- Scott H Young - https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog -

9 Great Ways to Invest in Yourself

Does your money earn money? Through dividends, money you invest in stocks actually earns you more money each year without you having to do any work. This principle of investing is behind what makes banks, fund managers and people like Warren Buffet rich.

Investing money isn’t an uncommon idea. But does your time earn more time? Does your energy earn more energy? Do the investments you make in yourself pay huge dividends, or are you placing all your funds into a vehicle that is bound to crash at any moment?

Finding Great Self-Investments

Spending and investing aren’t the same thing. Spending simply exchanges value, say, money for rent. Investing creates value in that after your initial cost is paid, you can keep getting value without new input. Getting a big promotion might give status and prestige, but it also eats away more time. In order to count as a great self-investment, your efforts need to pay you back with more time or energy, not less.

Here are a few great ways to invest in yourself and reap the rewards later:

1) Eat Healthier Foods.

Your energy levels throughout the day are based largely on what food you eat and how much you exercise. If you eat junk, your body will become junk. Try eating a diet low in animal products and high in whole grains and leafy greens.

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2) Develop an Organization System

Set up the habits of using to-do lists, carrying around a notepad to record tasks at any time, weekly reviews and other productivity tricks. The choices for different methods and styles are endless. I suggest reading Zen To Done [1] if you want some information on how to build GTD concepts into habits.

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3) Morning Ritual

A morning ritual is the Swiss army knife of productivity. Morning rituals have two key components: the habit of waking up earlier and the habit of using that morning time towards something useful. I use my morning ritual to spend an extra hour reading each day, but you can use it to squeeze in exercise, working on projects or studying for courses.

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4) Networking Skills

Keith Ferrazzi of the bestselling book, Never Eat Alone [2], suggests that the idea of self-help is a contradiction. Instead, he believes that most self-improvement is built on your relationships with other people and that having great connections can make the biggest difference. Spending time getting in touch with current friends or e-mailing and meeting strangers can give your relationships a tune-up.

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5) E-Mail Ninja [3] Training

Batch all your e-mails into 1-2 checks each day. If you’re going to read an e-mail act on it (reply, add to-do list items, etc.). Empty your inbox after each check and don’t let unread messages pile up. Write short, concise letters instead of lengthy conversations.

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6) Set Personal SOP’s

SOP’s are Standard Operating Procedures. While there are many cases when you want the flexibility of making decisions on a case-by-case basis, often this is just wasting your time. If an answer is right in 99% of cases of that type, the time and energy spent debating aren’t worth it. I set up SOP’s to make answering common e-mails easier and you can use them to streamline your habits, overcome procrastination or stick to a budget.

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7) Weekly Review

Carving out a bit of time each week to think can be one of the best investments on this list. A weekly review allows you to think through problems, come up with opportunities and keep you on track. Most of my good ideas have come from these personal thinking sessions which I wouldn’t have time for in my normally busy week.

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8 ) Exercise

People who say they are too tired for exercising have got it backwards. Exercising creates energy through a healthier body while releasing brain chemicals to improve your mood and mental alertness. In reality, you lack energy because you don’t exercise.

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9) Reading Habit

Reading more books each year doesn’t have to eat up all your free time. Cutting down on television, carrying a book with you for lines and listening to audio books during commutes can squeeze in more knowledge for less time. Reading fifteen minutes a day can help you read over a dozen books a year. Squeezing in an hour can help you read over fifty.

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