Making Personal Investments

You folks are familiar with financial investments. If you're saving up for retirement, then you're making financial investments. If you're saving up for college, for a new car, for a new house, or for a ridiculously expensive wedding, then you're making financial investments.

The good thing about making investments is that the reward would be big! The bad thing about investments is that you won't get to enjoy that reward right away. It might take several years for you to enjoy your investments. In the case of retirement, it could take 30 years or more for you to enjoy your investments. But when retirement comes and you see all the money you've put away (plus any added interest), then you'd feel like a kid in a toy store with a credit card that has no limits!

So, we understand the importance of financial investments. But, do we understand the importance of personal investments?

As I've mentioned previously, I'm studying several languages all at once. I'm strengthening my Spanish skills, but I'm learning Brazilian Portuguese and Arabic all from scratch. At the moment, I have absolutely no need to learn any additional languages. Thankfully, I speak English, which is the world's number one trade language. You could go in almost any country in the world and you'd find at least one person who speaks English. So, there is no push to learn any other language. But, how many opportunities could I open up if I learn just one additional language? Or how about this question: how many doors will remain closed because I only know one language?

So, I'm learning these languages little by little everyday with no rush to be fluent in them. I won't get the joy of utilizing any of these languages right away. But ten years will come quickly, and by that time, I could master at least three languages. When that time comes, I could be flooded with more opportunities than I could handle. Right now, I'm just learning bits and pieces. In ten years, who knows, I could be making one million dollars per language.

See, we don't think so much about our DISTANT future. Yes, we do think about tomorrow, next week, next month, and even next year. We don't think so much about ten or twenty years down the line. Yes, it's possible that you'd be dead by then. But it's also possible that you'd live much longer than you thought you would, and you don't want to arrive at your distant future unprepared.

Whenever you exercise, you're making a personal investment. If you keep on exercising, then in twenty years, you'd be much better off than you would be if you don't exercise now. While in EMS, I've been to plenty of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. I see what can happen to folks who do not invest in their bodies at a young age. Yes, sometimes tragic events happen at no fault to these residents, but for the most part, these residents could have arrived at their distant future with the ability to walk, run, play, and be independent. When you don't invest in yourself, you'll be unprepared in 30 or so years.

While teaching a CPR class at a military base, one of the students joked about having several stints put into his heart because of heart attacks. The doctor even told him that the next time he has a heart attack, he would have to cut his chest open and do some serious surgery. To the student, he's unconcerned. He just wants to enjoy his life. Well, he gets to enjoy life now, but ten years from now, he could be put on the list for a heart transplant if he keeps fooling around. Instead of "enjoying life to the fullest," he needs to start taking actions to invest in his health so he could keep his heart ten years from now.

It's easy to think about financial investments. It's harder to think about personal investments. We're so caught up in putting money aside to pay off debt that we don't think about putting money aside for personal growth. We're so focused on getting a new house and making sure our retirement savings are good that we neglect to wonder if we'd be in any shape to enjoy those financial investments.

Right now, your choices are either personal investments or personal neglects. If there's an opportunity to exercise and you decide not to take it, that's neglect. If there's an opportunity to learn something new and you decide to ignore it, that's neglect. If there's any opportunity that could move you from Point A to Point B and you decide to bypass it, that's neglect. When you neglect making personal investments, then you'd be stuck at Point A until you decide to invest in yourself -- and hopefully, it won't be too late.

Think about every choice that you make as either bringing you forward or keeping you where you are. If you're tired of where you are, then make the choices to bring you forward. Invest in yourself. You could have zero dollars in the bank, but if you've made enough personal investments in yourself, you could bring that bank back to life. But a bank account with lots of zeros can't do squat for your personal well being. When the doctor says that you only have three months to live, no amount of cash in the world could change that. If the judge sentenced you to life because of a bad choice you've made, you can't write a check big enough to reverse that decision.

Invest in yourself! Do things that would make you better in the future. Let the choices you make today increase your chances of having a brighter future.