Why is investing in yourself important?

Investing in yourself
I would like to start by saying writing this post was inspired by certain people in my life who have taken their precious time to guide me, offer advice, and most important believed in me. I know first-hand the best thing you can do for yourself is to invest in you. It is one of the best returns on investments you can do and give yourself and those around you. Whether it’s investing in learning a new skill, developing yourself personally or professionally, tapping into your creativity or hiring a coach, you need to give to yourself first before you can give to others.

If you are serious about building a long term business, it is our responsibility to take the time to develop, enhance and master our skills so we can best serve others. Investing in yourself most people shy from because of many reasons, money, fear, denial, ego, time and many more excuses they talk themselves out of in order to really succeed.

Even the most hard working wealthiest of people invest in having a coach; many wouldn’t be where they are today if they didn’t. So why is investing in yourself so powerful?

Let me share a little about myself.
Once I left home at 18 I soon realised how difficult life was when left to do everything yourself, even though I was excited to move into a unit, have the freedom to come and go etc, I still needed to seek others to help guide and teach me skills to discover what and where my future was heading. Some find their passions early in life, however for me I knew helping people was one main thing I would be doing, just didn’t know how I was going to do it. Having a horrific accident when I was young made it more challenging to overcome injuries that stopped me doing more with my life, however I worked hard and pushed my body to limits I never thought were possible. The fact that I was able to live through my ordeal is one thing, when I see all the people who helped me from the surgeons, physiotherapist, dentist, nurses, doctors, and many more who invested their time and money into being great at their jobs, I wouldn’t have a second chance today. 

My biggest mission after surviving and spending 14years strengthening my body, I was determined to work on living and seek what makes me happy and fulfilled. Other than having a wonderful family we all have personal needs we want to accomplish, or have a deeper level on what makes us be the person we are. Investing time and money in myself has given me the freedom to learn more about the person I want to be and also how I see my life and future.

 I loved dancing invested into some top dance instructors and ran a dance school for 9 years, I was a property manager and learnt a lot about property investing so now I own properties, I have learnt to seek the right coaches on business, which took me a while to find mind you, so now I have multi businesses with multiple sources of income. There is so many opportunities out there, but it all comes down to how much you want it, and how hard are you prepared to work for it.  Investing time in yourself and implementing what you invest is the key. If you can find the right people or person to help you achieve your result that’s an added bonus.
When investing in yourself, and allowing yourself the freedom to do so sends a powerful message and makes a big difference on how you look at things and how you achieve them. 

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Here are just a few tips

Investing in yourself

​helps me achieve my goals.

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1. Take the time to set goals. Learn how to set personal and business goals for yourself, that is not a to-do list real goals. Set a time frame when you will meet them. Keep them realistic so they are achievable.
2. Respect your intuition. Trusting your gut and honouring the message that it’s sending. Not waiting for validation from someone else if you pay attention to how you feel, it will help you to make better, smarter and quicker decisions. I know for me I was too focused on helping the other person and see the good in them, that I ignored or didn’t take my own intuition seriously. If you don’t feel right then it’s normally not right for you.
3. Invest time being creative. Taking time to be creative is good for the mind, in business we need to come up with ideas on how to improve, create visuals, introduce new products, what content to write etc. Having an ideas book that you carry with you, I get ideas on the go or from something some said etc so have a note book is helpful, you will experience so much more of what this world can offer when you take more notice on the little things.
4. Building your confidence.  Even if you are good or not so good at public speaking, talking to strangers or can cope under pressure, having the confidence to overcome fear, doubt and uncertainty is still part of building your confidence. Most of us have a list of our weaknesses so recognising them and overcoming those is a great start.
5. Training. Books, audio books, attending workshops, webinars, listening to podcast are all an awesome resource to build your knowledge and expertise in the areas you like.
6. Attending Networking events.  This not only expands your knowledge it also gives you the opportunity to meet and interact with individuals who are like-minded. Attend different levels of networking groups seek those who you admire and learn and see what works for them.
7. Health Check we can all get caught up with our busy day and not eat or drink enough water, take breaks and even exercise. Taking even a solid 30 min walk at the start of everyday can do wonders.
8. You are who you associate with. Associating with happy, positive people will only make a good impact to your life. There will always be someone who will look at the negative in things but remember at the end of the day it is up to YOU on the choices you make no one else.
9. Say NO to excuses. Making excuses will only set you back, I appreciate things take time to overcome, however if you find yourself saying the same thing all the time you are not helping yourself, it’s time to change. A little saying I like is “Don’t work to an excuse work to completion”.
10. Invest in a coach.  If you want to be the best you can be in either sport, your business anything for that matter, If you invest in a coach who will be a thorn on your side ready to challenge you and push you to your goals then grab it. I am truly blessed I have meet amazing people that surround me, who keep me motivated and inspired. Being motivated can be short but having something that inspires you is truly a gift. Investing who are specialised, have learnt from their failures which saves me time and money making them myself, that’s priceless.
A closing note if you invest in yourself emotionally, physically, and financially, you are investing in becoming the best version of yourself. When you feel the best version of yourself, you will attract others who will want to invest in you.

Have a great day
Michelle McFarlane

If you found this article useful please comment below and maybe share what you are investing in right now that makes you feel good.