10 Simple Investments of Time and Energy You Can Invest in Yourself
I tend to view a good life as a life full of good investments. If you use your resources wisely (money, time, energy, etc.), They will give you back much more value in return.
This post was originally published on The Simple Dollar .
Very often we think of investments as dollars invested and spent. If you put $ 10,000 in an investment with an average return of 7% per year, how much will you earn in 10 years? Is it better to pay taxes on this money now , when you invest it, or when you start withdrawing later?
This is great, of course, but I like to think of investment in a broader sense. For me, investment is when you spend some resource – money, time, energy, goods, personal capital, etc. – and get something in return for this resource – money, time, energy, goods, personal capital, etc. In a word, almost everything that we do in everyday life can be viewed as a kind of investment.
It actually started with a conversation with my children, where I explained to them that some of the things you do in life have at least some value that comes back to you later, and that the best things in life usually happen when you reap the rewards for doing a lot of this, and you can live in the present moment on the crest of this wave. I will conclude with an example of this.
However, first, I want to share with you a list of 10 of my favorite “investments” that I think give me the most bang for the buck on what I put into them in my life. All this is associated with the expenditure of some resource that I have, but the benefit that I get from spending this resource far exceeds the cost.
Investment # 1: Sleep well without being woken up by an alarm clock
The best night to sleep is when you go to bed and fall asleep until your body decides it will recharge and wake you up naturally. This is almost the opposite of a busy person’s sleep patterns, which usually include not getting enough sleep and waking up with an alarm that disrupts normal sleep patterns.
Cost: The cost of this is lost in the last hour or two of your day. This is usually the time when you are very tired anyway and are not doing anything particularly productive. You may be missing out on time to watch TV shows or something, but this is the time when a lot of people fall asleep on the couch or do some household chores with very low performance.
Benefit: After a day or two of adaptation, you feel significantly better in terms of energy levels, awareness and clarity of thought. I describe it this way: I swapped 18 hours of waking a day for 16 hours with almost double the energy and clearer thinking. You will also lose that unhappy feeling of hearing anxiety goes away when you are not actually ready to wake up yet, which means the days start a little better.
Investment # 2: Spend some time away from home to do something wherever you travel
I often go for a walk with headphones in my ear, listening to a podcast or audiobook. I go outside, let the sunlight hit my cheeks, arms and hands and just move. I just walk around the block at a steady pace, admire the environment, and then return home half an hour or an hour later, usually absorbing some of that podcast or audiobook, and I feel so much better. If I can afford it, I’ll go to the park and take a short walk in the woods instead – it will take more time, but pay even higher dividends.
Why? There are a number of factors. A small amount of sunlight each day is very beneficial for your health, as it promotes the natural production of vitamin D and a good balance of serotonin in the body. Light exercise is also incredibly beneficial – serotonin levels rise here, but there are many additional biochemical and psychological benefits. Here are just a few of the benefits. You can also spend this time learning and keeping your mind active.
It’s even better if you really have an outdoor challenge! Get down to business! Trim your yard. Rake up the leaves. Clean out the gutters. Trim the hedge. Plant something. Detail your car. Anything that makes you go out and move a little every day is good.
Cost: It burns up 30 minutes or an hour when you could be doing something else. If something else is more valuable to you, then you will have to pay for its choice.
Benefit: As noted in the article above, there are tons of biochemical and psychological benefits. Vitamin D production, improved vision, serotonin production, improved sleep patterns, mental health benefits, and the raw weight loss and muscle building benefits of exercise are all part of it. To summarize, you will feel better in almost every way, especially if you do so in a natural way, and it will bring some long-term health benefits as well.
Investment # 3: Eat simple but varied meals, mainly fruits and vegetables
There are many studies and theories on this topic, but there are a few important things that everyone agrees on: eat a variety of foods, make most of them fruits and vegetables, and try to eat mostly unprocessed foods. The debate about whether to avoid wheat, carbohydrate levels, etc. is endless and constantly changing, but these basic rules seem to remain largely unchanged. So stick with them.
It’s not very difficult. Just eat something new with every meal. Switch a lot. Try new things occasionally to expand the flavor. Make sure you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. You also don’t need to eat what you hate. Try to avoid overcooked or processed foods like fast food or ready-made frozen meals, but you don’t have to go to absurd steps to do so.
Cost: I find it hard to think about cost here. I suppose you can’t endlessly repeat one or two of your favorite dishes? This can lengthen the cooking time if you rely primarily on takeout or fast food.
Benefit: Consumer Reports summarizes the benefits very well: lower blood lipids and higher levels of short-chain fatty acids in the gut, leading to a lower risk of heart disease, inflammatory disease, and type 2 diabetes. There is strong evidence for improved brain health with a varied diet that also includes fish. In other words, you will feel better and think better in the short term, which will dramatically improve your long-term health outcomes.
Investment # 4: Apologizing for a Mistake, Not Shifting the Blame
Think back to the last time you heard a blatant excuse from someone who made a mistake and didn’t want to take the blame or the consequences. Did it make you think of this person above? How about the last time someone sincerely apologized for a mistake and put it right on their shoulders? What did you think of this person?
Now transfer these feelings and imagine that you have made this mistake. Your decision about whether or not to apologize for their mistake will determine how they treat you. Will they feel the same way you do when they witness someone clearly shifting money? Or will they feel the surprise and respect you get when someone sincerely apologizes for their mistake and tries to fix the situation?
Cost: Difficult to do. It is very difficult to admit that we have made mistakes in front of others. It is much easier to simply shift the blame onto yourself or throw it all on its own. Apologizing for a mistake you made requires suppressing pride and can have consequences for the mistake you made, although the penalty is usually significantly reduced if you apologize honestly.
Benefit: respect. A lot of that. Almost everyone has a tendency to gain respect for someone who admits a personal mistake or failure and asks what they can do to solve a problem, especially when they do it sincerely and directly, without even hinting at shifting responsibility. Nearly every relationship in your life will develop in a better direction if you apologize for a mistake rather than hand it over, even if you don’t see it on the surface. This respect is the foundation of a strong relationship. People who respect you will help you in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, and you will earn that respect through simple actions with a strong character, such as apologizing for your mistakes.
Investment # 5: genuinely listen to and respond to people
People love to be listened to. People love to be appreciated. People love to be remembered. People like to feel important. When you can do it for people, they like you. Period.
It’s not even hard to do. All you have to do is listen to someone when that person speaks. Don’t stand there and think about what you want to say next. Just listen. Focus on what they have to say, try to understand it as best you can, and ask clarifying questions to encourage them to expand on anything that is not clear.
When you do this, the person you are listening to and with whom you are talking will naturally be pleasant to you. They will appreciate your presence. They usually start asking what you think about this. They will respect you a little and tend to respect you more.
Price: It takes time to just listen to someone. It also means that you will not be able to bring as many of your own thoughts into the conversation as you would otherwise, although when you do contribute, that contribution is of great value.
Benefit: It strengthens almost all of your personal relationships. Listening is like magic for strengthening relationships. It also helps your reputation. Moreover, you often learn quite a lot about things when you listen rather than talk, because people give out a lot of useful information during a conversation.
Investment # 6: Living in a Place with Easy Access to Work, Food and Social Connections
If you live close to your workplace, you can walk or cycle to work, which alone pays for the second investment above. Plus, it’s much cheaper than owning and driving a car. You can even potentially give up the car. If you live next to a good bargain grocer and, even better, your social connections, the same functions are repeated. You are investing less time and money in the places you need and want to visit. This is a huge thing.
Price: You may have to ditch some of the other elements of what would be an ideal place to stay. This could mean less living space or floor space that is not ideal for you. You may have slightly higher housing costs, depending on where your workplace is actually located.
The advantage: you reduce travel costs. You reduce the time spent on tasks such as commuting to work and getting food. You reduce the time you spend with friends. You are cutting your social spending because it becomes much easier to just hang out in each other’s houses or apartments. Simply put, this choice can save you a lot of money and time.
Investment # 7: Keeping a Journal of Your Concerns
Whatever aspect of your life you are struggling with, the time spent seriously assessing the problem, figuring out its true source, and then developing a plan to fix the source of the problem is incredibly valuable time. It costs you next to nothing but paper and ink, and can help you solve or eliminate all of the biggest stressors in your life.
Cost: It takes a while on a regular basis. You must be able and willing to criticize yourself.
Benefit: Reduced stress levels. Almost every major problem in your life is lessened, either by reducing the size of the problem or by reducing its impact on your life. You feel more in control of the situation and feel much more ready to deal with what might happen to you.
Investment # 8: building a mentor relationship
A mentor is simply someone who serves as an example of how to live and can help guide you along the path of life. A mentor can be a professional mentor helping you navigate your career or business, or that mentor can be a personal mentor helping you navigate your personal or spiritual life. A strong relationship with a mentor is incredibly rewarding as he becomes someone who can help you navigate your ship through rough waters and point you in the right direction at the crossroads of life.
Cost: It takes time and effort, and sometimes money, to build a good relationship with a mentor. You will want to repay the value they give you, and you can often do this by spending time and sincere conversation, although occasional errands and gifts may be appropriate. It really depends on the relationship that is developing.
The Benefit: You have unparalleled personal leadership in nearly every task in life, from career crossroads to personal challenges, from deciding on a destination to figuring out how to get out of the mess. With a mentor, it’s easier to untie every knot in your life, and it’s incredibly valuable.
Investment # 9: Developing Skills You Don’t Have But Desire
No one in the world has the complete set of skills needed to solve all the problems life throws at them. I am absolutely terrible at making conversations with strangers, for example. There are some professional skills that I would definitely like to have, like faster editing skills. I can name a dozen skills that I would like to have, but which I simply do not have.
Cost: It takes time and effort to master a skill and sometimes it also takes money when you need to hire a teacher.
Benefit: You add a new skill to your repertoire. This skill, when chosen correctly, will often serve you in your personal and professional life, allowing you to take further career steps, build better relationships, complete a wider range of tasks, etc. Of course, the benefits depend a lot on the skills acquired. In addition, the skill learning process improves your self-learning ability, making it easier to add skills further.
Investment # 10: take a day off, but make good use of it
Day off is almost always beneficial. It allows you to relax and free yourself from a seemingly endless line of responsibilities, at least temporarily. However, it’s tempting to just spend this weekend idle. There is nothing wrong with your leisure time or hobby, but this is when you actively decide to do something meaningful to yourself. Idleness is the time during which you are not doing anything meaningful to you. Choose meaningful things, be it personal affairs, hobbies, real leisure, or whatever brings you the most joy out of your day.
Cost: You lose a day that you could have devoted to other tasks.
Benefit: Relieves stress and anxiety like nothing else. It can still be quite productive, depending on which one you choose. It can completely destroy the temptation to buy something, because the desire to buy is often of unrequited desire to do something.
Use of investments
For me, the best thing life has to offer is when several of your investments pay off at once. Let me give you an example.
A few days ago, I was able to spend an afternoon playing a board game with old friends. This is the game we all know and love. I have good relationships with all of these people (investment # 5 and to some extent # 4). I rested well (attachment # 1) and felt energized, but not full and bloated (attachment # 3 and, to some extent, # 2). I felt like I was in control of most of my basic life worries (investment # 7), so I was not stressed. I spent this day at deliberate leisure with friends (investment # 10) who lived close enough that they were a frequent part of my life (investment # 6). I felt good, I had no real worries, and I was surrounded by people who I cared about doing what I liked. It was an absolutely wonderful day based on this investment.
Want another example? What about a professional one, directly related not only to my income, but also to the quality of my professional life?
In 2007, I really struggled with my life direction. I started Simple Dollar in my spare time and it was successful, but it wasn’t enough to feed my family. I have had a lot of frustrations about my main job / career; I liked people and about 20% of my work, but the other 80% killed my soul and exacerbated my family relationships due to travel and other responsibilities.
So, one day I called my mentor (investment # 8). He offered to go to lunch with me the next day, so I spent some time before collecting my thoughts (investment # 2 and # 7) and getting a good night’s sleep (investment # 1) so that I could speak to him as clearly as possible. We went to a healthy lunch (investment # 3) and a long conversation with many good questions (investment # 5). He gave me the advice I needed to hear, which was basically to make sure I had the skills I needed to start a side business (investment # 9) and then take that leap and give it my best.
This lunch changed my life. After about a year, I started working full-time with The Simple Dollar, mostly inspired by the desire to spend more time with my family, and I was very happy with the choice.
The real truth? This individual investment did not cost me dearly. I didn’t sacrifice much to get a good night’s sleep or build a good relationship. I didn’t actually sacrifice too much to develop my skills or learn to listen better.
Final thoughts
However, over and over again, the small investments I made in my life have paid off very much. These small investments of time and energy and a little money when needed have turned into some of the best days of my life, some of the best personal and professional choices I have made, some of the best personal and professional relationships I have, and so many things. Without this investment, I would not have achieved the level of personal, professional, or financial success that I am fortunate enough to achieve.
Making the right financial choice is an important step in life, but it becomes even more powerful when you combine it with the right choice for all of your resources: your energy, your time, your focus, your personal capital, and so on. Invest them all wisely and they will pay dividends far beyond your wildest imaginations.
10 Simple Investments You Can Make In Yourself To Reward Money And Time | Simple dollar