To invest is to not squander our resources, which we may be so inclined to do, but to consciously plan for our future with these resources.
There are many ways you can invest in yourself.
Financial Investments
On Paper…
If you think about how to invest in yourself financially, then investing in yourself means taking a portion of your profits – call them savings – and use them to create value so that, one day, your savings can do the “work” in generating your revenue.
It sounds quite simple, really.
You take those savings and purchase assets in their many forms. First, your initial investment might be the hiring of a specialist or the attainment of resources so you can acquire knowledge…
Only then, will you be able to make the right purchase decisions.
Whether that be stock-trading, business, or real estate – purchases that go up in value generate you money. This is called an asset.
Over time, and because of a lot of consistency and reinvesting, your assets will continually generate income – even when you’re not around anymore.
You will eventually be living on the money that your money created instead of the money that you need to earn. Your results will be exponential because of compound interest.
Congratulations.
Will you Invest in Yourself Financially?
The truth is, it is a lot harder than that sounds.
You must have discipline to stick to a formulated plan, and you must have the grit to take consistent action – even when there are a lack of results in the beginning, as there is for any accumulation of value through compound interest.
Not only that, you will have to be wise enough to take guidance from the right people.
This means – you’ll have to be strong judge of character as well as have your shit together enough to follow directions.
It is no wonder most people are poor AF.
That being said – if you’re reading this – you have a deep feeling that as long as you continually strive to become more knowledgeable and disciplined in this area – you will reap the rewards of reinvesting in yourself financially.
If you enter this mindset, success is inevitable.
And financially investing in yourself will be one the wisest decisions you can make.
Now, let’s explore a couple of other wise investment decisions that build on this principle.
Invest in Your Skill-set
Another form of investment is your time investments.
Like a valuable resource, time is limited. We all have access to it, but it is fleeting.
You should, therefore, not squander it, but instead, try your best to spend it in a way so that you can benefit yourself in the future.
Like with finances, it takes a formulated plan in order for our investments, in this case, time, to bear fruit.
In the beginning, you will feel like you’re putting in a lot more than you are getting out… Once again, another parallel to investing financially.
Invest By Practicing
Like with money, it will require discipline to stick to the plan despite the lack of results. You must conquer this form of resistance, as Steven Pressfield says.
Most of the time, your plan of action in this kind of investment requires that you practice.
You will practice… and practice, and spend your time in dedication to your skill set – your craft.
You will suck for a really long time.
Your patience will be tested. Your steadfastness will be tested.
Before you can have everything you ever wanted, It is as if the universe needs to be convinced of your dedication to your vision.
But rest assured, pass these tests, and you will reap the rewards.
The Rewards of Time Investments
While the rewards of financial investments is the generation of value from accumulated money, the rewards of proper time investments is the generation of value through genuine self-expression.
For example, a writer who has invested his time properly and has done what is needed to get to the proper level, can write a great book and have it published.
Now, it can scale – and in turn, reach a large audience.
Through wise time investments he has summoned into existence the skill set to entertain, educate, and inspire his audience.
Through the ritualistic practice of sitting down and investing time into his craft, while also facilitating his whole life towards the attainment of skill in his craft – he now has the ability to generate value out of seemingly nothing.
Not only this, and another parallel to financial investments, is the exponential nature of the value that can eventually be created.
Our case-study of a writer can now use the revenue he generated with his book to free up his time so he can write even more. Therefore, he can invest even more time into the right areas.
Once again, it is only through painstaking toil that this can eventually happen.
Do you have plans on investing in your skill set?
Do you have your daily allotment of time specifically planned? You must choose to invest it instead of waste it.
Invest in Your Relationships
Drawing more parallels to financial investments, your investments in relationships will often start slow.
Have you ever had someone who was slow to warm up to you? But instead of just writing him off as a worthless person to know, you consistently stayed cordial and even friendly. Over time, he becomes an invaluable relationship in your life.
Of course, there are some people that are not worth getting to know, and if you’re a people-person, you learn this quite quickly. However, the practice of investing in relationships even when they are unrewarding in the beginning is a great habit to have.
This is because investing in “tough” relationships sharpens your skill set in building your wise investments.
While someone with great people skills, and is a natural extrovert, will be receptive of your “relationship investments” right off the bat, you can separate yourself from the pack by building a bunch of relationships with the hard-to-know types.
The reason being that trying to connect with a hard-to-know type makes you painfully conscious of what gestures and actions are positive investments that give you a positive ROI.
Don’t get me wrong though, the majority of time should be investing in relationships that benefit you in the long run, and as the platitude goes, you don’t want to be get in with the “wrong crowd”.
What Are Relationship Investments?
Before it starts to sound like humans are stock profiles you need to buy or dump, relationship investments require that you do very humanistic actions – such as those you should be doing anyway.
Unconditional support, a genuine compliment, and even a smile can be actions that invest into your relationships.
These may seem like insignificant gestures, but if you’re not careful in keeping up a positive, uplifting state of mind, they may be often neglected.
It is important, then, to consciously put in a plan of action for these gestures. Such as it is natural to want to waste our money and time instead of investing wisely, it is natural to want to be lazy and complacent in how we interact with people.
This is especially true with relationships in which we have become too comfortable in, such as with our closest family members.
Often, you see those who seek to improve their network of relationships but fail to invest into relationships that they already have.
Would it not seem logical to practice investing in relationships with those who are immediately around us? It is logical, but difficult… like all good things.
If you don’t smile enough, maybe you can, once a week, flash a smile to a coworker that you don’t often speak to.
Simply, tell your mom that her new hair cut looks great.
In a text message, tell a close friend of yours how much she is appreciated.
Hell, encouragingly listen to the homeless person talk about his life for 10 minutes. That will really sharpen your investment skills.
Reaping The Rewards
Just like with finances and skills, your relationship investments will eventually compound and give you exponential results.
Like how your generated value in the form of money helps you create more money, your generated value through positive relationships will help you create more relationships… or investments, if you will.
Think about it – every individual that you sow into with wise relationship investments knows a handful, sometimes a lot, of people themselves.
Because of the value you’ve generated, they may feel inclined to positively mention you, or invite you out to events where you can build other “investments” that will help you succeed in all aspects of your life.
This all stemmed from your initial objective to create a plan of action towards investing in relationships.
Don’t be complacent in any of your day to day interactions with people.
What is your plan of action towards investing in your relationships?
Invest or Perish
For those of us who are lucky enough to live in the free world, investing in ourselves might seem like an option.
Well, it isn’t an option if you want to thrive and create a better life for yourself and everyone around you.
Money that is not invested well is wasted.
Time that is not directed properly is used to do destructive things.
Relationships become toxic if they are not nurtured.
To invest in something is to pay attention to and direct resources towards, and to neglect doing so, is to give in to entropy and make things worse.
I hope this article has given you inspiration in creating a plan of action towards investing in yourself.
Please leave a comment and let me know how you’re investing in yourself on a daily basis. What kind of plans do you have for future investments?