Invest In Your Self

Invest In Your Self

There's only one investment that cannot be taken away from you --- your investment on yourself. Your money can be taken away. Your house can be taken away. Your car can be taken away. But anything you invest in yourself stays with you forever.

Feed your mind with good thoughts. When you woke up today, what were your first thoughts? What was the first thing you heard? 

Take a moment to reflect.

As you went on with your day, who were the people you've spoken with? What were you discussing about?

When you went home, what's the first thing you did? Did you turn on the TV? Did you have a nice chat with your wife and kids? 

As you wrapped-up your day, what were you thinking about before you went to sleep?

Now, let me ask you. Were your thoughts generally positive or negative? Do you find yourself complaining? Is your work stressful? Did you watch the news on TV? What thoughts ran through your mind as you were watching? 

If you answered yes to any of those questions, isn't it any wonder you are feeling tired? Your mind is feeding off negative thoughts from bad news on TV, work complaints from other colleagues (and may be even from you), and unhelpful ideas of self-pity or insecurities cropping through your mind.

What does it have to do with money, you say? If you want to make money, you have to feed your mind with good ideas about money. 

There's a reason why the rich openly discuss about money while the poor seem to be ashamed of it (for fear of being labelled as a drug-dealer, crooked politician, a rich but evil TV show villain, or what have you.)

Plant good seeds into your mind. Cultivate it. Allow it to grow. Someday, those seeds will bear fruit. And money will come running through your door.

How exactly do you feed your mind with good ideas?
Read books. I love reading books. The secret? I only read books that I like. Like you, I also hate reading that complicated textbook from school. Every so often, I go to the bookstore and just browse through their collection. 

If a book looks interesting, I pick it up. I read the first few pages. If it is confusing, I put it back. If a book speaks to me, I read it some more. And if I really like it, I buy it and take it home.

Attend seminars. I can say that attending seminars have been an eye opening experience for me. It started when we came back home to the Philippines and attended Bo Sanchez' Truly Rich Seminar and later on joined his Truly Rich Club. 

I've attended other interesting seminars since then and met a lot of great people. The energy and excitement you feel after interacting with the other participants is something you cannot learn from books. 

Do something. Do anything that interests you. One of my favorite subjects in College has to do with building your own computer using only wires and computer chips. I like computer programming because I can try anything just to see if it works. If it doesn't work, I can try again...and again until it works. 

It's ironic that in school and at work, you are expected to know the correct answer right away. They say, the goal is to get it right the first time. I'm not sure if it's only me but I learn better when I try something and it fails. It makes me think of other ways to make it work.

Meet other like minded people. The old saying goes "tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are." The basic assumption is that you are similar with the people you spend your most time with. 

This is particularly interesting because it applies to money as well. They say, the amount of money you earn is the average of the money earned by the 5 people you are spending the most of your time with. How about in your case? Do you think it is accurate?

Expand your imagination. Nurture yourself with new experiences that you enjoy. Go on vacation. Go somewhere you've never been to. Do something you've never done before. 

Get a chance to meet people you've never met. By enjoying your present, you allow yourself to feel the abundance that the world has to offer. Enjoy the moment. Relax.

Learn something new everyday, however, small or trivial it may seem. Your education does not stop after your graduation. It is only the beginning. Take small baby steps. First, you can develop the habits to manage your own money. 

Next, you can start saving. Then you can build an emergency fund. And then, you can move on to bigger things like learning how to build a business or investing in the stock market or real-estate. 

Each step, however small, entails a conscious effort on your part to learn. Keep in mind that big things always start from small beginnings.

Anything worth doing is worth doing bad...at the start. Start investing in yourself today. You may feel awkward. You may feel unmotivated. You may feel discouraged.

But keep it on. Take all the emotions you're feeling and use them to move you into action. For if there's no action, there's no growth. Without growth, there's no financial success. As Harv T. Eker said, "your money can only grow up to the extent that you do"

Source:

Rich Money Habits