I’ve undergone two brain surgeries. The first was to glue a large mass of arteries and veins shut and the second was to remove the damaged blood vessels and a bruised part of my brain to prevent seizures. After the surgery, I attended college at night while working full time, investing time and effort into what I could do with what remained of my brain.
After college, I won the Dean’s Academic Scholarship and completed law school, but I didn’t take the bar because I had decided it wasn’t for me. When law school ended, I attended Harvard Business School’s Owner Manager President Program. The total time I spent on my education was nine years.
Before that, I took voice lessons in Columbus, Ohio, and in Los Angeles, where I took lessons from a woman named Sabine. One day, I bumped into Axl Rose, another one of her students, arguably the more successful one.
Investing In Yourself
Before you invest in anything else, you must make an investment in you. No matter what you want to do or accomplish in your life, you increase the odds of success by investing in your self-improvement.
People who believe someone else should invest in them will be disappointed because that type of support only comes to those already working to make themselves better. The longer you wait to invest in yourself, the longer it will take you to improve your abilities and the outcomes that follow. Over time, your most important investment will be the one you make in yourself.
The Growth Imperative
You will hear people suggest they have a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset. Pursuing a growth mindset means recognizing that you can continue to grow. The problem for those who are not growing is that they are losing ground in an environment of accelerating change. Like Alice in Wonderland, you can play the Red Queen’s game and run faster and faster without getting anywhere.
Faster isn’t better than better. Doing more doesn’t necessarily improve your results. Your growth requires that you invest in yourself. Some of the investments are financial; all of them require effort.
The Law of Potential
You are mostly potential. Your accomplishments to this point, no matter what they are, suggest that you have even more potential in front of you. If you have ever had a great mentor or coach, you will recall that they recognized your potential before you did. That person invested in you and expected you to invest in yourself, even if it was uncomfortable to have someone else pushing you beyond the limits you perceived.
Failing to fulfill your potential could be described as a sin. Regardless of your faith tradition or whatever you believe about the universe, your talents are a gift that you can use to contribute while you are here on Earth. Choosing to do anything else is wrong.
How to Invest in Yourself Even If You Are Broke
For around $25 and a little more than six hours of your time, you can buy a book and develop a new understanding of something. By putting what you learn to work, you can gain a competency in a relatively short time. If you have no money to spend on your development, you can walk into a library and leave with that same book.
With nothing more than an internet connection (also free at the library), you can watch tutorials on almost anything you might want to learn, be it sales, leadership, public speaking, or writing. With a few sheets of paper and a pen, you can take notes on how you can get started.
This platform will reach 5,000 posts in the next couple of weeks. It has always been free, and always will be. This blog is only one of many that provide useful ideas that can help you invest in yourself. If you have some ability to invest money in your growth, you can look to platforms like Udemy and Skill Share, where you can get long-form courses about anything you might need to learn to improve yourself.
Learn What Interests You
You can invest in yourself by following your interests. Let’s say you want to learn to draw. This skill will also improve your discipline and creativity, and bring you other benefits. The same is true for cooking, music, dance, and every other art, including acting. One person I know fell in love with plants and has worked at a nursery and has been happy for many years.
As a human, you need not limit your investment to something practical. You will gain from anything you pursue. If you have the money, there is every reason to attend college or pursue a master’s degree. Even though some people suggest academics aren’t worth the time and money, most of the people who say that haven’t made that investment in themselves.
Your Trajectory and Your Investment in Yourself
Worry about your development and your trajectory. Progress comes slowly at first and faster as you begin to gain competency. You need to go from one development program to the next, always moving in the right direction.
The reason you should invest in yourself is because it pays higher dividends than anything else while also increasing your value and the value you can create for others. Whatever you pursue, do it to the best of your ability before moving onto whatever else captures your interest and imagination.
