What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word investing? Is it money? Finance? Assets? Stocks? Well, you wouldn’t be wrong. Lots of people visualise financial investments that give direct numerical returns. Or they think of investment as spending on their business to grow it and gain more wealth.
While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with valuing every opportunity to grow our businesses or financial assets, it’s unfortunate that investing in oneself isn’t promoted as much in society.
Maybe the return on investment (ROI) from investing in your personal growth can’t be measured as easily, but there’s no denying that there’s value in putting time, money, and effort into making your life better.
Not convinced? Here are five reasons why you should be investing in personal development:
1. You will learn new things and become happier
Personal development is something that can help improve your life, both personally and professionally. It’s not just an investment in your career, but one in your awareness, identity and growth. Taking the initiative to learn and take action against your lack of knowledge, will propel you forward in any discipline. Moving from a place of unfamiliarity with new skills and insights will make you confident and challenge you to always do better and be more focused on the future. In other words, inspiration is a great source of happiness.
2. You will become more confident
The more knowledge and skills you gain, the more confident you’ll become. High confidence levels are always evident in how you communicate with others and conduct yourself around them. The more you learn, the more you’ll have to talk about and the more certainty you’ll have in what you’re saying. Investing in yourself allows you to own your greatness and live your life to its fullest potential.
3. You will build better relationships/connections
Personal development can also be used to improve your relationships with others be it with intimate relationships, friends, family or even work colleagues. Every relationship is a double-edged sword, it can either uplift you or drag you down. Improving yourself gives you a better understanding of which relationships are worthwhile and which you need to cut loose from your life. You additionally develop the skills needed to make the most out of your connections, the kind that will have a positive impact on your life.
4. You gain marketable skills
A major component of self-development is learning and education. From technical skills to soft skills like communication, decision-making and presentation, personal development equips you with the necessary tools to thrive both in and out of the office.
5. You will broaden your perspective
Not only does personal development give you an opportunity to grow your skills and knowledge, but you also learn about yourself, others, humanity and the world in general. When you take time to learn, you develop a new sense of awareness that allows you to view things from different perspectives. Self-development will push you to challenge your beliefs and be able to stand firm in what you choose to ultimately believe. This will consequently help you to overcome challenges quicker, adapt to new situations faster and be able to identify solutions when the need arises.
You can only become the person you want to be by making learning and development a priority in your life. Being alive today is enough reason to evolve and become that person,
Investing in yourself will push you out of your comfort zone and help you change your attitude and outlook on life. As you work on yourself, you’ll start to experience a change in how you view your daily experiences and what about them you’d like to improve.
There’s no question about it, the best thing you can do for yourself is making yourself a top priority.
“The only journey is the journey within.” - Rainer Maria Rilke
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Samantha.