I was having a chat with my good friend Jared recently, and decided to write a post about the importance of investing in yourself.

Not only is Jared a great guy and a mentor of sorts, but he’s a very successful one at that with a very varied life.

I look up to Jared as a great role model, both in terms of his success with business, and as both  a great husband and father.

In fact, beyond our similar interests in business ventures, Jared inspires me in many ways to be a better man.

So we were recently talking about spending money, when he said something that really stuck with me.

‘I invest in myself,’ Jared said.

I thought about this for a while, and ended up thinking about it for days on end.

“Do I invest in myself?” I pondered.

Of course I do, I thought.

I spend money on stuff that I think improves my quality of life.

But as I thought more and more about what I’ve spent my money on in the last year, I must admit…. it was not pretty.

5 Things I’ve Spent most of my money on in 2008

1. A 37″ Samsung Widescreen LCD TV
2. Multiple flights for trip abroad, including one business class ticket to Asia
3. A holiday to the Carribean
4. Minimally 4 star hotels
5. Other hobbies and vices that yield very little return in the long term

As I wrote them down (now), I am sat here, shaking my head.

Talk about countless hours wasted on watching movies and TV shows on my huge TV, which I could have spent to develop my business instead, or in building relationships.

And business class flights? I know at least 3 multi-millionaires who fly economy.

And expensive hotels… for the 8 hours I sleep in it, is it really worth it?  And of course, we all have vices, but not alot in return for the initial ‘investment’.

All this cash spent could have instead been used to invest in my business and in growing it.

But I don’t do it.

In fact, when I start spending money on things that yields me good long term returns, I even occasionally get ANGRY or FRUSTRATED.

Why We Don’t Like To Invest In Ourselves

My suspicion is that I am simply too focused on looking for INSTANT GRATIFICATION.

For example, I spent over $500 in meals in 5 days recently in the USA.

I was pretty pissed off about it.   I mean, $500 in 5 days on FOOD?  That’s retarded.

(Then another $300-$500 in gifts… but we won’t even go there.)

But the reality was…. it was a investment long term.

Mostly, taking people who have helped me better my life out for meals.  People who have invested in me, and my success and future.

And to me, the value I am getting from these relationships is worth alot more than the $500 or so I spent on taking them out for a nice meal or two.

On the other hand, I probably spent $1,000+ on my TV (even thought it was on sale!), and further ridiculous sums of money on other stuff that yield little return.  And I do so without blinking an eye.

Why?

I think the human brain evolved over decades, to look for a way that gives us INSTANT PLEASURE.

It doesn’t help that we live in an information age.

It must be some weird survival mechanism.

But truth is, I know it’s something I have to work on.  To change my habits and patterns, and to rewire my thinking.

Tony Robbins Says…

I was listening to Tony Robbins yesterday, and he said that WE create how we feel.

The idea is that we feel certain ways to protect our core identity.

Instead of blaming ourselves, we curse everything around us as the fault.

For example, I recently lost a $300+ camera.

I blamed it on the maid.  For stealing my camera with all my pics.  Because my roomie and I were certain it was still in the room.

I blamed it on the Sheraton LAX.  For being the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in.  Let me underline that.  They gave us a room initially with a WET carpet, billed us 3x in the first 24 hours for internet access, lost an important package delivered to me, and of course… my camera!

See, I’m doing it again.

Truth is, it’s MY fault.  I LEFT the camera in the room.

Period.

(but I will add: the Sheraton LAX IS in fact the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in.  I will underline that again!  Hotel management promised to get back to me on my camera despite numerous calls and leaving my email and they never did.  So I hope this post gets backlined to the top of Google.  How you like ‘em apples now, biatches?).

What I also discovered, was that when I had myself stuck to that mindset, all kinds of bad shit started happening.

I’m normally quite a happy, chilled out sort of guy, and things come pretty naturally to me.  I won’t go into the following 48 hours, but let’s just say it made me realise that I must in some way be responsible for causing all that was happening around me.

As soon as I STOPPED and interrupted my state, and immediately changed my PHYSIOLOGY and my THINKING, life was good again.

It’s still not going to make me feel any better, but at least by taking responsibility for something I did, and MOVING ON, it freed some weird ‘law of attraction’ type thing going on.

I digress.  Going back to the point of his post….

INVEST IN YOURSELF

Writing all this down, I realise there’s a few shifts in habits that will have to occur in order for me to change.

I’m getting there slowly.  Before I travelled out here, I’ve sold my LCD TV.  It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done.  I mentioned this in my list of ‘25 things you may not know about me‘.

Right now, I’m here in Panama, on a ticket that costed under $280 round trip.  And while I’m having a good time, the trip is actually mostly work/business related, so I’m getting some stuff done, too.

I’m also going to start focusing on hobbies that actually give me better investment returns.  Skills and assets that no one else can take away from me.

And here’s a list of a few things that I think I can focus on redirecting my money, time  and energy towards this year.

5 Things I plan to invest in this 2009:

1. My health: I whine and complain about a $50 gym membership.  But the outcome is to have an amazing physique.  And I know it’s possible to achieve this in under 6 months.  It’ll be around a $1k investment, along with good food/diet, and a membership.  But more importantly, it’s diverting one hour a day which I previously spent watching TV or doing something pointless to this.

2. A new skill: I recently obtained NLP/Hypnosis certification, and that made me feel really good (train with the BEST in the world: conversational-hypnosis.com) I have also always wanted to Sky Dive, or learn Scuba Diving.  I also want to learn Hip Hop or Boxing.  I also thought about starting to sing again, or do magic again.  I could start taking weekly lessons.  In fact, if I aim to get a certificate that allows me to teach these one day, it would be a great investment.  That’s what Jared is doing, and I know it’s a very smart and wise thing to do for many reasons.  It will be a steep learning curve, but certainly more intellectually stimulating that stupid hobbies and vices that yield little in return.

3. My business:  I’m already well on my way to being a minimalist, and selling stuff.  I even changed my blog design to reflect that minimalist feel (if you haven’t noticed!).  In terms of my business, I will focus on long term growth vs short term cash.  However, the past few months have been pretty great, and I am excited by where this is all going.

4. Relationships:  I am lucky to have some amazing friends and mentors, and I should continue to embrace this and invest in the synergistic relationship.  My girlfriend has also been so amazing to support me through thick and thin.  I hope to continue to be able to contribute to these relationships for as long as they last, and return the value I have been given many times over.

5. A new language: I am well on my way to learning my 5th language now, Spanish.  I previously thought it would be expensive to have 1-1 lessons, but if I can locate a good teacher that can get me up to speed in 20-30 hours / week during my next 4 weeks here in Panama to being close to basic conversational fluency, then I think it would be worth every penny.

Feel free to share yours in the comments below.

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