The 3 Areas in Which You MUST Invest in Yourself
Are you investing in yourself? Are you placing a high enough priority on helping yourself grow and be healthy? Do you know how to invest in yourself?
The one guaranteed positive return you can ALWAYS count on is if you invest in YOURSELF. The INVESTMENTS you make in YOURSELF may be the most IMPORTANT you will ever experience. Whether you have definite goals, or are simply trying to move forward in the best way you can, investing in yourself is absolutely critical. It is one of the most critical tools of being of becoming a pro, yet many of us simply ignore it as a selfish act, or worse, not worth our time.
The first step here is to be aware that it is NOT a selfish act. Investing in yourself ultimately results not only in the betterment of your life, but in the betterment of the lives of the people in YOUR WORLD. When you get better and move forward, you help others be better and move forward. That can be literally materially, but it can also be socially, relationally, and spiritually. You give off this “betterment glow” that affects those around you.
There are several ways to be investing in yourself, and here I give you my top 3 ways. In my opinion, these are the critical areas of self investment to help you become the person you want to be. These are the areas in which you should place a priority for your time and financial resources. When you do, the returns can be astounding.
Gratitude
Gratitude, an investment? Yes, gratitude. When you are mindful of the blessings you have, you are grounded and less inclined to be critical of yourself, or question your motives (although checking yourself and your motives is a good occasional exercise). Being thankful helps you stand on solid ground when everything else around you may be unsure and unstable. Understanding where you are presently helps you recognize and be even more thankful for the progress you make.
Do these 2 exercises everyday:
- Make an actual list of all of the blessing for which you are thankful. Look at this list and read through it every day. As the days go by, add to it if you see fit.
- Every day find something new for which to be thankful (and write it down or not…it’s the thinking that counts). It can be one thing, or maybe you have a flood of new things that day. What matters is you took some explicit thought time to find something new. Some days are easier than others, but you will see that you will find something new each and every day.
Education
Be a perpetual student. What?! Maybe some of you are saying to yourself, “I couldn’t WAIT for school to be over. I’m not going through that again. That part of my life is over!” OK, school or formal classwork is only one small way to continue being a student. Investing in your education doesn’t have to mean “school” at all. But continuing to learn is a critical self investment area. You need to further your education and develop your skills regardless if your motivation is:
- Current career
- New or side business/career
- Fitness and health
- Hobby
- General personal development
All of these require you to continuously develop your skills and knowledge.
What does being a perpetual student actually look like? It’s actually quite varied, and the great news is you can pick the best method for yourself and the way you learn. It generally just requires a SOURCE, and then putting the information from the source into PRACTICE. The source can be as simple as continuously watching and taking physical and mental notes of someone you are trying to emulate. Or it can be as formal as classwork or training. The key is it requires actual practice and participation. The learning occurs during the action of putting what you have SEEN into PRACTICE.
Here are some sources to kick off your self investment in learning:
- Traditional Classwork: Self explanatory
- Books, Online Courses, Video Series, Blogs, etc: This is the Do-It-Yourself approach and with today’s technology and ubiquitousness of source material, this is an outstanding option for the self-motivated.
- Seminars and Training Events: An event at which you physically show up and participate. If you’re not as self motivated, get around those who are, and you typically find them here.
- Masterminds: Groups that get together specifically to discuss and brainstorm each others projects. The projects are mainly business related. Here’s a tip: find a group where you are the “least-skilled” in the room. Then suck up all you can from the others.
- Hire a Mentor or a Coach: Sometimes the personal one-on-one is just what you need. This is a very popular and effective approach in the business and health and fitness worlds.
- Experience: That’s right, your own experiences can be a platform from which you learn and move forward. But you have to understand that the “failures” you may encounter are the KEYS to moving you forward.
I can’t stress enough that real learning occurs when you take the source material and apply it by putting it into practice. The more you learn, the more equipped you will be to accomplish your vision and goals. Life moves forward, and for you to keep up, you must move forward as well.
Health and Fitness
As I discuss in this post, you may have all of the money, and all of the time you need, but if you aren’t healthy, those don’t really matter. Your health must be good enough to do the things that you want, and therefore, you must absolutely invest accordingly.
Your overall physical health is made up of genetics, diet and nutrition, and your level of activity. You are born with your genetics, but YOU can control your nutrition and your level of activity! Do as much as you can. Most of us have ups and downs with our health, but be aware that your investment in your own health is always worth it.
Here are some of the ways to invest in your health:
- Shop around the outside of the grocery store. The reality is that the food that is BEST for you is the food that is closest to its natural form. You find this food in the produce section, the meat department, and the dairy section. Sure, there are debates about meat and dairy, and these are healthy debates, but that is not the point here. The point is to basically stay away from the middle of the grocery store because that is where all of the PROCESSED and PREPACKAGED “food” is found. A general rule would be “the more processed, the less healthy”.
- Take the proper nutrition supplementation. Even if you CAN get all of what your body needs from your food, 99% of us don’t from a practical standpoint because we don’t actually eat all of what we need. Plus, if you are using regular prescription medication, there is almost a guarantee that you are depleting some of your nutrients. You can make up for a nutritional deficiencies by taking high-quality supplementation. If you would like to learn more, please contact me anytime, I can help.
- Schedule and commit to exercise. Put it in your calendar every day. It doesn’t have to be Ironman training or power lifting, but it needs to be something. It helps not only your physical well being, but it helps your mental sharpness and creativity as well.
Investing in yourself is a GUARANTEED RETURN. And make sure you are investing at the level of where you WANT TO BE, not just where you are today. That investment shapes not only who you are today, but who you will be in the future. It can literally be the one thing that makes the difference between living the life you want, or not. So invest for the future, invest for the now…do it!
I hope this helped you in some way, and if so, please share it with others, and please connect with me. I would love to hear your thoughts and the experiences you’ve had as well.
Have a great day!
