Ways to Invest in Yourself

If your head is full of thoughts concerning who you are and what are doing in this world, it means that you are, just like the rest people on the planet, constantly looking for happiness and success.

However, you can’t probably find the direct and clear answer on the question of what it is.

A person can say only one thing for sure – the more efforts you apply to becoming better and achieve more, the happier you’ll be.

This rule will surely help you to invest in yourself with the maximum efficiency – you’ll receive dividends in both financial and intellectual spheres.

If you are seriously thinking of starting to improve yourself, one of the most important questions to which you’d better devote much attention is the ways to invest in yourself.

What you should invest in and how to do it using the most efficient ways…

We’ll tell you everything in our article.

Ways to invest in yourself and what to invest in

A person can develop and improve himself in different directions.

Depending on your goals, you should choose the priorities and pay more attention to them.

There are several directions, which we believe belong to the highest priority:

• physical health;
• psychic health;
• appearance;
• skills and knowledge.

1. Your physical health.

   It’s very difficult to do anything without health.

   However, only few people take care of it before the critical situation appears.

   • It’s important to remember that health is firstly the preventive measures.

     Preventive measures include physical exercises and ways to live a healthy lifestyle in general.

   • You should regularly go in for sports.

     It will definitely be wonderful, if you start doing morning exercises and go to the gym.

     In addition, you do not need a glamorous gym to go to, a simple local one will be quite enough.

     Do not save your money at first and hire a good couch, lest your training brought you more damage than benefit.

   • Add healthy food to sports.

     Stop drinking soda and juice (unless you made it on your own), and eating fat and starchy food.

     Your diet should include more fiber and less fat.

     Eventually you are going to feel lightness in your stomach and understand why it is one of the ways to invest in yourself.

2. Psychic health.

   
   There is a whole complex of measures here, implementing which will help you to become calm, balanced and confident in any situation.

   • At first, you should find ways to get rid of stress.

     Stress is the noise, which prevents you from focusing on your thoughts and goals.

     It distracts you all the time and you do not have a single opportunity to experience happiness.

   • Besides, you should gradually get rid of complexes, which prevent you from living a normal life.

     In order to do it, you must define what bothers you and pick the solution for this problem.

   • Bring joy to the close people and relatives.

     They influence a lot, because they create the atmosphere you live in.

   • If you are overwhelmed with the negative emotions (anger, irritation, rage), you should try to spend them doing some physical labor until you feel tired and the absence of negative emotions.

   • Listen to music more, especially instrumental.

     It is likely to help you get in the positive mood! It’s also one of the ways to invest in yourself.

3. Appearance.

   Your appearance is your business card!

   Your success depends directly on the ways how well you look like.

   Your appearance influences your inner condition as well.

   Feeling that you are dressed to the nines, in those things, which absolutely fit you, you will radiate confidence, which will definitely be noticed by the people around.

   Their attention is the very wanted thing.

   You get your chance and now you must use it.

   • Go through your wardrobe without remorse and get rid of everything old, worn out clothes and the items you will never wear again.
   • Use the service of a stylist or ask your friend with good taste to help you pick the new wardrobe and teach you different ways how to wear only matching things at the same time.
   • Buy only good clothes of high quality.

   • Always try to find ways to have a presentable appearance, regardless of the day of the week and your plans.

     Your style must be with you all the time, because an important meeting or other things happen unexpectedly and mostly in the least suitable time.

   • Keep in mind one simple rule: you should dress for the work you want to have, but not for the one you have. © Donald Trump

4. Skills and knowledge.

   
   You already have a set of skills and knowledge, which you’ve acquired in life.

   Now, discovering the new ways how to invest in yourself, you should do the inventory:

   • Take a sheet of paper and write down all your skills.

     Do not be shy and write about yourself everything you believe you need to put down, besides, the very silly things you can always cross out.

     The more you write the better, starting from speed reading to the experience working with a chain saw.

   • Write your goals on a separate piece of paper.

   • Then look at the list of skills.

     The first thing you must understand is that you are wonderful and you have lots of various skills.

     It’s very useful for your confidence and self-esteem.

   • The second action will be to cross all those skills, which you do not need to achieve the closest goals.

     For instance, if you are going to build IT business, the skill of using amphibious knife will not be so necessary.

   • Look at the points that are left and think what you are good at, what your weaknesses are and make the decision what you must develop and what can be left without changes.
   • Divide the left skills on two types: sector-specific (developing certain programs for PC) and general (oratorical skills, the ethics of negotiations and so on).

   • Then you should estimate how much money you need to invest to develop every skill and how much benefit it will bring in short-term and long-term perspectives.

     This exercise is one of the ways to invest in yourself, which shows how valuable you are.

7 Ways to invest in yourself

1. Podcasts.

   Most of us almost every day go to work or has certain routine things to do, which require some time along the week (cleaning, cooking, fitness).

   At that very moment, when your hand is going to find the favorite radio station, turn on podcast.

   Podcast is one of the best ways to invest in yourself and hear the inspirational stories, master new skills and refresh the previously developed ones.

   Visit iTunes or Sticher and you’ll find the topics, which cover everything from business to comedies.

2. Online courses.

   Do you want to learn how to program better?

   Do you want to invest in your marketing skills?

   Are you willing to start your own business?

   Please, you can do it today!

   Remember that there exist distant and free courses.

   YouTube is filled with enormous amount of information, which reveals you plenty of ways how to invest in yourself.

   Search, find out more and you’ll find great courses from the world’s leading companies, where you’ll be able to improve your skills of copywriting, marketing, blog development and many-many more.

3. Library.

   Most people do not read books, because they do not want to spend their time and efforts on them or consider a visit to the library to be too long and tiresome.

   Zig Ziglar writes that 58% of all people in our society, when graduating from the educational establishment, have never read any substantial book but for the ones, which school (university) plan presuppose.

   However, modern libraries are not the same than they were in times of our grandparents.

   You may take books home with the help of call clip, which is something like rent, and read them when and where it’s comfortable for you.

   Moreover, people invented e-book readers long ago – such as Kindle.

   Do not forget about your IPhone, IPad and smartphones, where you can also download e-books, reading which you’ll invest in yourself.

4. Go to the seminar or conference.

   
   Participating in a seminar or conference is one of the greatest ways to learn more about your field of work or to open new horizons.

   Along with the newly acquired knowledge you’ll get a bonus in new acquaintances, which you’ll be able to do and communication with people pleasant for you.

   If have no money to take part in the conference, you should try to be where it happened and as soon as it is over you may come up to someone and start the conversation (asking about his impressions from the conference and what new things he learned there).

5. Self-improvement and self-education.

   The benefit from these ways of investment in yourself is the most sufficient.

   At least, it should be this way.

   We do not discuss here the higher education, the master’s thesis or the academic degree.

   The modern system of education does not bring any good, but for the formal diplomas and certificates.

   Children are really bored to death during the lessons.

   Nevertheless, the Internet is full of courses covering almost all spheres, in which you’d like to improve yourself.

   For instance, the courses of oratorical speaking, dances, martial arts, gardening, breeding animals and all kinds of businesses.

   Knowledge is the most powerful active.

   We should also single out investing in driving lessons, after which you are allowed to pass exams and get driving license.

   This skill may come in handy in the most unexpected moment, even if you do not have a car.

6. Consulting specialists.

   This is one of the ways of investing in yourself, which is rather similar to the previous one, because it gradually leads you to self-improvement and studies.

   For example, you can go to the gym and work on your exercises on your own, but you can also use the services of the personal couch and increase the effect from training.

   The information from the couch (the number of times, kinds of training, the rules of load division and so on) will stay with you forever and the next time you’ll be able to use it for free.

   It also concerns consulting lawyers, psychologists, business-couches and couching on managing personal finances.

7. Insurance products.

   If you think a lot about the safety of your properties (flat, car), these thoughts unsettle you.

   “What if…?” What if neighbor causes water damage to my flat, what if I fall ill and did not have enough money for treatment, what if someone from my family falls ill…?

   Clear your head and insure your house from fire, your car – from being stolen, buy a medical insurance policy.

   Secondary thoughts distract you from your goals.

   Insure yourself and your close people and move on with this.

One can continue the list, because it’s endless. We think you’ve understood it already.

Everybody remembered a situation from his life, when he spent money on himself and benefited from it.

Ways to invest in yourself will not bring you immediate payback; perhaps, they will never bring you money in forms of dividends or percentage (which is unlikely).

The most important thing is that you cannot ignore your own wishes!

Dissatisfaction with your life and its level, lack of small joys and rest will quickly lead you to the situation, when even money will not be able to return you the sense of life.