Investing In Your Soul Is An Investment Too
Why investing in yourself might just be the best investment you could ever make.
We typically make investments based upon their potential for return, right? More investment = better potential = higher return = better life. That’s the goal.
Well then, why don’t we see investments in ourselves under the same light?
The language we commonly use to describe the money, time, resources spent upon ourselves and our wellbeing follows the tone of an indulgence, treat, or splurge. It’s seen as an extravagance / hedonistic excess that is a non-necessity and ought to be tinged with guilt. It’s the first thing we cut when tightening our belts and the thing we most rarely protect in our budgets.
But, why?
Think about it this way…if you are an entity with a potential to return and the size of that return is directly correlated to the caliber of that potential. The potential is not fixed, it can be augmented: new skills, experiences, mindsets, perspectives all raising and growing the potential of you as an entity.
Now that potential is radically reduced by environmental factors: stress, lack of sleep, depression, low energy, lack of joy/direction, etc. These same factors which reduce existing potential also limit future growth.
So, if the success you expect your life to pay out is dependent upon the quality of your potential, why should we feel guilty about investing in that potential? Investing in removing the limiting factors, investing in augmenting the growth of the potential factor, investing in seeing a better return?
Beyond not feeling guilty, shouldn’t we be encouraging, celebrating, and striving to invest in ourselves?
Don’t believe me yet? Let’s replace you with a company.
If a company’s ability to succeed is dependent upon the quality of its leadership, access to resources, ability to scale, and most importantly to navigate and survive the market volatility, would you as an investor deprive it of resources, intentionally hinder the leaders, knowingly let it carry on “business as usual” in a distressed state? Or would you intervene?
If a company was struggling, exhausting it’s resources, the CEO seemed fatigued and making wrong choice after wrong choice. What would you think would happen if its investors said: double down, work twice as hard, oh and we are taking away the resources you need to fix the situation? You would think they’ve gone mad.
Why do we expect ourselves to operate in this way then? To magically be able to increase our potential with ever dwindling resources.
We are like a publicly traded company. Our leadership (our mindset) needs to be balanced, incentivized, and healthy to thrive. Our ability to survive market volatility (our mental wellness) depends upon having a strong reserve of resources, energy, and balance. And our access to resources (salary, earnings, potential capital) is commensurate with the quality of our product (us). So in order to get the best return, we need to have the best product and leadership.
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So let’s shift our perspective around self-investing. It’s probably the best investment you can make in your future.
No, it doesn’t guarantee you’ll be a gazillionaire with 5 yachts. But you’ll probably realize as you learn more about you and the future you truly want that you actually don’t want those things. Investing in you enables you to more clearly define your own version of success: what matters to you, what you desire, what is worth the limited time you have here on this earth, what brings you joy. If you don’t know you, how can you do what makes you happy? what you are best at? what is meant to make you thrive?
So go out and invest in finding you, learning about you. What makes you happy? What makes you sad? What leaves you fulfilled? What helps you recharge? What keeps you balanced? What keeps you feeling madly in love with life, moment by moment. Go out and find it. Along the way, you’ll realize that who you are, your potential, is growing too and your life will become so much richer.
Try starting with the simplest moments. Reconnect to those moments of simple presence, joy, contentment. Rediscover your presence and go from there.
What are you going to do today to invest you?
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Liza Tullidge is a serial entrepreneur, investor + advisor focused on reengineering business + individuals to build a better planet. Find out more about Liza + her work at www.lizatullidge.com
