A lot of buzz has been circulating around the term “invest in yourself,” but what does it really mean? My personal definition of investing in yourself is cultivating daily habits that build up over time, producing the best version of yourself. Daily habits can include investing in your physical and mental health, such as exercising and practicing gratitude. The more we integrate these small, everyday habits into our lives, the better we prepare ourselves for our unique success journey.
So, I will go over the purpose of investing in yourself, how to specifically invest in your physical and mental health, and how to start investing in those areas.
What It Means to Invest in Yourself
Purpose
Investing in yourself means getting outside your comfort zone and becoming the best version of yourself. The most successful people in the world are constantly investing in themselves because they don’t like to stay stagnant. The longer you stay stagnant, the more comfortable you get, preventing growth.
Benefits
- Builds Confidence: Investing in yourself builds your confidence by pushing you outside your comfort zone, forcing you to build habits, and strengthening your skills.
- Expands Your Knowledge: Investing in yourself expands your knowledge by introducing you to new skillsets and learning from successful people.
- Strengthens Your Relationships: Investing in yourself strengthens your relationships by improving the relationship with yourself. For example, learning to control your emotions, understand and empathize with others, and become a better communicator will deepen your relationships with others.
- Improves Your Physical and Mental Health: Investing in yourself improves your physical health by pushing you to create healthy habits that make you feel and look better. Investing in your mental health reduces stress and anxiety while improving your focus and becoming a better person.
- Increases Your Motivation: Investing in yourself produces amazing results, motivating you to keep pushing forward and challenging yourself.
Investing in Your Physical Health
Here are some ways to invest in your physical health:
- Purposeful Exercise
- Eating Whole Foods
- Getting Enough Sleep
- Drinking Enough Water
- Getting Outside More
Benefits
- Improved Cardiovascular Endurance
- Increased Endorphins
- Strengthens Muscles
- Prevents Health Issues Later On
- Promotes Mobility
- Improves Focus
- Reduces Irritability
Investing in Your Mental Health
Here are some ways to invest in your mental health:
- Keeping a Gratitude Journal
- Practice Meditation
- Take Daily Walks
- Limit Distractions (TV, Social Media, Social Events)
- Join a Community
- Find a Creative Hobby
- Go to Therapy
Benefits
- Improved Focus
- Prevents Stress
- Keeps You Grounded
- Promotes Healthy Relationships
- Gives You a Creative Outlet
- Helps You Work Through Problems
- Improved Control of Emotions
Failing to Invest in Your Physical and Mental Health
Failing to invest in your physical health can cause irreparable damage to your life. For example, eating junk food and not working out can cause obesity, depression, anxiety, diabetes, and other health problems. Also, when you don’t look or feel good, you tend to take it out on others, resulting in increased conflict. In addition, failing to invest in your physical health keeps you in a constant cycle of addiction because you’re hooked on the bad habits.
Failing to invest in your mental health causes you to become emotionally unstable, develop mental health issues like anxiety or depression, push away friends and family, and clog your mind with negative thoughts. In addition, failing to invest in your mental health produces a downward spiral of stress, tension, self-pity, hopelessness, and loneliness.
How to Start Investing in Your Physical and Mental Health
Start by practicing micro habits, tiny habits that build upon one another. For example, instead of working out every day, aim for 2-3 days a week. Another example would be limiting your distractions. Instead of cutting out TV or social media completely, try limiting your time by 30 minutes to an hour and track your results.
The problem most people have when trying to improve themselves is they go too hard and quit bad habits immediately. While I’m all for going all in, I think taking small, manageable steps is more sustainable in the long run.
Examples of small physical and mental health habits to start right now:
Find a book you want to read and aim to read 5-10 pages a day. It doesn’t have to be non-fiction, either. You can choose a fiction book to crack open. The purpose of this exercise isn’t to do something you don’t want to do just for the sake of starting a habit. The more you enjoy the habit, the more likely you’ll keep doing it. As you read the books you like, you may find yourself reaching for books you wouldn’t have read previously but are now challenging yourself to read them.
Add more nutrient-dense foods to your cart at the grocery store. For example, add more fruits and vegetables and healthy protein sources like chicken, fish, eggs, lean steak, Greek yogurt, etc. The point here is to not necessarily remove your favorite foods but add more nutritious foods to make you feel better.
Find a hobby or creative outlet to start. For example, let’s say you’re good at writing. You could write poetry, short stories, or freelance. My entrepreneurial advice would be to choose a hobby you could eventually turn into a side hustle.
Investing in Your Future
Investing in your future is the only way to create the life you want. One of the best ways to invest in your future is to learn the skills to create freedom in your life. At ENTRE, my online company, we believe that entrepreneurship is the ultimate path to freedom.
Although entrepreneurship may sound daunting to you, our straightforward approach makes starting an online business easy. What we do is determine the best business model for you based on your personality, lifestyle, talents, and hobbies.
Then, we pair you with an advisor to guide you through the process of starting your business.
Lastly, we provide an online and in-person community to bring you together with like-minded people who also want to create freedom in their lives.
If this sounds like something you’d like to pursue, click the picture below and get started with our Success Path Masterclass!