Here’s Why You Can’t Afford to NOT Invest In Yourself

Time seems to accelerate. The older I get with each year, it’s as almost as if time seems to pass quicker and quicker.

I believe there’s a reason for that – Each year, percentage-wise, it’s a much smaller percentage of your overall life. Therefore it’s less significant to you.

One year to a 10-year-old is 10% of their life. One year to a 50-year-old is 2%.

So, why does this matter?

Because you are going to be very disappointed if you wake up one day and realize that you didn’t invest enough in yourself; into your creativity; into your inner peace of mind; into your relationships, purpose, and life.

The fact is, if we’re always living in a state of anticipation, life passes us by. We never truly get to experience life because everything we do is either something from the past or an anticipation of something better for the future.

And when that something better comes, it’s not good enough. It’s a moving target.

It is of vital importance that I say this to you – Invest in yourself!

Go all in on understanding and knowing yourself and become more present.

You are the biggest investment you could possibly make, and if you don’t treat yourself like it, you can’t rely on anyone else to do it for you either.

For me, when I first started consciously thinking about what I wanted and needed on a daily basis 12 or 13 years ago, I remember distinctly knowing that I shouldn’t wait to live my life until I have certain circumstances. I should do my best to be present and enjoy what I have today.

And it takes hardcore discipline and effort . . . It takes a lot of concerted effort to really live in the present. To live in a state of mindfulness.

In my wake-up call to you, I say this,

“Invest in yourself, invest in your surrounding environments and invest in being present.”

Invest In Yourself

Investing in yourself takes effort, which is already not easy, but more importantly, it takes effort to maintain ongoing activities for yourself.

To begin, I find that it is much easier to stay in a present, mindful state like I am in now when I’m not being pulled in a million different directions by all kinds of different things.

And in order to not be pulled in different directions by too many things, you have to start the process of eliminating.

That’s right! Before you can invest “newness” into your life, you have to eliminate distractions, including relationships that no longer serve you, negative or toxic energy, and meaningless tasks that keep you “busy” but not productive.

Take time to do a quick audit of yourself. What do you currently have in your life that you believe to be a distraction? What type of solutions can you implement to take care of those distractions?

How much time per day/week does a particular distraction keep you from doing other things you’d want to do? And let’s not forget, what would you be doing with that time in place of those distractions?

The process of elimination will help you with several things:

1. Get you into a clearer mindset.
2. Make room for new endeavors and opportunities.
3. Understand how much time in your day you truly have.
4. Determine what you would like to do with your newly freed up time.

And once you’ve cleared the way for new endeavors and opportunities, you can invest in your surrounding environments.

Invest In Your Surrounding Environments

Here’s the deal, you cannot afford to not live your ideal day. This is heavily influenced by your surrounding environments.

This requires that you change your influences, your thoughts and mind patterning. You put the time in, do the work, fix any troubled areas, get rid of distractions (as mentioned above) and design your day.

In truth, there’s no magical, huey-phooey rub your hands together, burn some incense remedy, to creating an ideal day.

You need to think about who you’re around, where do you spend the most time and are there any areas that need fine tuning.

Once you discover your places of inspiration, you need to design the idea environment. For example, last year I dedicated myself to a project of building a beautiful deck; a great 3 season porch.

This year’s project was to extend the patio and put up this perimeter wall to make it feel more like a courtyard. Then a koi pond.

Was this way over budget? Yes!

No owner in his/her right mind would usually put that much into their backyard. That’s because they’re thinking logically, but not about creating their most ideal environment. An optimized environment for me, adds ten-fold to my creativity, productivity, output and results, so this is an investment in me.

Since starting my projects, I’ve invested more in this backyard than my first house cost in total. Is that logical, no? Will I get that money back when I sell it, no?

Here’s my point. It’s not about the house. It’s about what this does for me. Being able to sit here at night having great conversations with fire, water and all the elements is priceless to me. My brain is wired, so I need a lot of down time and one on one with myself for the aforementioned results that come from these types of investments.

I don’t need to justify it to an accountant as to why it’s worth the investment. I don’t look at it in that respect. It’s not an investment in the house. It’s an investment in me. What are the moments and memories that will not be created by pushing this off?

I cannot afford to live outside my ideal day today and an ideal day is a state of mind.

So, I want you to create some safe space; some place in your home; some sanctuary where you can go to be calm; a place to be present daily.

An environment that you can go into that will have an influence on you.

Remember, creating this environment is by design.

Doing this will take you back to a place of simplicity; pureness. So figure out what your rituals are, what you need to do to create those moments.

You can’t afford not to. And why not?

Create a space for yourself and see what that does for you. See how much easier it becomes to get through the stresses of life when you have the advantage of your space.

Invest In Being Present

This is probably one of the single most important things you can do for yourselves. Invest in being present.

There are plenty of times that I find myself stressed out and overwhelmed; feeling like you’re going to drown.

And before you know it, one day rolls into another, one week rolls into another, and one month rolls into another.

I’m here to tell you that you’re going to have to stop and smell the roses immediately, and do it often.

It’s worth the investment. You need to make sure you’re becoming more present.

Ideally, we all need to be a little nicer to ourselves. We need to do the little things that we do for others, but for ourselves. Maybe set some goals and start rewarding ourselves.

If I set an audacious goal and I hit that, then I reward myself. This makes it fun and keeps it interesting.

However, you need to invest in things that are meaningful; that make you a better person.

Consider investing in, maybe not the luxuries, but the things that have an immediate impact on your environment.

I can tell you that you can’t do it solely on willpower. That is incredibly difficult.

We need every advantage we possibly have access to. We have to be so smart and diligent to protect our space, our minds, our energy, our physical space, and our home or office.

The Bottom Line

You can’t afford not to be in an inspired state. That’s like a musician having writers block. Artists, writers, and entrepreneurs all cycle in and out of states of inspiration and creativity. They need to keep themselves inspired.

So, pace yourself. Don’t think you’re going to accomplish your ideal day sitting in front of your computer.

Get outside and away from your computer. Go for walks 3-5 days per week. Notice the trees. Notice they’re blooming. It’s not too late to start living. It’s never too early to start living.

At the end of the day, you are the single most important investment you will ever make, so do it with diligence, intention and with purpose.

All my best,