Learning how to properly invest in yourself is one of the most effective ways to start building the life of your dreams. As with all investments the choices you make are going to be determined by your unique circumstances and your view on life. But I’ve come up with my top 11 tips to help you get started with the right investment portfolio to match pretty much any of your dreams.
1) Actually, really truly invest in yourself
Ok so the number one tip here is to actually do the investing. You can’t expect to get amazing outcomes if you don’t do the work. It’s important that you make an investment where it’s going to give you the most benefit. But if it’s the difference between starting somewhere now or waiting a year until you’re “ready” I say go for it now. Unlike financial investments where you save up for a deposit and then spend your hard-earned cash on a house or a car, investing in yourself is a, use the time, money and energy you have when you have it, and if you don’t have it find the time and the energy because investing in yourself is such a powerful thing.
Want to learn a mindset that will help you when you’re taking the time to invest in yourself… read our post.
2) Invest the time
I’m going to double up a little here by saying, you got to put the time into you! No matter how busy you are you can find time to invest in you. If you’re a little unsure on how you can do this with your crazy schedule, why not check out our article all about creating what I call “Time Slivers” just for actioning your dreams.
3) Find what makes you excited to get up in the morning every day and do more of that
You investing in you means doing more of what truly fulfills you. And this isn’t what’s going to light up your partner, or your kids, or your best friend. This is something that whether you know it now or not makes your whole world better and more liveable. It may be a simple thing like surprising the ones you love with unexpected handmade presents and seeing the smiles on their faces. Or it could be writing poetry, baking cakes, or singing off-key in the car.
No matter what it is that you enjoy, find ways to do more of that stuff. Need some ideas go here for more!
4) Learn to enjoy the simple things in life
It’s all very well and good to have big dreams and shoot for the stars kind of but these are not always going to be there to give you pleasure. In fact, when you’re working toward these goals, they may even cause you headaches and frustration. You may have some setbacks and that’s okay, but, it’s the simple things in life that are going to get you through those days. The difficult ones when things just aren’t going right.
When you’re staring down the end of a blackish tunnel and you’re searching for the light it helps to have practiced enjoying the light when it was super obvious and doing the look at me dance. So, start now, enjoy the in-between moments. Enjoy the journey to get to where you’re going and not just the destination.
5) Keep a positivity journal
I think this point goes hand in hand with learning to enjoy the simple things in life because a journal helps you recognize and look for what you otherwise may not normally notice. This is because we are so busy and caught up in the hustle and bustle that we don’t stop to appreciate what we have.
Now the journaling part can be as simple as using an ap like Evernote to jot down your thoughts. I do this whether I’m on the go or at home, I have the ap on my phone and I can use the voice to text option, record a voice message, or make a note. I can sync my account with the cloud and then log into any computer and voila there’s my positive list.
I also have physical day to a page diary that I write things down in as well. I find the act of writing down the “good things” about my day helps me stay grounded in positive things even when the day has been a bit average.
The “good things,” I write down are literally anything good that happened to me or that I did that day. Maybe I accomplished a task I’ve been working hard to finish at work, or someone said something nice to me at the water cooler, or better yet I’ve done something that makes me truly happy today like writing or helping someone, any and all of these things go into my journal.
It doesn’t matter what goes in, it just matters that you practice looking for the good. Feeding your mind with positivity and gratitude helps keep you enjoying the life you have even on the bad days.
Need some more inspiration – read this for 7 more self-talk tips to get you on the road to a more positive you.
6) Invest in learning something new
No matter your age, education level, or interest there is always something you can learn more about. These days there are soooo many free and excellent quality resources around that there really is no excuse.
Why learn something new? Well for one it’s awesome to learn more about the way the world works or why things are the way they are, especially if you’re learning about something you’re fascinated about.
There is also that saying that goes, “knowledge is power,” and I’d agree in two separate ways that knowledge is incredibly powerful.
- The first is the obvious point – The more you know the more powerful you are in terms of your own life and making choices. By being more informed the better your choices will be and the more opportunities you’ll have. Life tends to pigeonhole us and put us into little boxes where we belong but it’s important that you know that you don’t fit into a box. You are completely unique, and you can expand your mind.
- The second point I’ll make is that challenging yourself to learn something new will allow you to surprise yourself. You’ll realize that you are capable of much more than the little box you’ve been put into. You can decide to learn something new in order to change careers, or learn a language so you can go travel, or learn carpentry so you can build a house. The possibilities are endless once you pull down the invisible barriers that are holding you back.
Check out this blog post for some awesome and free ways to learn something new.
7) Read
What should I read you might say to me, and I’ll give you the short answer, read everything! Read newspapers, magazines, and books, inform yourself about the world.
If it’s books read widely, enjoy the world of fiction and journey to the other side of the world with the turn of a page. Walk a mile in another’s shoes and learn empathy and compassion, and even how someone else deals with the issues that all of us face. The world of fiction is a window into the lives of other people, and though they aren’t really real, they are written to be realistic (well most of them anyway). Even if you at the end of the day put down the book not having enjoyed it, I’m sure you’d be able to say you learned at least one thing you didn’t know about life or love or some other weird fact.
Then once you’ve read some fiction, try some non-fiction. There are so many great biographies and autobiographies about famous leaders, and people who have endured a whole lot. There are also many interesting books about events or places you may have never heard of. Expand your mind and enjoy stretching yourself.
If you find reading a challenge, then you could try listening to audio books. This is a pretty good option if you’re in the car, or in transit a lot of the time.
8) Eat good food
This is food that is good for your body and makes you feel alive and alert. I’ll tell you why this is important. It’s because you are what you eat, if you don’t eat well you will end up looking and feeling uncomfortable.
I used to eat a lot of sugar, tons actually, now that I think about it. Then one day I said enough is enough and I cut out the sugar and went on a low carb eating plan. I won’t call it a diet because this was more than a commitment I made to myself for just a few weeks till I lost the pounds kind of a situation. I knew I wanted to feel better and if that meant changing my eating habits then that was what I needed to do.
Changing your lifestyle remove the junk and increase the good fuel that you feed your body will result in you feeling less sluggish and bloated. You’ll be eating food that keeps you full for longer and not riding the sugar fuelled rollercoaster ride that keeps you coming back for more before you’ve finished chewing.
There are many added bonuses to eating better food, and particularly quitting sugar. Your teeth will not need so many fillings, you’ll stop feeling like a failure because you sabotage yourself with junk, and you’ll be less likely to get sick.
Looking after your body and your health is so important and just because it doesn’t have sugar in it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a sweet treat every now and again. These days there are so many relatively easy to get substitutes and they taste just as good.
Inspired to make a change in your eating habits – here are some more tips to get you being conscious about what you consume.
9) Drink water
Although my writing well is not dry yet I’m going to tell you that drinking water is a very simple and easy way to invest in yourself. Why? Well, your body needs water to function and also, if you’re hungry right now and you haven’t had a sip of water in the last couple of hours, you’re probably in need of a drink first before you contemplate your next meal.
Back before my quitting sugar I have to admit I wasn’t a bit water drinker, I found it hard to remember to drink. And when I did remember there was always the consequence of needing the bathroom more often which isn’t always convenient.
I knew the facts about how my body was about 60% water, but I didn’t take the action required to invest in myself. It took me a while to realise the detrimental affect that this simple choice was having on my health. I still struggle with this one, but I’m endeavouring to make it easy to incorporate drinking water at regular intervals throughout my day.
One simple change is just to carry a water bottle everywhere and when you’re waiting for someone, or something take a sip. Easy as that!
Want some more tips on how to drink more water – check this post out!
10) Enjoy sweet dreams – get enough sleep
Getting enough sleep means different things to different people but for most people a good 8 hours seems to do the trick. Though, if you’re like me 8 is never enough. I really do function better on 9 hours. But if you’re only getting a few hours here and there try and find ways to improve the quality of that sleep so that it’s super effective and/or increase the amount of time you allocate to sleeping.
This is obviously a lot harder if you’re a new mum and dealing with the demands of a baby but try to sneak in a few minutes extra when you can. Because, this is another way you can avoid running yourself down and getting sick.
Giving your body the things, it needs to function will help you function better and take advantage of life’s many opportunities.
Struggling to squeeze more sleep in your life? Here are some ideas that might help!
11) Thinking time
Whether you’re a people person or not, learn to be able to spend time by yourself without distractions to just think. By this I mean without the preoccupation of a phone or music, this time is wonderful because it allows your mind to think about and digest things. You can enjoy the relative quiet and think about where you are and what you’re grateful for.
You can have alone time in the middle of a crowded bus, or in your car, you can make a date with a bubble bath and just lay there and soak. Again, the important bit is that you allow yourself time to just think without providing distractions because no doubt there will be plenty anyway without you adding to it.
If you’re on the bus you can still use your headphones and pretend you’re listening to music, but instead listen to yourself.
So, now you have 11 relatively simple steps that if you do them all you will have found the power to take the time and the energy and perhaps even a little money to invest in yourself. I really hope that this post has helped you if it has let me know!
And if you’re interested in continuing to invest in yourself sign up to our free DustyDreamerHQ mailing list and receive your copy of our Dream Building 101 manual where we show you how to figure out what electrifies you and start building the life of your dreams.