The author cites our research in the Journal of Consumer Research about the motivational effects of focusing on one account at a time.
You may never intend to go into debt, but the economy can change, your circumstances could change, and debt can pile up quickly if you’re not able to pay your bill off right away. Having a debt management plan before you get a business credit card can help you avoid paying out a lot of interest or hurting your credit score. Remi Trudel and his colleagues at Boston University studied what was the most efficient way to pay off debts from a psychological perspective. Over several studies, they found that participants worked about 15% harder to pay down their debt when they focused on one account at a time, instead of distributing their efforts across all accounts. Moreover, paying off the smallest balance first seemed to produce the most motivation to continue paying off debts. Focusing on paying off one account at a time, and focusing on smaller balances first are easy concepts anyone can apply, so if you find yourself with multiple balances, have that strategy in your back pocket.