One Of The Greatest Investments You’ll Ever Make Is In Yourself

Did you know that the average person spends two hours and 24 minutes per day on social media (an increase of 62.5% since 2012). But most of us wouldn’t dream of spending that time on self-development or self care. Our physical evolution is way ahead of our spiritual evolution — we wash our bodies but we don’t wash our minds because we’re not taught to. So much of the time, we upgrade our software but not ourselves.

According to Tony Robbins, humans have six great needs, including the need to grow and the need to contribute. And “understanding these needs, and which ones you are trying to meet in any given moment, can help you embrace the power of growth and create new patterns that lead to lasting fulfillment”.

If you have a need to contribute, you’ll likely want to make a big difference in your community. But it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that giving should begin at home. We have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others. And investing in and being kind to ourselves, our own growth and development is crucial to self-care.

Whilst it’s true that growth creates fulfillment and happiness, if you’re one of those people whose number one need is growth, you’re always striving to be better and learn more. Of course, growth isn’t a negative thing, far from it and, if you aren’t growing, you’re doing a disservice to yourself. But striving for growth can manifest as perfectionism which leads to us neglecting our relaxation and rest time. And relaxation isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity unless we want to feel stressed and anxious. Does this sound familiar?

You’ll never outperform your self-worth, self-doubt or fear, your thoughts are not who you are. Mindset is an entrepreneur’s lifeblood — in order to move forward you need to figure out what you need to overcome (and this is personal to everybody) and the patterns you need to break. Fear is the enemy of truth so you’ll need to learn to let go of beliefs and self-judgments.

But here’s the good news — skills change behaviour. So it’s crucial to give yourself what you need, whether it be coaching, mentoring, counselling or something else.

In other words, the tools to unlock everything you have inside of you, because that’s where you’ll also find everything you need. Training and self-development will simply enhance and ignite your inner resources. The security for your future is inside of you in your skills and abilities and what you’re capable of, you just need the self-belief to create wealth and abundance.

Whilst self-development is a lifelong journey and we’re all students of life, I’ve needed a lot of help along the way so far. But it’s what I’ve got to work with and I accept myself and my weaknesses in order to be the person I need to become, not the person I think I need to be in order to live the life I want. Be the best YOU that you can be — accept yourself and your story, your struggles and challenges. Shift your state and become your own solution.

Also key to self-development is learning how to kiss goodbye to your false self, your ego — otherwise you’re essentially striving for a destiny imposed on you by society or certain people. Free yourself of the good opinion of others and the rest will follow.

What three things would you change about yourself?

Okay, so before you start beating yourself up about it, here’s the good news.

Those three things are your strongest assets — the more clearly you can define that, the quicker you will unlock the entrepreneur inside of you. The you who’s ready to explode into a courageous, confident, powerful person who’s going to live the awesome life you deserve (ideal day/life post) — it’s already inside of you.

“You must have goals. But your happiness cannot be tied to these goals. You must be happy before you attain them”. (Sandra Anne Taylor, Quantum Success)

We think we want more than we do to be happy and fulfilled. Which is probably why what you’ve done so far to get where you are today isn’t enough. Figure out what you need to create a fulfilling life by investing in yourself. Money is merely the passport to discovering what your true passions are, so why wouldn’t you develop yourself? After all, one of the greatest investments you’ll ever make is in yourself.