Invest in Yourself!

The moment you stop learning is the moment you stop growing.  It takes constant expansion of knowledge if you want more out of your life.  Even to keep what you have, you need to keep sharp.  Doing what you’ve always done, thinking what you’ve always thought, hanging onto the status quo will cause you to fall behind and quickly puts you in the past.  Not exactly the key to success.

Here are some challenges for you:

Challenge 1:  Feel good.  Add up what you spend on vacations, hair cuts, nail care, gym membership, entertainment per year.  The goal is to see how much you spend “on yourself”, whether these activities are maintenance, recharging or just plain fun.  What percentage of your take-home income are you spending?  The figure represents how much you’re spending on yourself to “feel good”.

Challenge 2:  Learning.  Add up what you spend on books, seminars, training sessions, and/or audio learning per year.  How does that compare to Challenge 1?  If it matches or exceeds Challenge 1, you’re a success.  Even if the comparison is at 50% – you’re growing and opening yourself up to achieving what you want.

Challenge 3:  Time.  Instead of quantifying challenges 1 and 2 with amount spent, add up the time spent for both.  Both are important for your future, the trick is to understand if one is outweighing the other.  Make a conscious choice of how much time you spend on each.

Challenge 4:  Break out.  Recently I went to a seminar on a topic that had little to do with my business.  I almost didn’t attend.  I learned a valuable lesson – seminars and workshops that are remotely interesting can get your mind thinking in different ways.  I met some fantastic people and realized that I had been in a rut – doing the same things over and over.

Challenge 5:  Value.  Many people are working for a company that doesn’t have the budget to pay for a seminar, conference or training program.  The company looks at training as a cost rather than an investment.  Too often the employee buys into that concept – opting to spend many dollars on Challenge 1 and having the mindset that they can’t “afford” to continue learning by investing their own money.

Challenge 6:  Really?  You might be saying you don’t have the time, energy or money to learn anything more.  You may even equate learning with something negative if you were “forced” to go to school or take certain subjects.  If you want more in your life you’ll find a way, make a plan, spend time in the library, interview interesting people, learn and grow.  If you choose to have less, let it go, and don’t complain – it’s your life to live as you choose.

What have you found about continuous learning?  Any barriers that you’ve overcome?  How much do you spend in time/money each year on learning and growth?  Do you view it as an investment or a cost?  Leave you comments below.

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