Are you investing in yourself?

I believe everyone is familiar with the concept of compound interest. Money left to compound at a low interest rate can yield a fortune over time; very small changes every day over time results in substantial growth.

This same concept holds true for you as well. Daily efforts toward self- development can, over time, dramatically change the direction of your life and the amount of true success you can achieve.

You cannot make a deposit at the local brain bank and return many years later to find yourself smarter and more skilled. It’s just not that simple (and I really can’t part with a section of my brain). What you can do however is to make a daily investment in self-development. But are you willing to make that daily 

investment?  

Life is always about choices and trade-offs. We each get 24 hours in a day, no more and no less. How you utilize that time is up to you. Do you squander precious minutes and hours on social media, playing video games or in front of the television? Have you ever even tracked just how much time these activities are eating up on a weekly basis? You will likely be shocked at the amount.

I am not suggesting you give up your smartphone, your tablet, your gaming system or your TV. What I am suggesting is that you give some thought to carving out some time each day for self-development. It has been said that how far you go on the job depends upon what you do off the job. I believe that the level of TRUE SUCCESS that you achieve in the world depends almost entirely on the efforts you put into developing your most precious resource – YOU.

Are you spending any time each and every day working on your development?

Notice I said “each and every day”. That’s the real key. You need to work on self-development every single day. Monday through Sunday – no exceptions. The main goal here is actually to develop a learning habit. You have to commit to doing it every single day. At first this might be quite a challenge for you (aren’t weekends just for kicking back and relaxing?) but it is the repetition that builds habits, and habits either help us (learning or exercising for example) or hurt us (smoking or poor diet for example).

You may be saying “I can’t possibly find time every day for self-development”. But my dear reader – YOU CAN. You just need to start thinking small. Very small. What is the minimal amount you can commit to? I say everyone can find 

10 minutes a day to read, to listen to a podcast or to watch an instructional video.

10 minutes. Can you honestly tell me that your schedule is so jam packed full of absolutely necessary tasks that you cannot free up 10 whole minutes? Give me a break and stop the silliness. You can find the minutes, even if it means getting up 10 minutes earlier each day (and it doesn’t).

10 minutes a day. That’s all I am asking you to commit to.

You see, I know that a daily commitment, a daily routine, will turn into a habit. A positive habit. And over time you will start to see how that time investment into yourself is paying off. You will have more ideas and information to offer at work and at home. Your professional life and personal life will improve. All five areas of true success (Head, Heart, Health, Wealth, and World) will become better. So much so that you will expand from 10 minutes to 15, to 20, to 30 and it will keep growing.

But it all starts with a simple 10.