Are You Investing Enough in Yourself?

I can’t imagine that anyone reading this blog doesn’t have an investment account with some brokerage firm. We know we have to make investments in our future, and we make regular contributions to our chosen investment vehicles. We take the asset that is money, and we invest it so that it will grow. In doing so, we make choices about how and where to invest our money, and we check in regularly to see how are investments are doing. We make adjustments when those investments aren’t moving us closer to our goals.

It’s easy to do all of this while ignoring the primary asset with which you have to generate all other assets: yourself. The asset that is you only produces greater results when you contribute more to it.

You are so busy working, so busy going and doing, it’s easy to fail to take the time to invest in yourself.

Your Relationships

When it is all said and done, you will not judge the quality of your life by your financial statements. You will judge the quality of your life by the quality of your relationships. What is important in life are your experiences, the part of your life that you shared with others, and the parts of their lives they shared with you.

If you take a few minutes and reflect on the most meaningful events or experiences in your life to date, you will discover that all of your best memories include other people. If the memories aren’t when people were they for you, they will be the memories where you were there for them.

Make a list of the people that matter most to you. Make a plan to invest time in those relationships, to generate other meaningful experiences. The investment you make in relationships is perhaps the greatest invest you will ever make.

Your Health

It would be hard for anyone to be guiltier than I am of neglecting their own health to instead work. To wind down after a long day of work, I like to do even more work. But this isn’t sustainable and it is a form of neglect.

You are your only real asset. You have to maintain the asset through which all other results are produced and generated.

Investing in your health requires that you take time away from producing results to work on the asset that does all of that producing. We all make different investment choices that meet our needs. For me it’s the bicycle. For you it might be running, weights, or meditation. Whatever it is, know that these investments are critical and transformative. The greater your energy and your capacity to produce, the greater your results.

Make a plan to invest in your health. Do you need to commit to that exercise plan you have avoided? A better way of eating? Meditation or yoga classes?

Your Mind

It’s easy to overlook investing in one of your most vital assets: your brain.

We all spend so much time working and taking care of the business of life, that after a long day, you want to unwind. We also expect other people, especially our employers, to develop and sharpen our skills for us. We expect them to give us the training, coaching, and development that we need in order for the asset that is our brain to better produce results.

Like your relationships and your health, the development of your brain is your responsibility alone.

You might need to read more books or listen to audio books. Maybe you need to go to your community college and sign up for courses. Maybe you need to attend a conference. Or you might need to spend time writing your own development plan that includes some or all of the above.

Whatever you decide to do, make the investment in your brain and your mind. It is a critical part of the asset that is you.

Are you investing enough in yourself?

Questions

What investments are you making in the relationships that are most important to you?

What investments are you making in your health? How do you ensure that you have the energy and capacity to perform at your peak?

What investments are you making in your brain? How are you getting better?