Investing in yourself is becoming an increasingly trending topic across many industries, whether you work for yourself or you work in the corporate world. The reason for this is because people (and companies!) have realised that in order to achieve any success and make progress in life, people need to invest in their personal development. Today I wanted to share my own journey about investing in myself, what that has looked like for me, if it’s worth doing it, and how you can start to invest in yourself in 10 easy ways.
What does it mean to invest in yourself?
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Investing in yourself means that you decide to put money, time, resources, skills, and discipline into improving yourself, becoming a better person, and making a difference in your life. By investing in yourself you’re not just going to make a difference in your personal life, but it will also have an impact on your professional life, and if you run your own business, you’ll see incredible progress in your entrepreneurial journey.
Why should you invest in yourself?
When many people hear the words “invest in yourself”, the only thing that comes to mind is related to money, and many of them also think, what’s the point in doing that? In my opinion, investing in yourself is directly related to growth, which is ESSENTIAL to building a fulfilled life. We’re constantly evolving and circumstances around us are always changing, plus when we want to achieve certain goals and levels of success, we need to upgrade in all areas of our life in order to get there.
So to answer the question, “why should you invest in yourself?”, because without doing that, you’ll be settling for whatever life gives you, you’ll struggle to achieve your big goals and build the life of your dreams, and you’ll be stuck in the same place year after year.
Is it worth it to invest in yourself?
Like I was saying before, investing in yourself doesn’t just mean that on the financial side of things, but there’s so much more that goes into it, especially when it comes to your time and energy. The short answer to this question is that yes, it is 100% worth it to invest in yourself, but you need to be sure that you’re going in the right direction. What do I mean by that?
If you’re not clear on where exactly you want to be with your life & career, I wouldn’t recommend investing hundreds (or thousands) of pounds plus incredible amounts of time and energy into something that you’re not really sure of. It’d be like saying that you enrol in University just because you kind of like the subjects and the course, but is that where you’d see yourself 10 years from now? Is the type of life+career that you’d want, directly linked to that course? I personally have a degree in Marketing but going back, I just wouldn’t go into University at all.
Of course, I realised that only a while after graduating, but to be honest, the idea I had for my life was very different back then than it is now, and I just wish I’d have spent some more time thinking about it, instead of committing to such a huge investment in terms of both time and money.
So perhaps, my advice would be that before you commit yourself to something, you spend some time thinking about whether that’s really the direction you want to go in, and if it’s worth investing in. If you can see yourself still doing that 5-10 years down the line, then you’ll have your answer.
Bear in mind that investing in yourself and in your personal development, doesn’t always have to be tied to a timeframe or very specific to your career or other very specific goals. As I’ll share with you soon, there are certain ways to invest in yourself that should really be lifelong habits, regardless of what you do or where you’re at in your life.
But when it comes to more specific investments, tied to a certain career path, business direction, and financial commitment, then I definitely recommend you spend some time seriously evaluating your options and whether it’s worth going in a certain direction.
Do you want to start a business but you’re confused about where to start? Read this post to learn about the 3 questions you should ask yourself to find more clarity.
How do you invest in yourself with no money?
Now, before I go into my tips and practical ways to invest in yourself, let me deal with this specific question really quickly. I feel like a lot of people say that they don’t have money to invest in themselves because they think they have to do some sort of huge financial investment when that’s really not true.
In fact, I believe that now like never before, we’re able to learn things FOR FREE thanks to the incredible people in the online world who share their knowledge and expertise so that others can benefit from it. I absolutely also believe that to really get the best out of something, it’s probably much better to buy a specific product or service (I myself am a service provider after all!), but I think that if your finances are tight and you still want to get started, that shouldn’t stop you.
So when it comes to this, my encouragement is to start with what you have and do what you can until your circumstances get better and you’ll be able to make a financial investment.
10 ways to invest in yourself
Moving onto some very practical tips to invest in your own personal development, here are 10 ways to invest in yourself. I’ve personally used (and still use these ways) but I’m sure there’s also plenty more that you can discover and that will work for you, so let’s go ahead and see what I’m talking about.
Invest in your health
I feel like this should definitely be the first thing that anyone would recommend, and the reason for this is that without your health, it doesn’t matter how great your goals are or how much money you make, it won’t be possible to achieve anything and truly enjoy your life.
When I realised the link between health and productivity and how much impact our health has on everything that we do, I started to be very intentional about it and I implemented some habits that have made a huge difference in my life and in the way I show up in my business.
I started to drink more water, eat more healthily, take my vitamins, use more natural products, exercise regularly, but I also went to therapy for a season, I regularly journal and I’m super intentional about rest. Remember, you should always be your first priority and you’re the best investment you can make, so make sure that you start by taking care of your health.
Invest in online courses
A great way to learn more about your industry (or pretty much anything else these days) is by investing in online courses. I love them because they’re usually structured really well, they give you all the information you need to implement and see results, and you can usually do them at your own pace which is a good plus if you have a busy life.
One of the first investments I made was in a business bundle, I think there were around 90 courses and I only paid 89$ for it! To this day I still have quite a few courses that I haven’t even started yet, but I gained so much knowledge that enabled me to make progress in my business and learn from some incredible leaders in the business world.
Shameless plug, but I do have my own online course that focuses specifically on content creation as a business owner and ensuring you create a strategic content plan to be as productive as you can whilst making an impact and growing your business. You can read more about it here.
Invest in a coach
I invested in my first coach a few months ago, I will probably do that again but as my first experience, I was quite happy with it. Investing in a coach means that you have someone to hold your hand for the entire process to get you from A to B, you’ll be able to pick their brain, learn their strategies, and see the growth you’re hoping to see.
Investing in a coach is definitely one of the best investments you can make because even though they’re usually quite pricey, you mostly always see a return on the investment, and you’ll have had that 1:1 attention that you normally wouldn’t get from an online course or a group coaching.
Do you need someone that will help you to find the focus in your life again, manage your time better and help you achieve your goals and build the life of your dreams? Then I’m your girl! Just book a discovery call here and I’ll look forward to chatting with you!
Invest in a membership
Another great way to invest in yourself and grow is to invest in a membership. That’s a place, typically online, where you become part of a community, you’re able to connect with other people in your niche, you get so many incredible experts training, you have accountability and you also have access to other resources, all for a pretty decent monthly fee.
I’m currently in the process of looking for a membership for myself because I’ve learned that being a solopreneur is very lonely, and you need people who are on the same journey as you, that you can do life with.
Invest in books
To be honest with you, that’s probably where most of my money goes because I’m just obsessed with reading and books. Ever since I learned how to read, I always used to ask for books as a gift, and when I then started to make my own money, I almost developed an addiction to buying books.
But I truly believe that books are still such a good way to learn and to invest in yourself and your personal development, so I’ll always recommend buying some good books that will help you in the journey of becoming the best version of yourself. If you need some inspiration, you can check out some of my favourites here.
Invest in self-care
If you know me, you know I’m a big self-care advocate, because I’ve learned that it’s an essential step in our growth journey and it’s what will help us fill our cup to show up as the best version of ourselves.
I believe investing in yourself should also include your self-care, and I’ve written a whole blog post about it here, so you can have a look and understand why I’m so passionate about it.
Invest in a hobby
Not everything you do should have the goal of making you a profit, in fact, I believe that having a hobby is what helps us to keep alive our inner child, continue to develop creativity and also release stress so that we can fully show up in our lives and businesses being more fulfilled and bringing amazing ideas to the table.
So as part of your personal development journey, I highly recommend that you find a hobby you’d be passionate about, and invest in it for a season of your life.
Invest in meaningful relationships
Relationships can make or break the person you are and have a huge impact on the quality of your life but also on the things you’ll accomplish. There’s a reason someone shared the saying “you’re the average of the 5 people you spend most of your time with”.
I suggest that if you want to invest in yourself, you also consider investing in meaningful relationships that will help you to grow, will support you, keep you accountable, and help you to become the best version of yourself.
Invest in a morning routine
There are only a few things that I’m passionate about as much as I am about a morning routine. When I decided to be serious about investing in my personal development, one of the first things I did was to develop a morning routine.
You can read all about it in this blog post, but I truly believe that if you want to invest in yourself, you need to invest in a morning routine. It will help you to start your days in a better way, be more productive, be in a better mood, be more motivated, and it will help you to develop a discipline and consistency that not many other things can do.
Invest in your mindset
I’ve left this point as last but it’s definitely not less important than all the other points. I read somewhere that success is 80% mindset and 20% strategy, and I absolutely understand why. The thing is that our minds are really powerful tools and we can be so overwhelmed by negative thoughts, toxic thought patterns, influenced by the world around us, that it’s hard to do anything at all.
But one of the secrets of successful people is that they don’t let the environment around them (or their negative thoughts) dictate how they should move in their life; they decide that they’re going to train their brains in a specific way so they can have a growth mindset.
I truly believe that one of the keys to investing in yourself is investing in your mindset, because that will dictate the progress you’ll make and the things you’ll be capable of achieving. You can work on your mindset by journaling, doing self-reflections, practising affirmations, reading books, and so many other ways that are totally worth investing in.
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Conclusion on the 10 ways to invest in yourself
Alright, friend, I hope this post helped you to have some clarity around this subject and understand why it’s so important that you invest in yourself. There are definitely so many more ways that you can achieve that, so I encourage you to explore for yourself if you want to, and if not you can always stick to what I’ve shared with you. The most important thing is that you understand that you are your greatest investment, so don’t be afraid to put some money, energy and time into it, because it will surely produce a good return.
