Invest In Yourself
About Lesson

Who Will You Be?

Have you taken any steps to invest in yourself? Recently? Do you know what investing in yourself means or looks like? It’s a proactive process. Self-investment requires focus, deliberate action, and regular attention, and when you do so you can reap unimaginable rewards. 

 

This eCourse has been designed to encourage you to think about your life and to be more proactive about investing in yourself. You need a framework to understand the basics of personal investment and to understand how best to tackle it. That’s what we are here for. 

 

In the poignant words of author and poet Waldo Emerson – ‘The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be?’

 

Investing in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. It will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of all those around you. ~ Robin Sharma // Author & Coach

What It Means To Invest In Yourself

What does it mean? To invest in yourself. 

 

Everyone has their own special gift(s). If they take time to uncover and hone them, then they can share those gifts with the rest of the world. Your gifts are no different. If you take time to uncover those gifts and polish, develop, and grow those gifts, then they will reward you in kind. That is what it means to invest in yourself. It’s something you have because you believed in the future enough to invest in your gifts and goals now. Your hope can guide you. 

There are all different ways in which you can invest in yourself. It can be as simple as focusing on brushing up on a musical skill or improving your health or learning a brand new skill altogether. Of course, you can do all of those things. The point is that you think about the gifts you have, the skills you would like, and how you can work toward achieving those things. If you put the work in, then the reward will be great. 

Self-improvement through investing in yourself doesn’t need to be a grand scheme or gesture. The small changes can have a big impact, especially when those small changes add up. For you, it could be setting aside five minutes daily to practice a new language. It might be something major, like going back to school to pursue a master’s degree. 

Begin by identifying your portfolio. What does that mean? It’s essentially a skills matrix. You are taking stock of your existing skills, the gifts that come to you naturally, and your traits. 

 

Are you good with people? Great with technology? Or better with animals? 

Make a list and you have your personal portfolio. You can invest in yourself by determining where to go from there.

It’s all about looking at yourself as you are and choosing to believe that you are worth the time and energy to invest more.

“Every moment of one’s existence, one is growing into more or retreating into less.” ~ Norman Mailer

Benefits Of Self-Investment

  • Investing in yourself helps you become who you want to be
  • Investing in yourself is investing in the most important person in your life
  • When you invest in yourself, you are taking control of your life
  • Self-investment allows you to make your dream life your real life
    the thoughts you think, the actions you take and the mindset you engage today, will help shape, mold and predict your future.
  • With self investment, the sky is the limit
  • Whatever your dreams may be, achieve them with self investment
  • Self-investment helps you create the best version of you
  • Self-investment is the key to happiness
  • Investing in yourself is the key to personal growth and development
  • Investing in yourself affirms your belief in yourself
  • Investing in yourself affirms your value and self-worth
  • Self-investment can transform your entire life
  • Self-investment strengthens you and better prepares you for the unexpected
  • When you invest in yourself, you create a better future
  • Investing in yourself elevates your mentality
  • Take control of your life and start investing in yourself today

Preemptive Planning And Action

You invest in the things and people around you. You socialize with your friends, which is a way of investing more in your personal relationships. You spend your time playing a game on your phone or scrolling social media, that’s a time investment. 

 

In a lot of social media situations, there’s an emotional investment, too. Often, the greatest investment you make is pouring all of your time and energy into your job. You are making an investment in your career to the benefit of your employers. It takes time, energy, and even money to build connections and gain recognition to pave the way for career success. 

To invest in yourself truly, you have to plan ahead and take action on the back of those plans. 

“Be patient with yourself, self-growth is tender;It’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” ~ Stephen Covey

Invest In Yourself

When someone starts a business, they start investing in themselves. Not only are they leveraging their existing skills, but they are also putting their total trust in themselves, believing fully in their ability to succeed and they’re stretching themselves. 

The value that they create on the back of that business is a massive reward and it’s one they don’t have to share anymore. It’s a big step to take, it requires having the utmost confidence in your own skills, strengths, and abilities. 

 

Investing in yourself in any way is just like that. It’s an act of trust, a signal that you trust yourself and believe in yourself enough to believe that you can be more than what you currently are. Starting a business requires giving up lots of other interests and activities, at least for a time, because all of your energy and focus is poured into the business. 

I would encourage you to think about self-investment as a business startup of sorts. Except, in this case, all of your time and energy is being poured into learning, developing, growing, and creating more value in your life.

You don’t have to sacrifice all of your hobbies or all of your spare time, but it’s important that your focus shifts to value-adding activities to help you get to where you want to go. 

There will be times where your sole focus is on self-investment, but self-care is an act of investment. Choose activities, hobbies, and tasks that encourage learning, growth, and the furthering of wisdom and knowledge.

 

When you make the choice to practice self-investment, you have to go all in. What that looks like to you is dependent on where you want to go in life. There are countless ways and countless reasons why you would choose to invest in yourself. Getting a good handle on the reasons why you wish to seek improvement is a good place to start because knowing why will help you figure out the what and the how. 

So, what do you want from life? 

Do you want to climb the career ladder? Do you want to build your own business? Do you want to deepen your romantic connection with your partner? 

Humans are hardwired to want to grow, to do better because this is what has increased the likelihood of survival. It’s the reason we find growth and development addictive once we get started. It’s a critical aspect of your happiness and progress. 

 

Often, self-improvement and self-investment attempts fail. That could be for many reasons, from being unsure of which direction to walk or not being clear enough on what you want to invest. Let’s focus on how to proceed. Goals are important, but there’s more to it than that. You can’t stick with should, it’s time to embrace must

Objectives

If you don’t have goals in mind then you will need to consider what you want to accomplish. Picture yourself a year from now, five years, ten years, etc. Identify the end goal and work backward to determine your objectives which will help you create milestones to reach and give you an idea of when you need to reach them. 

Purpose

What is your purpose? More importantly, what is the purpose driving your goal? It’s easy enough to say I want to climb the career ladder, but it’s insignificant if you don’t understand the purpose behind the want. Self-improvement is meaningless otherwise. 

You need to know the purpose behind your goals because that is what brings fulfillment. 

 

For example, you want to climb the career ladder because you want to earn more money because you have other passions you would like to pursue. Or you want to be a better parent because your childhood was difficult and you wished you’d had stronger parental support. 

The purpose will drive you and when you are faced with obstacles or challenges, nothing will deter you from overcoming them. 

“In this world you’re either growing or you’re dying, so get in motion and grow.” ~ Lou Holtz

Life Areas

You can begin planning by assessing different areas of your life. 

Your Personal Self

Where do you want to be? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? How do you want to grow? 

 

Relationships

What relationships require more attention? What work on yourself can help you deepen those bonds?

Health

Your mind and body function better when you are healthy and energized. What investments can you make in yourself today that will support your health in the future?

Finances 

 

Do you have money issues? Are you simply poor with money? Do you have financial goals? Aspirations? Determine what goals you have in this area and plan what you can do today to secure that future. 

Now you just have to put it all together to create an action plan that works to support those investments. 

Other Key Life Areas Include

  • Mental and Psychological Health
  • Emotional Health
  • Professional/Work
  • Spiritual Development
  • Lifestyle

The key is to think in terms of choices, plans and goals that you develop today, which in turn will boost your tomorrows. 

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

How What You Today Invests In Your Future Self

Your actions, thoughts, habits, and behaviors have a profound impact on your happiness, well-being, and future. The situation you are in now is a result of your past thoughts, behaviors, habits, and actions. 

 

Today, you have the option to make small changes by investing in yourself positively now in order to create a better life for the future you. Let’s talk about some of the ways in which you can do this. 

Book It

If you want to get started, then put it on your calendar and do it in a way that ensures you can’t wriggle out of it no matter how hard you try. Obligations that you can’t get out of are going to help you make proactive changes for future you. 

Sign up for classes, join a community group, book a visit with friends, whatever it takes. Create a calendar that reflects what a social, happy, active person would make and stick to it because guess what? You can be a social, happy, active person!

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; True nobility is being superior to your former self.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

Retirement Savings

This might sound wild, but your retirement plan should start now. By taking care of it now you’re literally investing in your future self. You don’t want to work longer than you have to just to make enough money to pay the bills and put food on the table.

You’ve spent a lifetime doing that, take care of that now so you don’t need to worry about it when you’re not as young and energetic as you once were. 

 

Learn To Cook

Learn to cook now and not just any cooking, learn how to cook healthily. You can meal prep, plan ahead, or whatever it takes. By learning to cook you are investing in your health, your finances, and your overall happiness and well-being. Of course, cooking can also be an excellent stress management tool. 

Time Capsule Wardrobe

This might not sound relevant so bear with me. You wear clothes daily and by building a time capsule wardrobe you invest in clothing of a high-quality that will last you for years to come. Spend your money wisely to dress well, it will make you feel more confident and secure inside. The clothing you wear impacts your career, it impacts your life. It’s a chance to showcase your personality in a unique way. Think about that. 

Separate Savings Accounts

If you want to save money, then create individual accounts to do it. You need a retirement account, that goes without saying, but what about other things? You need an emergency fund, of course, for rainy day issues. 

What about an account for travel? An account for learning? Many banking apps allow you to create separate pots that you can custom name. It removes the money from the fingertips of your main account and lets you save easily. 

This isn’t about depriving yourself of needs, rather it’s about making sure you fulfill all of your needs now and in the future.

 

“Change equals self-improvement. Push yourself to places you haven’t been before” ~ Pat Summitt 

Media Consumption

You probably consume a lot of media. What type of websites do you visit? What type of shows do you watch? It might sound odd, but the content you consume influences your feelings and thoughts. If you watch a lot of tense, anxiety-inducing content then you are likely going to feel tense and anxious. Do yourself a favor and pursue more positive content. 

Read

If you want to invest in yourself, then reading is a fantastic way to do it. With plenty of classics available free to listen to on Spotify, to download from the internet, and eBooks available for pennies… there’s no excuse! Just make time to read and vary your reading material as much as possible. 

Reading more boosts your vocabulary, stimulates imagination, increases knowledge and problem-solving skills, relieves stress, and it’s entertaining, too. What you read now can influence who you become and it’s an investment in your future self. 

Keep In Touch

Your close friends and family are important. Your social ties help protect your mental health, they provide you with stress relief, advice, and strong bonds that are important to happiness and well-being. People often lose sight of their friendships as they chase life. 

Eventually, as you grow older the people you once relied on aren’t around anymore because too long has expired between phone calls, visits, or texts. Put the work in to solidify your relationships now and remember it is an investment for both your current and future self. 

 

That being said, you should choose your friends wisely. The people you spend time with can heavily influence your behavior, thoughts, and actions. If there are friends (or family members) in your life who negatively influence your behavior, thoughts, and actions, then do what you can to distance yourself from them. 

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

Plan And Measure

You can’t set goals and leave it at that. Once your improvement goals are in place you have to take action and make it happen. Make your plans and set out to achieve the goals you chose. 

You will need to track your progress and measure results as often as possible to ensure you’re still on the right track. Self-improvement is a never-ending journey and you won’t get far if you aren’t willing to a) monitor yourself and b) constantly invest in yourself. 

Sometimes there are shorter paths to take to achieve things. For example, if you want to invest in yourself by learning how to play the piano then you will learn far quicker if you commit to practicing one hour each day, as well as hiring a teacher. 

But you can still make some improvement by practicing daily on a piano you purchase for home and using an app. One will, of course, get you where you want to go quicker. If you stop to measure your progress regularly, then you will know when and how you can get there quicker. 

 

Block External Influence

You should worry about approving of your own decisions rather than worrying about what others may think of your choices. Forget what everyone else thinks. If you are being true to your values, beliefs, and priorities, then you are making the right decisions for the person you imagine you will become. 

You can greatly influence the course of your life and who you are by making some strategic plans and taking deliberate actions today that will shape and mold your future!

“You cannot dream yourself into a character; you must hammer and forge yourself one.” ~ Henry David Thorean