Mindset

5 Reasons why It’s important to invest in yourself.

If you were to ask me, for advice to give someone who wants to start driving towards their goals. It would be, “Learn why it is important to invest in yourself.”

I know gorgeous; you are a dreamer and an action taker. This is why this post will definitely benefit you in your journey. That journey may be the following below, but learning to invest in yourself is a huge factor :

-starting your own business

-changing your career

-starting your career

-moving from one country to another

-or even a personal journey of becoming more confident in yourself

Now, what do I mean by investing in yourself?

When we hear the word invest, the first thing that comes to mind is ‘money’ right?

Well investing in yourself is not just about spending money. Investing in yourself means investing time, effort/energy, money.

You can make monetary investments by say investing in stocks, crypto, now NFTs. But that investment will not succeed, if you do not put the ‘time’ in to learn about the products that you are investing in. and when you put the time in, you must make an ‘effort’ to understand and learn it

You can buy all the personal development books available. But if you don’t make time to read each book. Gather the energy to take action on your learnings, then it would be irrelevant.

So, investment in yourself requires a combination of all three.

Michael Schrage, states that Knowledge alone is not power.

“The ability to act on knowledge is power.”

Michael Schrage

Which to me is quite powerful and true.

Now that you have the idea of what I meant.

Here are the five reasons why it is important to invest in yourself.

1. It is important to invest in yourself because it results in a higher ROI.

We live in today where information is easily accessible. You don’t even need to be at home in front of a computer to find whatever information you need. All you have to do is to access the web browser on your phone and you will find the information you are looking for.

And because of that knowledge, we tend to have the mindset that we can get the information we need for ‘free’. And when there is a cost or investment needed, we look in the other direction.

I know how this feels, I went through this too, but gorgeous, everything in life comes with a cost. It’s not a crime, it’s how it is. It requires a little improvement in the “money mindset” department is all.

Let me give you a few examples:

You wanted to earn a degree, right? You go to a university and what do you need to do to enroll? Money. Today there are ‘financial aid’ available that you can pay off even after you have graduated.

You wanted to buy food at a grocery store, what do you need to buy the food? Money.

You wanted a roof over your head, what do you need to get it? Money.

So why do we hesitate when we hear the word, invest?

I dove into entrepreneurship several times. The first thing they to me was I have to invest money into my business. Guess what I did?

I turned around and called it a scam.

So, I get it. And trust me, learning that to improve I needed to put money out first was tough, but guess what the outcome is?

Higher Return of Investment (ROI).

In a job, if you don’t have a degree and experience, your salary starts at a base rate. So, you go to school for higher pay right?

I’ve seen this quote but am not sure who said it…

“Billionaires lose millions to become billionaires. Millionaires lose thousands to become millionaires. Broke people want to lose nothing to become rich and successful.”

And it hit hard. So, next time you wanted to start something. And comes with a cost, reflect on that quote first before shying away from it.

Yes, you may get information for free. But I can confidently tell you that the ‘free’ information that you are getting is basic. Anything on the next level will not be free. That information is what you need to propel forward. To reach the next level on the journey that you wanted to take.

2. It is important to invest in yourself because you learn to be gentler with yourself.

As I said earlier, if you’re reading this blog post, I know that you are a dreamer and you wanted to make an impact. But to deliver, there is a lot of inner work that you need to do. And that is what we call your personal development journey.

Have you heard of the term, “Overachiever”? Yeah?

Has anyone called you an overachiever? Me too!

And it’s not a bad thing. I see it as a compliment, and I aim to function like one. But what we don’t realize is the disadvantage of having high expectations which result to:

a. Beating yourself up

I have done this many times. I’ve called myself, “stupid” because I made a mistake. “Ugly” because I cannot look good enough. And these words are damaging.

b. Being a perfectionists

If you have considered yourself a perfectionist, “Do not shoot me”. I have learned that being a perfectionist means that you are hiding from fear. Yes, you read it. Hiding from fear. And, that fear is fear of not being good enough.

c. Stress and overwhelm

This is a domino effect. If you are being a perfectionist. Ensuring that every detail is planned out to the T can result in delay. And it can be very stressful and overwhelming. I get it. I was there too.

Once you have invested in yourself. You will learn, that the journey you are taking or planning to take will take time. And will need patience.

You can still be an overachiever but an overachiever who understands. And have more patience with yourself. It does not have to be perfect, it is all about progress.

3. It is important to invest in yourself because you will live a healthy life.

Investing in yourself gives you access to a lot of knowledge if you are open to learning it. Although, I wanted you to learn one important thing in this equation, and that is YOU.

I spoke with a good friend of mine yesterday. He asked me what I am currently working on.

The conversation started because he wanted to invite me to dinner. When it comes to food, I will accept. (This is my weakness!)

Anyway, he knows that I am always working on something. I told him that I started this blog and posted content weekly.

I am halfway done with my studies to become a motivational speaker. And work, and putting out content. I asked him the same question.

Then he told his current projects. And that he is looking forward to our dinner as he had lost a lot of weight from the diet that he is currently following. Mind you, this man is very knowledgeable. And is health-conscious which reminded me of my current weight.

Vulnerability moment: I gained 25 pounds since October of last year. And haven’t done anything to lose some weight. In my defense, the weight I gained was from being sick back then and I have not set it as a priority to focus on my health.

I told him, to not laugh at me when he sees me because I have gained weight. That is when I got yelled at. Well, reminded I should say. He stopped me midway through speaking and said, “Ernie! You are busy! You are working full time. You cater to everyone who needs your help! At work and outside of work. You have a blog. You are studying. You are managing your social media. Yet you are not giving time to take care of YOU!”

Thank God, for real friends, right? And like I said, this is the journey that I am sharing with you.

I know how important it is to invest in myself and to take care of myself, which I do. But sometimes, we need something or someone who will ‘yell’ at us and tell us the truth.

So, guess what I did. I planned. I went to the grocery store, bought healthy food. Promised to lessen carbs and sweets and exercise at least three times a week.

I have been in my personal development journey for a few years now. Like I said earlier, in any journey that you take, the most important person on the equation is YOU.

So, it is important to remember that living a healthy life is part of the journey. Why?

Because like what my friend told me with the rest of my conversation with him.

I may be able to do all the things I am doing now, but it will catch on to me.

And if I don’t take care of myself enough. Who will go through ‘my’ journey? No one!

4. It is important to invest in yourself because it will give you more confidence.

Confidence is a vital asset in anyone’s success. Whatever the journey is, if there is no confidence, there will be no progress.

Confidence has a lot of meaning, but I love how Mel Robin defined it.

“Confidence is having the courage to take action and do it over and over again.”

Like the competent confidence loop. Taking action will help you become competent. Once you have done it over and over to a point where you can do it even when with your eyes close. That is where confidence is.

So, investing in yourself; taking the time to learn, making an effort to do it over again give you more confidence.

Dr. John Maxwell had mentioned so many times that “anything we do the first time will not be perfect”. So, if we invest in ourselves, there is no other way but up.

5. It is important to invest in yourself because it will get you closer to your desires.

I love when John Maxwell said, “some people have uphill hopes, but downhill habits”. Meaning some people want to dream high but are not willing to go through the hardship of getting there.

Which is, to be honest, true. It’s the same with investing money in comparison to getting the information for free. We live in a world of instant gratification.

You wanted food, you don’t have to go to the store, you can grab your phone and have it delivered to your doorstep.

You wanted to watch a movie, you don’t have to go to the movie theatre, you can sit on your couch and buy the movie there.

These are valid things that are beneficial to us but at the same time, investment is still required. Which is money.

What do I mean by investing in yourself will get you closer to your desires though?

Let me give you a specific example. I am confident that this example will give you the message of this post.

One of my desires was to create a blog where I can pour my knowledge and share my journey with you. Also to motivate you to go through your own journey.

As easy as that may sound, it was not an easy journey. Why?

It was not easy because, in order for me to gain knowledge, I have to go through hardship. I have to go through the experience, I have to go through the struggles. I invested in courses. Read books. listened to podcasts and learned from them. When I felt stuck by myself, I invested in hiring a coach. Where I learned more about myself. Started my healing journey. And added more practices that helps me now to become the person I wanted to become.

I, later on, learned that I wanted to make an impact, hence the blog idea came up.

I have no knowledge of how to build a website, let alone a blog. I invested money, time, and effort in learning how to build it.

Learned how to build a website. How to add images, what images to put, to come up with good quality images, and most of all to type up each content every week.

And here it is now.

If I did not invest in myself, If I did not invest time, money, energy in myself. This blog, this website will not come to the surface.

So gorgeous therefore it is important, that any journey you want to take, needs to start with YOU. It is important that you invest in yourself first.

I would love to know your input on this post. Feel free to comment below.

2 Comments

  1. […] I have written in my previous blog post, “5 Reasons why it is important to invest in yourself”. It takes work to become the best version of yourself and it needs to start with you. You need to […]

  2. […] yes, everything worth doing takes time. And a lot of it. As I have mentioned before in my blog post “5 Reasons why it’s important to invest in yourself”. Investing in yourself means investing your time, money, and […]

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