How to Invest in Yourself Like a Pro

Ultimately, you are the most valuable thing you can invest in, and you’ll never regret investing in yourself. This is the complete guide on how to invest in yourself, from why you should invest in yourself to tips and ideas on implementing it as a habit.

What does it Mean to Invest in Yourself?

To start off this guide on how to invest in yourself, let’s first define what it actually means to start investing in yourself.

Keeping things simple, investing in yourself is doing anything that will have long-term positive impacts in your life. This can be making monetary investments to create financial security, creating good habits and systems, or even simply investing time to take care of yourself.

You can think of investing in yourself in the same way you would think about investing money. Over time, the little actions you take to improve your life will compound to produce greater results than their individual effects. The sooner you start investing, the better your results will be in the long-term; start taking baby steps now and start creating the life that you want to live!

It’s Really the Key to Personal Growth

Why should you learn how to invest in yourself, you ask? Well, long story short, it’s really the key to personal growth and development.

Without investing time, energy or money in yourself, you can’t reach any goals; by definition, a goal is something you need to put energy into to achieve. Essentially, if you’ve ever achieved anything in life (which we all have, big or small), you’ve been consciously or unconsciously investing in yourself already. This guide is here to help you go from unconsciously (or ineffectively) investing in yourself to someone who can use this tool for personal growth to set systems that will make achieving your goals inevitable.

I’m a believer that failure is impossible — if you keep trying, eventually you will succeed. Any outcomes that don’t turn out as you hoped are just bumps in the road.

How to Invest in Yourself (9 Ideas to get You Started)

Now comes the fun part: Specific ideas on how to invest in yourself. Of course, there are many more ways to invest in yourself, but these are a good starting point that anyone can apply to their life!

1. Devote Some Time (Daily) to Pursue Your Passions

First on the list of how to invest in yourself is carving out some time each day to do something that lights you up. From setting aside some time to work on a hobby to snuggling with your pets or significant other, it’s so important to add little sprinkles of passion into our daily lives.

Setting aside even five minutes a day counts — over time, those little bits of energy put into your passions will really add up to produce positive effects. You will likely find that after consistently setting time aside to focus on your passions makes you feel happier, more fulfilled, less stressed and healthier, regardless of what you choose to pursue.

Humans are creative creatures, creating everything from skyscrapers to art to relationships. You have the power to make your life the life you’ve always dreamed of — why wait to start making that a reality?

2. Make Your Health a Priority

The next thing — and one that is super important if you’re going to learn how to invest in yourself — is taking care of your body and mind. So many of us are constantly doing, running around from task to task and forgetting to take care of our poor bodies.

When it comes down to it, we only have one body, and, as the cliché goes, health is wealth. Material success and all of the beautiful, little things that make up life are no good if you don’t have the energy or ability to enjoy them. Eat nourishing, whole foods, drink lots of water, sleep, get into nature, and laugh with friends. Also, don’t forget to get out into nature once in a while!

I’m absolutely sure that you’ve heard all of these things before, but it’s just so important to take care of the vessel that houses you on your journey through life on this tiny, spinning blue dot floating in the universe.

3. Get Really Good at Setting Boundaries

Another great thing to master when learning how to invest in yourself is setting boundaries. Boundaries are so important in daily life — they give you more power and freedom.

Boundaries are what show others how to treat you, so it’s important to set effective, meaningful boundaries that will enhance your life. A saying that I love (as someone who sometimes has people-pleasing and conflict-avoiding tendencies) is that saying no is saying yes to yourself.

When you are in a situation that makes you uncomfortable or someone does something that’s not okay with you, start speaking up. Setting boundaries and saying no can be incredibly difficult, especially if you don’t have much practice with doing those things, but, unfortunately, it really is just one of those things that takes practice to get comfortable with. That being said, you can make things easier by having a list of ways to say no brainstormed in advance. This makes it so that if a boundary-setting situation comes up, you don’t need to scramble for what to say. Practice makes perfect!

4. Never Stop Learning

Learning is huge when it comes to personal development and investing in yourself. This is why I’m a big believer in being a life-long learner, and I think you should be, too!

Learning is something that is enriching, interesting, and that gives us purpose. Not to mention, we get so much value from putting the things that we learn into use! While often the soul-draining structure of schools leaves us hating the idea of learning, I am convinced that anyone can find learning fun if they go about it in the right way.

What is “the right way” you ask? Well, I would break it down to these core elements:

Find intrinsic value in what you are doing (not needing external motivation, i.e. actually being interested in the subject rather than chasing money, status or other rewards to find motivation)

Find out what mediums you prefer to learn through. In a physical class? Via videos? Books? Try a few different ones to see what sticks!

Be consistent. Show up each day and take baby steps.

Be present. Really immerse yourself in the earning without distractions, soaking up all the value you can from the experience!

5. Invest in Your Future

Now we are getting to the money part of things: investing in the classical sense.

Everyone wants financial freedom, and while each person’s circumstances might be vastly different, there are steps everyone can take towards financial freedom and security. The power of compound interest is real; if you have any amount of money to spare, why not make it work for you?

It can be a complicated process to learn about, but its so worth the effort. Start learning about stocks, bonds, low-risk versus high-risk investments, as well as what your options are. There are tons of great financial resources online such as videos and podcasts, as well as in the form of books.

6. Set Your Mindset Up for Success

Having a positive mindset is really key when learning how to invest in yourself. A positive mindset will ensure not only that you are enjoying the process of learning how to invest in yourself, but also that you won’t quit when things start getting tough.

In the world we live in, it’s easy to slip into a cycle of pessimism and despair, but there are things that we can all do to become more optimistic and protect ourselves from negative thinking patterns in the future.

The first step in how to have a positive mindset is acknowledging where you are. This is not to spark judgement or any negative feelings, but to simply become curious about where you are. Observe your state of mind from an objective point of view, and gently ask yourself why you are in the state you are in currently. Once we have this foundational knowledge, we can start taking steps to create a more positive mindset.

Once we know this, we need to start taking action. Write down your negative beliefs and reframe them in a more empowering way. Start practicing daily gratitude and surround yourself with people and things that light you up. Try affirmations, if you like. For a more in-depth process of how to have a positive mindset, you can check out this article here. The important thing is to just start where you are and work from there!

7. Minimize, Essentialize and De-clutter

We live in a world with so much stuff. Material things, mental stuff, emotional baggage. I think that in a world where “busy” is worn like a badge of honor, it is super beneficial to be able to slow down and simplify.

Switching to a more “essentialist” or “minimalist” mindset is one way that you can start to reduce clutter in all areas of your life — mentally, physically, and emotionally. This could start with assessing what material things you truly need and what brings you value, and responsibly getting rid of the rest (i.e. through selling, donating, recycling). Then, maybe you’ll feel compelled to get rid of some toxic relationships. Finally, and what is usually most difficult for people, is simplifying their schedules and mental space. Figure out how you spend most of your time, and take note of what you need to do and what brings you value. Consider delegating, reducing or eliminating the rest. You don’t have to be busy to lead a productive and effective life.

If you’ve been looking for permission to simplify, here it is.

8. Cultivate Meaningful Relationships

Next up in the list of how to invest in yourself: cultivate meaningful relationships. Studies have shown that human happiness, being the social creatures we are, is often tied to the quality (not quantity) of our relationships. Relationships give us community, support and safety, and it is so worthwhile to cultivate both new and existing relationships in the form of friendships, family and romantic relationships.

Note that when it comes to our relationships, it’s about quality, not quantity. Someone with three close and fulfilling friendships is likely going to be much happier than someone who is friendly but not close with, say, a hundred people.

Be attentive and caring in existing relationships; let the people around you know you care, and check in on them often. Set reminders on your phone, if you need to!

In creating new relationships, try reaching out to people with similar interests through a class or a hobby, for example, and build your relationships on a foundation of authenticity.

Regardless of whether they are new or old, cultivating relationships is absolutely one of the most rewarding ways to spend your time in the self-investment world.

9. Get Some Fresh Air

Lastly, invest in yourself by getting outside more often. The simple act of getting out into nature is so powerful for our mental and physical health, and it’s something that virtually everyone has access to in some form or another. Even sitting on your apartment balcony for a few minutes can help!

Immersing ourselves in nature has the power to regulate our hormones, from the stress hormone cortisol to the hormones that control our circadian rhythms.

While it’s not currently clear how being in nature causes these benefits, there is a growing body of research from esteemed facilities such as Harvard Medical School and Yale that are investigating these benefits of getting outside. Even without knowing the how, I think we can all benefit from a little more time outdoors!

If you found this post valuable, feel free to check out my blog for more, similar content. In the meantime, have an incredible day.

Wishing you so much joy and light,

Emma