In these times of economic turmoil there’s one investment you can still rely on – and that’s investing in you. Sure it’s cheesy, but it’s actually also very good advice, and a break from making other investments can give us some time to focus on our own personal growth.

When you invest in a stocks or in a property, the money you put will (in theory) be rewarded when it gains interest. Similarly when you work at a job, the time and effort you put in should be rewarded by a regular salary – hopefully peppered with pay rises and bonuses to reflect your good work. Well the same is true of investing in yourself – the more time and money you put into personal growth and development, the more you’ll be capable of doing and the more you’ll reap the benefits. Yes that means financially, but it also means in every other area of your life – in your relationships, in your fitness and in your creative leisure interests and pursuits.

In all types of business pursuits, as in all other areas of life, there are two distinct ways in which you can invest and if you’ve ever watched Dragon’s Den then you’ll know it’s not just their money that they offer potential investees, but also their expertise; their time. Now these are the two things you have at your disposal, and even when money is more limited than we’d like, we all have roughly the same amount of time to begin with – it’s then up to us how we spend it. So where should you be investing those assets? Unless you’re Peter Jones it won’t the latest smart combination of a toaster with a bicycle – the best thing to invest in is personal growth. The most important investment is people, with yourself being the first and foremost of those.

Whether you’re happy in your job and looking to climb the corporate ladder, looking to run a business, or start a new career altogether, you really need to be the best you can be. The same goes for your own life – whatever your dream job or relationship is, or wherever your dream home might be located, being the best possible you is going to give you the best possible chance of achieving those aims. The same goes if you’re a student, a Mum or even hopeless, without goals and ambitions we are nothing and without personal growth we’re not going to achieve them. You need to be better than the competition, you need to be faster and stronger and the best prepared. That’s how you’ll ace an interview, win a sporting event and impress a potential date.

The problem is that people rarely take time out to develop themselves. They work from one target to the next, one deadline to the one following it and they never have a time to take a step back and fine tune the system that’s running it all – themselves. When I have a deadline looming you won’t always find me working; often I’ll be reading an issue of Men’s Health the biography of Richard Branson – looking for ideas and inspiration. At the same time I’ll be reading the paper and science journals, it looks like idle procrastination but it means that when I do get down to work I’ll be at the top of my game with my finger on the pulse and an awareness of the market. Sometimes I take time out just to think, and that helps me take my business in new directions and expand it. How will a business ever grow if it just robotically churns out products? The same goes for a date – what will you talk about if you don’t spend any time on your hobbies or interests, or reading the papers?

The thing is you can’t prepare for every eventuality, but if you concentrate on personal growth then you’ll be ready for as many of them as possible. Don’t aim to improve yourself because you need to – do it all the time so that you’re constantly improving and you’ll be a true force to be reckoned with.

At the same time as developing your mind through research and relaxed reading you should also be fine tuning other parts of you. Personal growth can refer to almost any aspect of yourself, from your posture to the way you interact with others. You should be training these aspects of yourself all the time and the best way to do so is simply to be aware of your performance. Every experience is an opportunity for personal growth – be your own worst critic and identify where you’re struggling and put in the work to improve that aspect of yourself. Force yourself to tackle your weaknesses head on. Shy in big crowds? Then force yourself to speak up at parties and gatherings. If you do then you’ll be better at it next time and you’ll impress colleagues, clients, employers, friends, family and potential partners. Ignore your failures, accept them, and you’ll never improve. Personal growth isn’t something you should set out to do on set occasions but something that you should always be aware of. The same goes for your emotions and your wisdom – see every unfortunate experience as a chance to reflect and improve yourself. You’ll become more sensitive and emotionally stronger and next time you’re unfortunate enough to suffer a tragedy you’ll be better equipped to deal with it.

To trigger more of a change on the inside though you should also look into improving your outward appearance, and this is where the monetary investment comes in. It’s important that you treat yourself with the kind of respect you want others to, and the more money and time you put into your appearance the more confident you’ll feel and the more confidence you’ll inspire in other people. Would you be happy to let a guy dressed as a tramp handle your finances? Well then don’t be that guy. More ways to ensure you keep growing is to keep up your fitness which will invigorate your mind and keep you sharp while making you a more imposing figure in the board room or the bedroom. The kind of effort and determination involved in getting into shape is not negligible, and that’s the kind of effort you should be putting into every aspect of your game.

Once you’ve been in the personal growth frame of mind for a while you’ll have developed every facet of your game to at least some extent. Most people simply don’t do this – they’re content to play the hand they’re dealt – and as such you’ll have an edge over the competition and this is where your investments will start paying off. People will stand up and take notice of you – that girl who thought you were sweet before will now start seeing you as a potential date and your boss will stand up and take notice of your new abilities and outlook.

If you do own your own business or are an entrepreneur that’s when the investment will pay off more than ever. My own personal business maxim is to do everything yourself by simply putting the time in to be able to. Whereas someone who owns a big business would spend thousands hiring a professional web designer to make them a home page, I instead spend the time needed to learn HTML myself and then programme it. I invested in my own abilities and learned a new skill and saved myself money in the process. Need a message board? Don’t take the easy route – go and learn PHP or at least reverse engineer another board and in the process you’ll learn a new skill that could come in handy countless times in the future.

So there you have it – the stock you can always rely on is you. Spend some time focussing on personal growth, see life as an opportunity to learn and grow, and as a result you’ll get better at it. In other words, always do what you’ve always done and you’ll always get what you’ve always got. To change that you need to start changing yourself so that you can do and get more than ever before.

Mack LeMouse

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