comes to our own financial situations, and this just adds an unnecessary level of complexity that can be easily cleared up with a little work ahead of the planning.

Once you have your data, it’s time to get started to formulate a plan of attack on this debt in the most efficient way possible. In order to discover what that means for you, we will need to identify your particular pain points and what motivates you to improve your personal financial situation.

If you want to see quick wins when attacking your debt and paying it off, consider paying off your smallest balance first, then paying off the next smallest, and so on and so forth until you’ve made considerable headway.

If your pain point is paying credit card or loan companies huge interest charges, start with the credit card or loan that has the highest APR. Aggressively pay it down and pay it off, then move on to the next highest APR. Keep going until you’ve paid off those credit cards and loans costing you the most money.

Perhaps a hybrid solution is best for you. You may have one credit card with a larger balance that is costing you the most money because the APR is also high. It may take a while, but paying off that particular credit card will be satisfying when you consider that every chunk that you eliminate from the balance is less that you have to pay that entity every month. Even if you don’t have that particular credit card paid off but have the balance down to a manageable level, you could switch gears and pay off the smaller credit card or loan balances, then go back to paying down the higher APR credit card, then go back to smaller balances, and so on and so forth.

The point is that there are no cookie-cutter approaches to personal finance. You do what works best for you and your particular situation. Don’t let anyone tell you that your approach is wrong because we are only concerned about results.

As long as you are seeing those balances going down and eventually getting paid off completely, you are winning.