How much money have you invested in your personal growth or development this year? How much money have you invested in your professional development? What is your growth and development budget?
How much time have you spent on personal growth? How much time have you spent in the gym, the road, or the yoga studio working on your physical health and well-being? How much time have you spent with a book in your hands? How much time have you spent with video or audio programs?
How much energy have you invested in your future? How much energy have you devoted to setting your goals, developing your plans, and working on building the life you want for yourself? How much energy have you spent in introspection, thinking about who you are and what you are here to do?
You pay for your future now. You pay for that future with money, time, and energy. Success is something that you always have to pay for in advance. First, you do the lonely work of developing yourself and your ability to create value, and then you get the success that naturally follows. But if you aren’t paying now, you are right now deciding on your future regrets.
- Would the amount of money you spend on your personal and professional growth provide clear evidence that you are paying the price now for who you are going to be in the future?
- Would the time you spend hitting the gym, the time you spend hitting the books, or the time you spend in downward-facing dog make the case that you are working on you?
- Would the amount of energy you expended working on your goals, developing your plans, and bringing that future version of yourself to fruition be evident if you stood before a jury of your hustler peers?
The safest and surest bet you can make is the bet you make on yourself. If you are going to make an investment, no other investment on Earth is going to produce greater returns now and in the future.