Have you taken the step to invest in yourself? Investing in ourselves is one of the most valuable gifts we can give our selves as we are so powerful – and yet many of us often under utilize our potential.

Devoting time, effort and resources in our personal development can be the most profitable and fulfilling investment we will ever make. It is a way to achieve a better quality life: to be effective and successful in whatever way we want to experience success. When we invest in both personal and professional growth, it influences the quality of our life both now in the present and in the future.

Some of the ways we can spend time developing ourselves is by focusing on enhancing our skill sets, as well as nurturing our mind, heart, body and soul.

Enhancing Personal and Professional Skills
We can develop our skills and knowledge through a variety of means and ways. These include (and are not limited to) attending trainings, workshops and education programmes as well as being trained on the ‘job,’ being mentored, watching or reading programmes or books - for example. There are numerous alternatives to improve and expand our skills. 

Nurturing Mind, Heart Body and Soul
Investing in our mind, body, heart and soul provides the opportunity to appreciate ourselves first and foremost. This means we are also in a great position to support others. We can also appreciate better health, increased energy, improved resilience, expanded knowledge, greater strength, new ideas, more creativity, and generate more love, compassion and peace. We gain so much, and these are just some examples of the benefits of nurturing our mind, heart, body and soul. We gain new empowering perspectives and can experience a fulfilling way of life.

Learning new information by reading, doing and experiencing the things which can support our mind, heart, body and soul are many and varied. They include activities such as reading, meditation, yoga, spending time with the people we love, getting coached, attending a health retreat, regular exercise, listening to empowering podcasts, walking through the country or by the sea, listening to music or playing an instrument. The possibilities are endless – as well as essential to support our well-being.
 

Tara Maxamed, an Empower World alumni, and Founder of The Flourishing Mum is an example of investing in her herself. She fell in love with coaching, which sparked a fire in her belly to stretch and change her thinking and habits. She recognised coaching - as well as diving into her own development - gave her the flexibility to also support and inspire herself and importantly be available for her three young children. 

After completing coach training, she initially invested in two coaches. Her first coach was employed to support her mindset and putting in place new behavioural strategies she knew would enhance her wellbeing. She hired her second coach to support her to start her own coaching business, adapting it around moving back to her native England (from the Middle East) and being a mum (her highest priority). 

Tara realised she wanted external support to start her business, which was very much out of her comfort zone. It was something she was inspired to do - supporting others as a profession - and to assist her family move to a new home and way of living.

“Hiring a coach was committing to going outside of everything I felt comfortable with… it stretched me financially and to do things I hadn’t even thought of before,” declares Tara. And she also says one of the best things she has ever done for herself.

As she fed her passion for expanding her knowledge and feeding her soul with things she loved, Tara learned a key idea to support her business creation: ‘confidence is learned and not necessarily something we are born with.’ And she realised by investing in herself, she could create the confidence needed to pursue her stretching goals. 

She also understood, she could take action, even if she wasn’t sure of the outcomes - and it would support her, the business and her family. New actions would create new results. And if the results weren’t as she hoped for, she could choose to learn from them and take different pathways in the future.

Learning to expand your mind, heart, mind and soul and your boundaries of habits (thinking and doing) means being on a journey of self-discovery, which is one of keys to our personal happiness as suggested by Tony Robbins (personal development expert). He also states another key to our human happiness is supporting others to grow, learn and expand. Many people find a sense of purpose in assisting others in times of challenge and opportunity.

Spending time and sometimes money on developing yourself pays off in ways you may or might not be aware of yet. For example, more and improved opportunities open up, better feeling emotions and energy, and enhanced health and well-being.

The investment in self is often (although not always) found outside of our comfort zone. And when we expand our ‘horizons,’ it can give us great quality outcomes and the inspiration to keep going and enjoy life, especially when we are aligned with our passion, purpose and values - as Tara was and continues to be.

To live a life fulfilled, here are some questions for you to consider:

Are you aware of what you truly want for you and your life?

How and what are you investing in right now which aligns with your passions, purpose and values?

What habits have you created to nurture your mind, heart, body and soul?

What are you aware of when you do invest in yourself? And based on this conscious awareness, what do you commit to doing going forward?

In summary, a commitment to yourself can change your experiences, emotions and relationships: change your life to what you want.

Be empowered.

To learn more, listen to the Empower World Coaching and Leadership Podcast, Episode 115 here.

Episode-115 can be found here: 

Direct Link: http://bit.ly/podcast-ep-115
‪#stitcher: http://bit.ly/podcast_episode_115
#itunes: http://bit.ly/EW-Podcast-iTune