The best investment you can make—and 5 easy ways to do it
Invest in the one thing that will impact your career the most: yourself.
Welcome to Illuminate Me. Each week, I share an illuminating insight to help you communicate and connect better, growing your reach, impact, and career.
This week’s insight: The one place you’ll never regret investing? In yourself.
When you think of an investment, what comes to mind?
Stocks and mutual funds?
Real estate?
Crypto?
Or maybe the word “investment” conjures up images of loss, a risky market, or diminishing returns.
Personally, I like this definition of investment, especially as it relates to your career: “the commitment of resources to achieve later benefits.”
And in that context, it makes sense to invest in the one thing that will impact it the most: yourself.
Here are five easy ways to make the one investment you’ll never regret:
1. Get clarity and alignment on your goals.
What do you want?
It’s the first question I ask my prospective clients because having clarity and specificity around your goals is essential to devising a plan to achieve them.
The best way to gain clarity is to reflect on what you want most. This can be surprisingly difficult, especially if you’ve wrestled with fear and insecurities about acknowledging your dreams or if you’ve never pushed the pause button on your busy life long enough to give yourself the space to do so.
Once you’re clear, you need to align your goals with an environment that supports them and helps you avoid the people and things that can derail you.
This starts with understanding how you spend your time and where and with whom you’re investing your attention. Ask yourself if this choice helps you move closer to your goals or prevents you from achieving them.
2. Dedicate time to reading.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, 27 percent of U.S. adults say they haven’t read a book in whole or part in the past year. Contrast that with leaders like Bill Gates, who reads 50 books a year, or Mark Cuban, who reads three hours daily.
Research suggests that readers build their intellectual capacity to reason and solve problems, have better people skills, and possess a broader perspective, allowing them to envision multiple possibilities.
Reading is also one of the quickest ways to acquire and assimilate new information and grants you access to insights outside your area of expertise, which can fuel creativity and innovation.
3. Learn to say no.
Always saying yes can leave you exhausted, stressed, and time-poor, wondering why you’ve been busy but unproductive.
Since time is a limited and non-renewable resource, invest yours wisely by prioritizing and focusing your attention on what matters most and setting boundaries to protect it.
4. Say yes to growth opportunities.
Saying yes isn’t always bad. It invites collaboration, empowers and affirms others, and, more importantly, can help you grow.
But if you wait until you feel ready to pursue an opportunity, chances are it’ll pass you by. Saying yes means you’re open to moving past your comfort zone and embracing a new challenge. You naturally adopt a growth mindset by saying yes, and leading with your curiosity.
Saying yes also creates an environment where it’s safe to try, fail, learn, and innovate. When you freely say yes, you become more risk-tolerant and encourage innovation by trying new things and using successes and failures as learning opportunities.
5. Prioritize your well-being.
Living in a world of “always on” culture can wreak havoc on your well-being.
You can’t pour from an empty cup. So instead, focus on nourishing your body, mind, and spirit with proper nutrition and movement, rest, reflection, time in nature, and visiting with friends and loved ones.
And don’t forget to employ self-compassion. Treat yourself the way you would a treasured friend by swapping self-criticism for supportive self-talk. Words have power, and the stories you tell yourself are the most important words you speak.
Remember, you’ll never regret investing in yourself.
One way not to invest in yourself (and work twice as hard to make career progress, ensuring you’re miserable along the way)?
By forcing yourself into a role or environment that falls outside your natural strengths.
In my latest Forbes article, I share the best (and easiest) way to build a career aligned with your strengths.
More illumination:
Miss last week’s newsletter? Learn about the best two-word career advice I’ve ever received.
And one from the archives: Maybe you’re not too much; maybe they’re not enough.
P.S.
What I do:
When I’m not writing this newsletter or investing in myself, I’m a social media ghostwriter. (Yep, that’s a thing). I help founders craft their stories to communicate and connect better, magnifying their reach and impact. (Think personal branding and thought leadership.)
I can also weave together your personal and professional experience to write an engaging, original, and authentic career story that aligns with and supports your personal brand and thought leadership, positioning you for success.
Learn more by visiting my website.
Where you can follow me and find more of my work:
Forbes: I write weekly articles on personal transformation and its impact on career growth.
LinkedIn: Hit the 🔔 in the top right corner of my profile to get notified when I post and join more than 21,000 others by subscribing to my weekly LinkedIn newsletter, momentum, featuring insights to help you maintain positive motion and continually grow your career.
Twitter: Pithy synopses and threads of my content.
Instagram: My content, visualized (and occasional travel-related Instagram Stories and archived Story Highlights about my adventures if you’re into that kind of thing).
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