There are many rules in life that understanding can make a huge difference in where you end up. Rules that everyone should learn and understand, rules that should be taught to the young. Things like the Pareto principle where eighty percent of results generally come from twenty percent of actions. This applies across so many facets of life that it becomes a rule and becomes a way to not just save time but use it effectively and efficiently. And time being our most valuable resource, even more than money, it makes sense why this is so important.
Another rule, though maybe rule is not the best term here, is the compound effect. The compound effect states that small actions done early and over a long enough period of time have huge results in the long run. Where with small daily actions you can eventually reap huge, exponential rewards. That’s at least the basis of it. Then there’s the rule of focus. You get what you focus on. If you focus on making money each and every day, if you bring it up each and every day before your subconscious.
You will eventually find ways to make more money. You get what you focus on. Then there’s the law of success, success being “The progressive realization of a worthy goal”. Where by taking daily actions towards your goals, forging those actions into habits, you’ll eventually reap success. And many more. If we learned these at a young age they make an even bigger difference, those it’s always better to learn these things then be ignorant of them, no matter our age.
Why am I bringing all of this up? I’m bringing all of this up because I think we can agree that learning such things pays big dividends in life, especially the earlier that we learn them. Which brings me to the topic of investment.
What To Invest In?
You’ll get all sorts of advice on what to invest in, and most of it is nonsense sold by people who benefit from you investing in certain things, even if you yourself will not benefit from said thing. Of all the things that you can invest in, in this world, there is one thing that stands above all others. One thing that’ll make the biggest difference in your life and is life changing, literally. And that thing is investing in yourself, by investing in yourself, in particular in knowledge, you will develop and grow day to day, as well as change your life for the better.
Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying “If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the highest return.” and I agree with Franklin. Investing in yourself and knowledge is the key to development, to becoming more, to getting out of ruts, to growing, and to accomplishing the things that you want to accomplish in life, yet so few do it. If you don’t invest in yourself you’ll never progress, never become more.
And don’t expect others to invest in you, for you. Don’t expect teachers, preachers, parents, bosses, or society as a whole to teach you the things that you need to be taught and the things that would make the biggest impact on your life. Think of all those “rules” we talked about above, they’ll rarely if ever be taught in school but for the person who invests in himself he’ll likely come across these rules and use them to benefit his life. No one is going to invest in yourself like you. Only you know what you need, and self-education is the best education.
How To Invest In Yourself
But even if you’re sold on the need and critical importance of investing in yourself the next logical thought if “How do I invest in myself? What does that mean?” which brings us back to definitions, which as you can probably see now are far more important than we give them credit for. What does it mean to invest? The dictionary definition of invest is “To commit money to earn a financial return” or “To make use of for future benefits or advantages” and that gives us a decent definition. Include time and effort next to money in the first definition and scratch out financial and you have a good definition for what we’re talking about.
So it’d be “To commit time/money/effort to earn a return on your investment.” now what does that look like in real life? Well first and foremost, spend money on yourself, particularly on your education. Now by education I do not mean schooling or university, that’s not education that’s indoctrination or basic learning at best. By education I mean knowledge and wisdom. And the best way to acquire knowledge and wisdom is books. Now, let me address a common concern before I go on.
Many will say “You can’t learn in books, only experience will teach you.” and there’s both wisdom and foolishness to that saying. There’s wisdom in yes, there are things that have to be experienced in real life and that you can’t learn from books. Book are not all powerful. However they are the single greatest tool you have for changing and improving your life, which brings us to the foolishness of the statement. Experience is both costly and limited. You’re only one person and can only experience so much and second why do things the hard way when others have already walked to wrong paths and could save you years of time by telling you their experiences?
So yes go out and learn by experience, seek out new experiences, and always look to expand your experience. But at the same time an investment in books it the single best way to invest in yourself. Reading is life changing. Get books on practical things that interest you. Learn about the world around you, expand your mind, learn about how things work. After that look at courses on sites that sell them.
Takes classes, read books, take courses. Invest in yourself. Don’t be afraid to spent money on yourself in other capacities either. Buy yourself something nice. But it’s not just about money. Commit time and effort to making use of the resources you’ve bought to better yourself. Sit down and read the books, attend the classes, do the hard work that is required. Commit to things to do each and every day. That’ll make the difference in the long run.
Investing In Yourself Is The Way Forward
If you want to progress in life, if you want to get out of ruts, if you want to better each and every day you have to invest in yourself. There are millions of ways to do so. Look at things that you want to learn, want to get better at, want to develop in, and start there. Read books, take courses, take classes, get out there and try things. Invest in yourself. Trust me once you’ve spent a couple grand on yourself and made use of all the resources that such money will provide, your life will change.
You invest in so many things that may or may not pay out down the road. Why neglect the one thing that is guaranteed to pay out? An investment in yourself. Do what Franklin advises and take your wallet and empty it into your head where it can’t be taken from you. The more you do that, the more you’ll find that your wallet is full and your life is improving. Invest ten grand in yourself, make use of all the resources that provides, and you’ll be places you never thought you could ever reach.
Not that the amount of money is what counts but constantly invest in yourself and your life can’t help but change and you can’t help but grow. And that’s the truth. Invest in yourself and watch your life change for the better.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
