Learn and Earn Life: Self Investment as a Key to Wealth Creation

“What kind of business can I get into to make money”?
This question came with a look of helplessness from its enquirer, and in turn a feeling of empathy
evoked from us as we sat in a consulting session with this new client. His story is typical of most people in this part of the world. Worked for an Organization all their lives, with the garnished name tag “Civil Servant”, go on a compulsory retirement at age sixty with the promise of Pension that will be received at the end of their service.

Now fast-forward to this day where they expect the worthy compensation, they realized it’s more of a struggle than a pat in the hand with a fat brown envelope. They hear joining corporations can ease the struggle and get the envelope to them on time, questions and doubts arises, with the same thought running through their minds “I thought they planned for us”? How about planning for yourself?

In as much as this blog site talks more on Financial Literacy, Investments and all that pertains to it, we do know that the most profitable Investment any one can carry out is Investing in Oneself. There’s the saying that when you stop learning, you start dying. Today’s post trails on Personal Development. The illustration above with a Client should help us become proactive; apparently, personal development was misplaced while he was serving in that Organization.

Not all Organizations see the benefits of engaging her employees on necessary Training and Development Schemes. This process of personal development does not stop at any subsequent stage of life. There are always opportunities and ways of improving personal development at every moment of our life. It is very much in recognizing firstly, the skills one possesses and then opportunities that can enhance such skills. This will definitely help us in our long term goal of attaining Financial Freedom, by Investing in your skills; you’ll become your greatest ASSET AND GENERATE MORE WEALTH FOR YOURSELF.

Here are some tips we recommend to help you invest in yourself;

1. Eating healthy; very true is the saying that “health is wealth”. Of course, a dead person can’t make money. A nutritious, well-balanced diet – along with physical activity and refraining from smoking – is the foundation of good health. Healthy eating includes consuming high-quality proteins, carbohydrates, heart-healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and water in the foods you take in while minimizing processed foods, saturated fats and alcohol. Eating in this manner helps you maintain your body’s everyday functions, promote optimal body weight and can assist in disease prevention.

2. Time Management: “Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time “a quote by Jim Rohn, we can further say, Time is money and also an Asset. Sometimes it may seem that there isn’t enough time to do everything that we need to. We end most of our days not getting all we want done, especially the important ones and this builds up stress. It is important we develop effective time managing strategies to create a balance in our life. Listed below are some steps for effective time management;

• Setting Goals: Set yourself specific and clearly defined goals, and make sure that these are realistic and achievable. To do this, you first need to examine your present situation and assess what goals are important to you and what action you need to take to achieve your target. Have a contingency plan or alternative route to your goal in case you have to change your plans, for example, taking a relevant postgraduate course if you can’t get a job.

• Efficiency and effectiveness are not the same. Someone who works hard and is well organised but spends all their time on unimportant tasks may be efficient but not effective. To be effective, you need to decide what tasks are urgent and important and to focus on these. This is called prioritising. It’s important to list the tasks you have and to sort these in order of priority, and then to devote most time to the most important tasks. This avoids the natural tendency to concentrate on the simple, easy tasks and to allow too many interruptions.

• Avoid distractions; distractions in form of social networks, check email at set points in the day rather than when it comes in, turn off Facebook and twitter.

• Create habits; try to do tasks at the same time and the same location each day.

• Keep a –to-do-list; update this everyday, write down deadlines, emphasize key points.

3. Develop your skills; improving your skills doesn’t always mean investing in higher education, though that’s surely an option, and perhaps a necessary one depending upon your career field. Investing in your knowledge and skills can take many forms. In addition, expanding your level of knowledge and skill isn’t limited to the business arena and doesn’t necessarily need to be formal. There are many “skill investment” avenues.

• Advance your education – extra classes, advanced degrees, relevant certifications, are all valuable investments. Take classes, either in person or online.

• Utilize available training – enroll in workshops, attend conferences or participate in webinars.

• Expand your knowledge – there’s lots of information available on nearly any subject imaginable. Read books, articles, white papers, anything related to the talent or skill you want to work on. Keep current – stay abreast of the latest trends or advancements. Subscribe to publications, read blogs of experts, and follow the latest news.

4. Learn a new skill; nothing has a bigger overall impact than investing in yourself and your skills. Learning a new language or a new computer skill can open up you up to new career and job opportunities. You could even find what you’re really passionate about, or what helps you make a difference in the world.

This step will also keep your mind and body alert and active because you’re constantly learning new and interesting things. Don’t let yourself get bored with your current job, hobby or other aspirations. Always be open to learning and improving yourself!

5. Find a like-minded community; if you currently don’t have an encouraging group of supporters, it’s time to find one. Jim Rohn says that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with, so who are you surrounding yourself with?

If you want to have a successful career, be an eventual millionaire, or have the perfect work/life balance, you’ve got to find a like-minded community to help you reach your goals. This is especially important if you have financial aspirations.

Being around people with a poverty mindset will keep you in your current financial state, if not make it worse. Goals like becoming debt free are tough, so you’ll need a like-minded group of people to encourage you along the way.

6. Spending wisely; spending and investing aren’t the same thing. Spending simply exchanges value, say, money for rent. Investing creates value in that after your initial cost is paid, you can keep getting value without new input. Work on your cashflow in other to get Assets, assets helps in generating more income for expenses. But you’ll need to work on your spending habits before you can make more money. Work on creating budgets and saving so as to enable you invest.

Investing in yourself may be the most profitable investment you ever make. It yields not only future returns, but often a current pay-off as well. The surest way to achieve a better quality life, to be successful, productive, and satisfied is to place a priority on investing in both personal and professional growth. The effort you put into consistently investing in yourself plays a large role in determining the quality of your life now and in the future.

What Warren Buffet says about Self-Investment ;