In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind and overlook the value of investing in your growth.
Yet, self-development is one of the most rewarding investments you can make, shaping not only your skills and opportunities but also your confidence and fulfilment.
So, should you prioritise self-investment? And if so, how can you make it work financially and practically?
This blog delves into the strategies and insights you need to make self-investment a sustainable and impactful part of your life.
What is personal growth?
Personal growth is the process of enhancing various aspects of your life by intentionally making positive changes inspired by new insights, whether they come from within or from external experiences.
For example, after a difficult breakup, reflecting on your experiences may reveal patterns or mistakes you made during the relationship. By recognising these, you can work on personal changes that set you up for healthier, more successful relationships in the future.
Experiencing personal growth always requires some form of investment – usually time and/or money.
Here are some ways you can invest in personal growth:
- Enrol in Online Courses: Improve skills in areas like business, creativity, or personal development.
- Hire a Mentor or Coach: Get guidance tailored to your personal or professional goals.
- Read Self-Improvement Books: Gain insights and strategies from thought leaders.
- Attend Workshops or Conferences: Learn from experts and network with like-minded individuals.
- Practise Meditation and Mindfulness: Develop mental clarity, focus, and emotional resilience.
- Work on Physical Health: Exercise and nutrition directly support mental and emotional growth.
- Start a New Hobby or Language: Widen your understanding of others, and learn a useful skill.
I remember the first time I paid for therapy—I initially thought it would be a complete waste of time and money. However, I was quickly proven wrong, as I gained valuable insights into my nature and sense of self.
Not every investment in personal growth will pay off, but that’s why it’s important to diversify and invest in multiple areas. By doing so, we increase our chances of achieving a net-positive outcome. Even then, you never when a useless investment might come good.
A well-known example is Steve Jobs and his calligraphy class.
After dropping out of Reed College, Jobs enrolled in a calligraphy course simply because he was fascinated by the beauty of typography, even though it had no practical application to his life at the time.
This seemingly “pointless” interest had a profound impact years later when Jobs applied his love for type design to the first Macintosh computer, making it the first computer with beautiful typography and varied fonts.
Should You Budget for Personal Growth?
You should always budget for personal growth.
It’s essential to budget thoughtfully for everything, including personal growth. While investing in yourself can be costly, it’s important to balance these expenses with your financial reality.
Likewise, if you lead a busy life, you’ll need to allocate time for personal growth, treating it as an essential investment. We often make life choices—like going to university at 18—without fully considering them as investments.
However, for any investment to be worthwhile, its value should exceed its costs; otherwise, what’s the purpose?
A simple example of this return on investment is the way people learn how to code at coding camps.
Coding camps are initially expensive, and time-consuming, but they have helped many people transition into a lucrative software engineering career.
People who enrol in these courses have made the mental calculus that the investment is worth it.
Is Investing in Yourself the Key to Success?
Investing in yourself is at least one of the keys to success.
If you think about anyone successful in sports, business, personal relationships, and so on, it is generally clear that they have worked and invested time and/or money to get to where they are.
I’m sure if you think about people in your own life, you can recall investments they have made to improve their lives.
The two sportsmen who immediately come to mind are Cristiano Ronaldo and Michael Jordan. Both are known for relentless dedication to reach the best of their abilities.
Ronaldo’s teammates have always admired his work ethic and he is always first on the training pitch and last to leave. Whether you love him or hate him, he is certainly a great role model for aspiring young footballers to demonstrate the hard work required to reach the top.
Michael Jordan was known to have been cut from his college basketball team, and he made sure that he spent more time training – like Ronaldo, he was always first to arrive and last to leave at practice.
Now it’s almost impossible to think about basketball without remembering Michael Jordan.
Of course, these two individuals are immensely talented and have bodies suited to their sports. However, even the most talented need to be incredibly dedicated to reach the top.
Imagine if Michael Jordan and Ronaldo had just sat on the sofa and not invested any time perfecting their craft. Would they even be able to reach a professional level let alone reach the top? Probably not.
Can you go through your life investing in your craft and never get a meaningful return? Yes, at least financially this could be true.
One example who comes to mind is Vincent Van Gogh who painted throughout his life but had to be financially supported by his brother, Theo. However, we certainly cannot say that Van Gogh did not create some incredible masterpieces. He was only 37 when he died, so there is a chance that he could have potentially achieved more financial success in time. His art was well regarded by other artists at the time such as Gauguin (although they constantly argued):
“Oh yes! He loved yellow, did good Vincent… When the two of us were together in Arles, both of us insane, and constantly at war over beautiful colours, I adored red; where could I find a perfect vermilion?” (Paul Gauguin)
Van Gogh also would have benefitted from investing in self-improvement in other areas of his life as he was a difficult character and suffered from mental health issues.
Should You Have Financial Goals for Self-Improvement?
It’s essential to set financial goals for self-improvement, but it’s even more powerful to think about who you want to become beyond finances alone.
Focus on your dream version of yourself—who you’d be at your very best.
Ask yourself: if I became my ideal self, what would that look like?
This vision is a strong motivator.
While financial goals are helpful, they don’t provide the same mental clarity and focus that comes from picturing your ultimate self and striving toward that image.
An example of an area where I focused on this mental archetype of who I wanted to be was dancing. I have a distinct vision of myself as a dancer and where I want to take that. This vision is informed by people I know, my experiences and performances I’ve seen online and in person.
This vision makes me understand where to invest my time and money.
Which Areas of Growth Are Worth Your Investment?
Self-improvement is not an exact science, but there are four main areas of personal growth: professional skills, physical health, mental wellness, and hobbies.
The financial return is probably the easiest to calculate. For instance, if you invest £3000 on an accredited course, and you can earn £2,500 more per year as a result, then you’d be profiting from your decision within two or three years.
However, the mental calculus on other areas of personal growth is harder to measure. For instance, health and mental wellness have many quantifiable and unquantifiable metrics. It is, however, something that you should always consider.
These are primarily decisions where you need to think about the value proposition and nobody else can tell you what you should and should not value. Remember, cost and value are different.
If you find something that you want to improve upon, a coach or outsider may be able to provide you with constructive advice on where you need to invest your time and money.
You have to be aware that not all outside voices have your best interests at heart. Be aware of offers that seem too good to be true.
If someone is promising outsized returns for little cost, or more often, little effort, there is a good chance that it is a scam.
How Do You Balance Personal Growth and Other Expenses?
Personal growth needs to be balanced against other expenses.
You should always look after your four walls first: food, utilities, shelter, and transportation.
After this and debt, personal growth should be the first port of call in a budget.
Once you figure out your area of focus, you can begin preparing to look at the financial implications.
Simple actionable steps you can take include:
• Creating a small monthly or quarterly budget for personal growth
• Look for free or low-cost alternatives, like online classes, community resources, or library materials.
• Reallocate non-essential spending (like frequent dining out or subscriptions) to self-improvement.
What’s Your Biggest Challenge in Budgeting for Self-Improvement?
Aside from financial issues, many mental blocks prevent people from budgeting for self-improvement.
First, an obvious issue is a lack of vision about what you want to achieve.
Taking time to explore and reflect on your vision, write a blog, try new things, meditate, and go on spiritual retreats could be how you understand what you want and lack.
If you’re looking to enter a certain career, you should also conduct market research into the chosen area and establish the path to growth.
There are other ways where our circumstances form barriers to prevent us from budgeting for self-improvement.
Often, it is more related to time than money, but money may be a factor. If money is a factor, exploring free routes first and setting money aside in a budget can help someone determine if something is right for them before making a big investment.
Starting small on any self-improvement journey is also a good idea if you’re not ready to commit a lot of time or money.
If time is the main consideration, having good communication may be useful as you might have to explain to people that you will need x amount of time to do y.
Making sacrifices is a big part of achieving growth. You will have to undergo some pain to transform. Imagine having a heavy workout in the gym. Your muscles may be sore afterwards, but your muscles will get bigger with consistent effort.
Any form of growth requires some degree of discomfort.
Conclusion
Investing in yourself is worth it, but it can be challenging to find what you want to focus on, establish the best route for growth, and budget the time and money necessary for sufficient return.
Remember too, that even if you improve thousands of per cent in an area, to you the growth may be imperceptible, but to others, it will be obvious. Don’t let that imposter’s syndrome get to you.
