Invest in Yourself

January 23, 2018

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If you’ve taken notice of the topics I post about a large portion of those are book reviews. The reason for this is due to a concept I picked up many years ago which is to invest in yourself. Money will come and go, but what is invaluable is investing in your own development. You may lose money investing or get fired from a job, but what can’t be taken away is the knowledge and skills you’ve developed through continuous investment in you. One key way I invest in myself is through listening to motivational and informational podcasts. These provide examples and ideas of how to approach similar challenges that I may face in my life or career. Some focus on real estate, stock market investing, marketing, sales, and the habits of highly effective people.

In addition to podcasts and perhaps my favorite form of personal and professional development is through reading books. There is tremendous value in having books teach you about new topics and ideas. A quote that has resonated with me and inspired me to purchase many more books than I can read at one time is from John Green’s Looking for Alaska (full disclosure I have not actually read the book! I just really enjoy the quote).

It resonates with me because the value of having a library in which you have read everything on the shelf is worth much less than having one filled with books and ideas you have yet to explore. Taking this concept further of having ideas yet to be explored you can see the power of Google and Wikipedia. It gives people the opportunity to access unreachable ideas and concepts for little to no money. You can look up almost anything on Youtube and watch someone teach you how to learn to write computer code or learn to play the guitar. The power the information age has given to individuals is unprecedented as now anyone can find the answers to their problems. The key now is about how to distill the noise from the quality information. How do I know who/what to believe? Can I trust this or that source?

The reasons above are why I love reading books and podcasts more than scouring the internet for content. Simply I can more easily verify the source and intent of the material I am reviewing. I order a series of books every month in order to build my collection of unread books across various topic areas. Throughout the month I write down or make a note on Good Reads app the titles of the book and then on Amazon I go and I invest in myself. In the future, I’d like to start going to networking events and relevant conferences. Once such that I’d like to attend is the Berkshire Hathaway Annual meeting where you are able to listen to Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett discuss their investment strategies and philosophies. It is also why since my first obstacle course race I will always have the next event on the calendar so I have reason to continue my exercise routine. Focus on your long-term success and invest in developing your mind, body, and spirit – those investments will pay dividends long into the future.

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