This post is all about how to invest in yourself.
Are you looking to invest in yourself and become the highest version of yourself but don´t really know where to start or how can you achieve this?
Well, I´ve got you covered because today I´m going to share with you 9 genuine ways to invest in yourself and become a better person!
Why should you consider investing in yourself in the first place?
Everything you have or do with your life is your resposability. You are in complete charge of your life and your decisions.
And if you are looking to make any real in progress in your life, whatever that may mean for you, first you need to take responsability for your own life.
This means that whatever you have now and whatever position you are now in, is 99% the result of your decisions and actions.
But why is it important to take responsability of our own life?
Because assuming this responsability is the first step to become a better a person, because it gives you the realization that you can change things for the better, that you are not a tree stuck and unable to move.
And the best way to start taking hold of that power is becoming the best version of ourselves that we can be, by investing in ourselves.
So without further introduction, let´s start with these 9 genuine ways to invest in yourself!
Pursue only your true goals
Whether we want to admit it or not, we are always trying to please the people around us. Especially when it comes to our life decisions. For example how many times have you done something to please your parents even though you knew you didn´t want to do it?
The problem with this is that we get so used to doing what other people tell us, that we let these opinions and judgments influence decisions about OUR life.
We stop pursuing our goals, we stop doing the things that make us happy, and some of us even stop dreaming.
What I´m trying to say is to not wait for others people’s approvals or be afraid of others people’s opinions. Because the truth is that they will judge you whether you do it or not.
The reason you are investing in yourself is to become a better person and create a better life for yourself, not to live someone else’s dream.
Part of this process includes discovering, defining, and being brave enough to go after the goals and life that are going to make YOU happy.
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Embrace lifelong learinng
A mistake most people make is belief that their education ends when they finish school. However this is a huge mistake because the biggest asset you have is your MIND. And our minds are actually kind of like a muscle that in order to keep it fit, you need to constantly excersice it.
And the best way to do this is to never stop looking for opportunities to learn, both surface learning and deep learning. Surface learning is the quick and easy one while deep learning takes more effort. Both are valuable.
Being a lifelong learner means you have a growth mindset and a curiosity about the world. You’re constantly pushing to find more by the way of new challenges, ideas, and experiences, learning new skills, etc.
So never lose the interest and the habit of looking for new ways to better yourself whether that is by learning a new skill to be better at your job, reading books, going to seminars and enrolling in courses, asking thouseds of questions like you used to do when you were a kid and looking for their answer…
Break bad habits
Our lives are highly influenced by our habits because basically, they are the foundation of our daily life and the secret to our future.
A habit can be defined as a behavior that has been repeated enough times to be performed automatically.
But a habit is more than a behavior. A habit is a solution we automatize to recurrent problems we have.
As we go through life we encounter several problems, some bigger than others. Whenever we come across these problems, our brains start looking for solutions. And as you come across solutions to recurring problems in life, you start to automate those solutions.
Because of the great impact that habits have on our lives, it is important to take the time to analyze the ones that rule our life and review how they affect it. The next step would be to eliminate the toxic/bad habits and start creating healthy and empowering ones.
So, to start, I want you to make a list of all the daily habits that you have in your life. Once you have this list created I want you to reflect on the impact they have on your life and identify the ones that are affecting it negatively.
The next step would be to change those harmful habits for more positive ones. To help you with this step here is a quick explanation of how habits are formed and how you can use this to your advantage in order to create new habits:
This habit-forming process is based on the explanation in the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Cue
Cues are bits of pieces of information that hint at rewards. Cues motivate our brain to start a behavior or action. Now our minds are like a scanner that is constantly analyzing our internal and external world, looking for rewards.
Craving
When our mind has found a cue, a craving for that reward awakens. Cravings are the motivational force when building a new habit.
Every craving is linked to a reward, for the desire for internal change. For example, you work out because you want a healthier body. You study because you want to learn new things, become smarter, etc.
Response
This step consists of the development of the habit. Whether you perform the habit or not depends on how motivated you are. If the action or behavior requires an excessive amount of physical or mental effort you won´t probably carry it out. Another important factor to have in mind about this step is your ability. A habit can only happen if you are capable of doing it.
Reward
The final step of this process. We search and look for rewards because of two reasons.
The first one to satisfy us. The second is because they teach us something.
As we previously learned, our brains are reward detectors. Why? Because rewards teach us which actions are worth remembering and repeating, and which actions satisfy our needs.
To summarize, we analyze our internal and external world looking for rewards. When we find one, a craving inside of us to obtain that desire awakens. This craving motivates us to respond and perform the action or behavior to obtain the reward.
How to create empowering habits
If we want to create new habits we need to use these 4 steps as a guide to make the task easier.
Remember that if the brain doesn´t clearly detect the reward, the desire to obtain it, won´t awaken. If the craving is not strong enough we won´t be motivated to do the action or the behavior. In the same way that if we think the action is too difficult for us or requires too much effort we won´t perform it.
The trick when wanting to build new habits is to make this process as easy as possible. So:
Make the cue- obvious
craving- attractive
response- easy
reward- satisfying
How to break bad habits
To break bad habits we just need to invert the process, meaning we have to make this process very difficult to complete.
So say for example that you want to minimize the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. To achieve this you could try placing the drinks at the back of the refrigerator so that they are not so visible and harder to reach.
Learn to use your time wisely
The only real valuable thing we own in this world is TIME. Time is something we always wish we had more of but at the same time the worst thing we manage (aside from money).
However hard it may be to accept, the truth is that we cannot have more time, we cannot have more hours in a day, that is what makes time so valuable, once spent it doesn´t come back.
That is why learning to use your time wisely is on this list. It is about learning how to use your second most valuable asset (remember that your most valuable asset is your mind).
With this, I am not saying that you should spend all your time doing productive things, remember that we must always try to find balance in every aspect of our life, but rather be more conscious of how and in what things we spend our time.
As we said earlier time is the thing we wish we had more of, and the thing we worstly manage. So what kind of things do you spend your time daily on? Do you think you could spend some of this time in a more wisely/ productive way? How could you achieve this? What are you going to do in order to accomplish this?
Set boundaries
Boundaries are personal guidelines. They are the “limits” you set for yourself and others to express your limitations and needs.
The ultimate purpose of boundaries is to prioritize your emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical wellness, as well as acknowledge your values, principles, and needs.
There are many benefits to learning how and which boundaries to set in our lives, like for example protecting your energy, helping you understand your personal needs and how to communicate them, limiting your exposure to stressful situations, etc.
Here is a quick guide on how to set boundaries:
Identify your needs:
The first step to setting boundaries is to identify your needs and limits in every aspect of your life.
Communicate your boundaries clearly and effectively
It is extremely important that you state your boundaries in a clear way but without apologizing or overexplaining. Remember that you have every right to establish and communicate your limits and boundaries.
Be ready for a negative response
And lastly, be prepared for a negative response.
Sadly the truth is that not everyone will be respectful enough to understand or even respect your boundaries, that is why you need to be ready for a negative response.
In these cases, the important thing to remember is to explain why this guideline/ boundary is important to you. To do this, focus on your point of view, not by blaming the other person or victimizing yourself.
Here you can find a more in-depth guide on how to establish healthy boundaries!
Create a life plan
When was the last time you planned something other than holidays, weekend plans, etc.? When was the last time you sat down and thought about the direction you want your life to take?
Sadly for most of us, the answer is never or a very long time ago, because the reality is that we on average spend more time planning our holidays that our life.
But I am going to let you on a little secret about life and success: without a plan, your life is unlikely to change because without putting the effort to actually plan and set goals, and intentions and putting the work and the effort to accomplish them, we are leaving our life to fate and luck.
Don´t worry because this is not as difficult and scary as it sounds.
Life plans are kind of like a roadmap for your life where you detail and prioritize what is important to you, your biggest dreams, goals, and how to make decisions based on these things to move towards the life you want.
Whenever you are ready I have a very detailed guide on how to successfully create a life plan!
Set goals
As we said earlier setting goals is essential when creating the life you want, because it gives us a sense of direction, a purpose as well as clarity. However, sometimes setting goals becomes more of a nightmare rather than a tool to help you become the best version of yourself.
Now the main reason why most of us fail to accomplish our goals is because we don´t plan on how exactly are we going to achieve those objectives.
So as to solve this incredibly common and harmful mistake I want to share with you the T.A.R.G.E.T. method, which is designed to help you plan and accomplish your goals without dying in the process.
Tangible
One of the most important characteristics that an objective must have in order for you to achieve it, is that it can almost be touched, that it can be measured.
So the first step when setting a goal is to make it tangible and measurable. For example, you want to read more this year. So how much is more? How many books would you have to read in order to accomplish that goal?
Affirmative
It is very important that our objectives are ALWAYS positive. Focus on the idea of affirmative goals. Our mind does not understand no, nor does it distinguish between the negative or positive emotions that automatically invade our mind when we read something.
Realistic
It is important that you make sure that they can be achieved within the time limit you have set for yourself (a step we will soon talk about). The perfect balance for a resolution to be realistic is that the goal can be achieved in the time frame set, but at the same time we can maintain that idea of a challenge. In other words, you have to establish a realistic deadline but your goal should still seem like a challenge.
Gain
This step is all about asking yourself what you gain and what you lose by achieving that goal. Many times we set goals without considering the consequences they have in our life.
So ask yourself really seriously the consequences of your goals and evaluate if you are willing to accept the changes these will have in your life.
Evidence
If you can imagine that goal, if you can visualize it, if you can create it in your mind, it will be so much easier to achieve it. Determine exactly when you will feel that you have achieved your goal.
Create an image in your head so real that you can describe it as if you were living it in real life. The place you are in, the people around you, the smells, the sounds, the way you feel knowing that you have accomplished one of your dreams.
Time
It is essential to put a date to our purposes for two main reasons.
The first is because we have the bad habit of postponing things when there is no deadline. We procrastinate, we start making excuses, making false promises, etc.
The second reason is that an objective or goal that has a deadline makes it more tangible, and more real. This makes the goal seem easier to achieve.
Remember that a goal without a deadline is just a dream.
Here is an overview of the T.A.R.G.E.T. method:
Here is a more in-depth step-by-step guide on how to set and achieve your goals like a boss!
Start a journal
Journaling is a great exercise that encourages self-reflection.
The beautiful thing about journaling is that it ultimately becomes this safe space to reflect, forgive and unburden yourself.
Take care of your physical and emotional health
It all starts on the inside.
This is an idea that rules over every aspect of our life. But what does it mean exactly?
That our inside world reflects into our outside world. We cannot expect things to be good and successful on the outside if they are not good on the inside.
That is why it is so important to take care of our physical and emotional health. Do things that make you happy and bring you joy, learn to establish and respect your boundaries, listen to your body, strive to be better every day, find the things that bring you peace and clarity in your life, and invest in them…
Conclusion
Investing in ourselves is an essential step in any personal development plan. In order to help you become the highest version of yourself, we saw 9 incredible ways to invest in yourself:
- Pursue your own goals
- Break bad habits
- Set goals
- Embrace life long learning
- Set boundaries
- Take care of your physical, mental and emotional health
- Start a journal
- Create a life plan
- Learn to use your time wisely
Thank you so much for investing your time in this article. I hope the the habits, techniques, tips, and exercises in this article will help you invest in yourself and become a better person..
Always remember that you are worthy of even your deepest and wildest desires!
What are your favorite ways to invest in yourself? I´d love to read you in the comment!
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