“Try not to be a man of success. Rather become a man of value” ~Albert Einstein
Someone said the degree of value you provide determines the degree of value people attribute to you and frankly, I totally agree. There are so many people today living a worthless life not because they want to, but because they do not know how to stop.
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Personally, I have come to believe that there are two kinds of people on earth. The first sets are those who live unapologetically while accumulating value through personal discipline and intelligence.
The second sets, however, are those who are merely existing. There is nothing of value attached to them. They live their lives without planning and in most cases, end up living the life of someone else or not achieving as much as they should.
Now, what’s the difference between these two? One group is focused on investing in themselves and building a life of value while the other is just existing with no meaningful plan, action, or decisions.
Sadly, one worrisome truth is that the number of persons in the latter group is more than that in the former. Millions of people walk around today with nothing valuable attached to them. If you think you are one of them, then this article is for you!
What is your value?
If you ask any successful person for business advice, one of the most common ones you would get is to add more value to your life. Tony Robbins claims that the most valuable advice he ever received was the one from Jim Rohn, one of his earliest mentors. “Find a way to add more value than anybody else does, and you’ll never have to worry about anything.
Every day, work harder on yourself than anything else, because if you become more intelligent, more valuable, more skilled – you can add more value to other people”.
Your value is the degree of your usefulness or importance. In other words, if one cannot attribute a certain level of usefulness to you, then you are valueless. You would never attain a certain level of respect if you do not have a degree of usefulness credited to you.
For you to be considered valuable, you must be useful in one aspect. Your usefulness could be in the area of finance, health, personal development, or any other area.
Reminder: You can still grab The AfamUche Self-development Journal (The Life Compass) and Planner (Goal Chaser) now! Yes, you can get your copy of the journal or planner on the blog. We have carefully created these resources to help our beautiful readers on the journey to achieving their goals of being a better person. Feel free to ask questions about them in the comment section, I will be reading and ready to reply.
Within the next few paragraphs, we will be looking into the rudiments of how to invest in yourself and how build a valuable life. I’d suggest you take note of the points and translate them into how they can work in your life.
Roll up your sleeves, we have work to do…
1. Start A Side Hustle
This is one of the greatest tips you can get on how to invest in yourself. Starting a side hustle is one of the surest ways to invest in yourself. If you already have a job, you can start up something else that would fetch you some amount of money. The beauty of a side hustle is that it helps you to be financially independent.
Also, from the money you save from your side hustle, you can increase your savings and invest in other things. That way, you would be adding more value to yourself financially. There are hundreds of side hustle you can start even while at home. You could start blogging, freelancing and so many more.
Essentially, by starting a side hustle you are showing that you are not only dissatisfied with your current financial status, but that you also want more.
2. Read, Watch And Listen
This is another way of adding value to your life. You should learn to read. Reading books avails you the opportunity to learn from the wealth of experience of other persons.
You can easily get access to an amazing wealth of knowledge that will catapult you to greater heights by tapping into the numerous experiences of the people who have gone through the path you are about to tow, through their books.
Well, I get that there are thousands of people who do not like reading – for some reason I cannot explain; they are not left out in the acquisition of value. In place of reading, you can also watch videos and listen to podcasts.
The more you read, watch, and listen to these influential people, the more you gain sufficient knowledge you need to build a valuable life. Also, if you are in your 20s, you would not only be investing in yourself in your 20s, you would also be investing in your future. I have outlined some of the best personal development books you can read and some life-changing inspiring and motivational podcast you can listen to.
3. Boost Your Health And Wellness
“Health is wealth.” As cliché as that may read, it is very true! Your health is your wealth and if you are serious about making huge strides in your career or life in general, then you must not joke with it.
One of the grave mistakes people make is thinking that they can only get value by growing financially! No! Spending hours on online courses and skill acquisition is not the only way to invest in yourself and build a life of value. You can do that just by following good health tips, taking your exercises seriously, and generally taking care of your health.
You can only attain great heights in life if you are fit health-wise. So, if you are serious about investing in yourself and building a life of value, I would advise you to take your health and wellness seriously too.
4. Kill Procrastination
Procrastination is the thief of time. You would never know how to invest in yourself if do not unlearn and kill procrastination. You cannot attain a great height in life if you do not battle procrastination. The dangerous trait has stopped millions from achieving their life goals.
Investing in yourself requires that you shun a few things that unnecessarily take your time. And the earlier you do that, the better for you. Do not allow the stupid act of procrastination to take away the satisfaction you would get when you crush your goals.
Now, what exactly do you need to kill procrastination? Discipline! You need to build a culture of personal discipline. Myles Munroe said that discipline comes in two ways: external and internal. You can either get instructions that discipline you from the outside or you give them yourself.
One thing is certain: to build a valuable life, you must learn to be self-disciplined. Being self-disciplined is the only way to kill the distractions that might stand in the way of achieving your goals. If you really want to invest in yourself and build a life of value, you must be able to kill procrastination and embrace self-discipline.
5. Strengthen Your Current Skill
You have a skill – and if you do not, you should get one- that someone somewhere needs. Using your skill judiciously is one of the ways you can build a life of value. But how do you invest in your skill? You can invest in your skill by taking deliberate steps to ensure that you strengthen it.
Go to a school if you have to; take online courses if you need to; what matters is that you are strengthening your skill. Do not let your skill die. The more you strengthen your skill, the more valuable you become and the more people will be willing to pay to get your service. This is how to invest in yourself.
Building a life of value and investing in yourself is highly hinged on how well you can use or strengthen your current skill. So, take steps to strengthen that skill today!
6. Take Breaks
I have recently committed myself to take online breaks. I work online, so, I have access to most of the social networks and media. And one thing I can confirm is that these social sites have a way of messing with your head.
They have a way of making you addicted to them and so the best thing to do to ensure that you are not bound by their shackles is to ensure that you take breaks. And online sites aren’t the only platforms you can take breaks from.
You should take frequent breaks from anything capable of messing with your head and get you addicted to them. You will never build a life of value if you do not learn to relax, reflect, and relaunch.
7. Never Stop Learning
It is suicidal to think that a time would come in your life when you would know so much you would not have a reason to learn anymore. This is another important aspect of building a life of value. The day you stop learning is the day you start your journey to declining in all regards.
You should never see yourself as so fulfilled or knowledgeable, you do not need to learn anymore. Learning and expanding your scope of knowledge and experience is paramount to you reaching greater heights.
Invest in books. Read online. Do whatever it takes to ensure that you do not stop learning. You cannot be so smart you won’t need the knowledge of others. If you are serious about investing in yourself and building a life of value, then you should never joke with learning.
8. Get A Mentor
If you want to grow and increase in value, you should get someone who has worked in a similar field and ask them to mentor you. Now, personally, I do not like the idea of having personal mentors. For me, I get my mentorship from afar. I look far and observe the people I call my mentors and take a cue from them as they take certain steps.
Truth is, if you really want to grow, you should be willing to learn from those who have gone before you. That is the idea of having a mentor. So, do you have a mentor now? If not, what are you waiting for?
9. Avoid Debts
Your financial status is important to the kind of life you live. If you are constantly in debt, then you are in a big problem. Debts hamper your growth and limit your progress. And if you are not growing, you would never have a way of investing in yourself. This point is especially for the young folks reading this.
Living a life of debts would only put you in the possible danger of experiencing a life of ruin. So, by all means, ensure that you avoid bad debts.
10. Choose Your Friends Wisely
The kind of friends you keep matters a whole. If you do not keep friends that can inspire you to grow and be a better version of yourself, then you cannot actually grow.
One undeniable truth is that your friendship circle plays a lot of roles in determining who you are or who you become. If you do not keep a circle of responsible friends, then you are never going to build a valuable life. As humans, we are naturally social. We are wired to always want to have people around.
However, if you do not have the right set of people around you, you are definitely not going to get the required level of push from the people around you to become a better you! Your friends are crucial in knowing how to invest in yourself and build a valuable life.
So, there you have it, guys! Those are some of the few tips on how to invest in yourself and build a life of value. Feel free to reach out to me if you think there are any other tips that should be on the list. And of course, do not forget to click the share button.
FOR YOU:
Hey there! Thank you for reading this far. I have taken out my time to ensure that this post adds value to someone’s life. I sincerely hope that you do not take them for granted. I would love to get feedback from you on how you are taking steps in response to these tips on how to invest in yourself. Feel free to drop a comment in the comment section.
