Do you invest in yourself? Typically, we talk about savings and investing in stocks, bonds, 401K, real estate and businesses. In dollars and cents, we can determine if it was a good investment or not. Pssst, the very best investment is you! If you don’t believe me, think about the lifetime of earnings you generate. We call that return on investment!
The investment
We all start out the same. The first opportunity to improve the investment is an education. Getting a good education is not hard, but you must make it a priority. There are two parts to getting an education, one is getting good grades and the other is knowledge and skills. Good grades will get you into a good university. The better the college, the more choices you have. Good grades will also provide opportunities for scholarships, more financial aid and less debt.
A good education and good grades will get you a better job and career. Can you be successful without going to a top tier university? Of course, it may be more difficult or take longer. Not all investments have superior returns, but you have more control over you as an investment and can maximize the returns. You can work on you! I recently wrote an article called Am I Training for a Race, where I worked on my investment to maximize my return. I tested myself to see if I could increase my physical and mental limits.
Physical
Although a good education or training is important, you physical well being is just as important. Good health, stamina or being fit gives you confidence and gives others a good impression. You are judged based on how you look, act and speak. If you look healthy, you make a better impression than if you are not. Eating healthy is another way that you treat your investment as important. You receive better results from your investment if the fuel is helping you achieve results. Have you ever thought of food that way?
Good choices in physical activity will enhance your investment. When you are in good physical heath, you have energy, think clearer, and have stamina. In addition, your confidence goes up because you feel good and achieve success. There is a lot of research regarding students having difficulties with learning if they are hungry. Good nutrition translates into a better investment. Physical well being is strongly linked to mental well being.
Mental
You made your investment in a good education and in your physical well being, it is not over! Just like your muscles, when you stop exercising, they will atrophy. Do you want your investment to deteriorate? You need a lifetime of learning to keep your mental abilities and skills at peak levels. Keeping up your skills means taking classes or training, reading professional books and periodicals, and keeping up with your career. This means reading a lot of material for work and fun! Yes, I said fun too! Reading for fun is part of it too. There are many professions that require continuing education, but everyone should keep up with their profession.
If you want a good return on your investment, you have to do something. Joining associations, interest groups and other kinds of organizations is important too. Meeting with people who have the same interests and professions is important too. Let’s not forget about networking. Learning from your colleagues is important and it enhances your career too. What are you doing to enhance your investment?
Personal
Most people are hired because the employer likes you! The employer thinks you will fit in well on the team in the company. How do you improve your likability quotient? It may mean improving your personality. How do you improve your personality? How do you get along with other people? Can you work well with others? These are questions that relate to your personality. The best way to work on this is practice. Learning how to interact with different kinds of people is a practiced skill. It is very much like conflict resolution, goals, goal setting and soft skills.
Henry Ford allegedly would invite candidates out to lunch before he would hire you. If you seasoned your food before you tasted it, you would not be hired. This was a test, Mr. Ford felt was important. Your personal skills set can be just important as your education/training. In fact, soft skills such as work ethic, positive attitude, problem solving skills, teamwork, self confidence, flexibility/adaptability, working under pressure and values may prevent you from being hired or promoted.
Wrap Up
What is your return on investment? What can you do to improve your return? Are you happy with your results? If you are happy with your result continue your efforts. If you are not, you need to improve physically, mentally and personally to achieve the kind of results to get a good return on your investment. Your attitude is as important as everything else so stay positive and take action to make changes to improve your outcome. Do you invest in yourself?
Photo by: o5com
I read constantly, whether it be the Sunday paper, a PF blog, a work of fiction, the news, whatever. I love it and I think it enriches my mind to do so. Your post reminds me, though, I need to get back in my morning exercise routine 🙂
Absolutely! And best of all, unlike other investments, you don’t lose a skill once learned when you invest in yourself!
You are right, skills can never go away.
You totally hit the nail on the head with this! One of my New Year’s resolutions will be to combine my efforts for wealth with my efforts for health and invest in my wellbeing in the long term. I think I’m subtly moving towards this since I put in my notice for a job that was literally going nowhere and was detrimental to my real life “investments” in myself.
Without investing in the mental, we burn out. Without physical investment, we atrophy, without investing in our personal lives and friends- what else could there be? 😉
Being our best means bringing the mental, physical and professional parts together. It is the foundation of a better life.
When I was very young, I remember a cousin who was very successful who would read every newspaper, books, and magazines. He was president of his own firm, although he started as a high school dropout. He retired at 50 years old and worked for the United Nations as a consultant during his retirement.
I find that one of the best invest-in-yourself methods is simply to read books! It’s a great and inexpensive education!
I agree, the internet makes information find and retrieve that I read even more.
After college I stopped for a while and joined the typical rat race. Now I’m starting to try to reinvent myself both mentally and physically.
Great article 🙂
Couldnt agree more, and has been a point I have been focusing on since April!
Some great advice! My Mother was a nurse and always told me to take care of myself so that I will be able to take care of others when the time comes.
As I get old(er), I appreciate good health more. I expect to remain active for anothe 30 years.
Great thoughts KC. I love the Henry Ford tidbit, that is really interesting. (My parents always salted their food no matter what, somehow I did not perpetuate that habit.)
I am trying to invest in myself more. Actually, going to that conference is the first trip I have taken in 17 years just for me, and it was a great time. I need to focus more on exercise now. It is the first thing I should do, but other things usually end up jumping ahead in line.
I used to go running at 5:30 in the morning before work, so nothing would interfere with it. Make it a priority, you will feel better about yourself.
Mental investments are spot on. Continuing education is a whole lot easier if you’re excited by what you do too.
I never envisioned taking a teacher credential course at 55 years old or being a writer at 65 years old. I may be my best investment!
This is part of lifetime learning. Preparation is 95% of opportunity.
Focusing on the mental, physical, investment and personal sides of self improvement prepare you for success.
Clearly solving the problem…. Thanks
Excellent tips! If you invest in yourself, that wealth cannot be taken away from you. I had not head that story about Henry Ford. It makes me smile, but it makes sense! Thanks!
Very true, investing in skills, education or training is with you forever.
Investing in yourself will pay off handsomely.
I have really worked hard at investing in myself the last few years. I grew up being one of those people who always put others first and often left out looking after myself. It caught up with me and I learned the hard way. Over the last few years I have done exactly what you have posted about. I have working my emotional and mental health which is much more stable now. I have always been more physically active and I eat healthier too which has a ton of benefits. I think looking after yourself is so important for your overall happiness and longevity.
When I am physically fit, I feel better mentally and feel very confident. It seems I am more productive and effective too.
We really are our best investment, great message! Thanks for the reminder to keep exercising mentally and physically. It boggles my mind when people smoke, drink too much, overeat, or do drugs. They are actually ruining their best investment and their potential for an amazing life.
Don’t forget to add to the skills set too. Older workers are considered not as good because they can no longer learn or adapt to the changes.
Great point. It is very important keep developing in our chosen areas of expertise. Atrophy is not a pretty, regardless of whether it is physical, mental, relational, spiritual, etc.
Either we keep current or on top of things or we fall behind. I am constantly learning and improving myself physically, mentally and personally.
As a young guy I feel that time spent investing in myself now will pay huge dividends down the road. I actually think university is a little overrated in terms of investing in yourself. Sure you need the piece of paper at the end of the line, but I’ve learned way more just from my own personal reading and conversations than I ever did at university.
I believe that 50% of your learning occurs outside the classroom at university. It may be in a fraternity, student government, team sports or just friends. All of it is relevant when you enter the work world.
I most definitely invest in myself. I read religiously and actually implement the topics I read. whether it’s how to mange money or how to manage people.
Reading improves your investment and keeps you sharp and up to date. Don’t forget the other aspects of investing in yourself such as physical and personal too.
We all know that we need to take care of ourselves, but talking about it in terms of an “investment” makes a lot of sense– especially on a financial blog! Here’s an extreme example: Supermodels. Hear me out. Supermodels spend lots of money to keep their bodies in shape– from gym fees, to personal chefs, and personal trainers, etc. But in the end, they actually make more money, so the investment pays off. While we’re not all exactly supermodels, it can be helpful to think about investing in yourself in this way– what are you getting in return? If you’re not taking care of yourself– body, mind, and spirit– you are not going to get the return you want. Even if you’re strapped for cash to start with, you can “invest” in your fitness for free! At Mango we have a great post on inexpensive/free ways to work out. Here’s the link, you might find it useful! http://www.mangomoney.com/blog/cheap-fun/calorie-burning-without-burning-through-funds
Super models withstanding, the investment is in education, training, physical, mental and personal. The emphasis is on training and education that will help you acquire skills. Those skills will help you succeed.
Great article! Kudos to you for including the mental and personal aspects as well. Somehow we seem to forget about investing in ourselves. I think that it should be a continous process. The world is constantly changing, and we must find ways to adapt to positively deal with those changes.
I think we are dynamic and are changing as well. I want to change, improve and grow along with the changes in society. I want to be prepared for the changes. It came in handy with my new teaching assignment this Fall.
Nice article. We all need to invest in our health as the health insurance is getting higher and higher each year. Investing in your health is another great way to save money.
Very true, without good health, everything else doesn’t matter.
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I can assure you we are not related because I am not aware of any my cousins writing blogs. 🙂 Please read my other articles, you may find them equally interesting.