Investing in yourself

Why would you not want to be better at something you do?

It's an interesting question that a lot of people still seem to overlook. Whether you're a personal trainer, lawyer, office worker, social media darling etc, why would you not want to get better at your job or at something you already enjoy doing?

In terms of your work, think about the improvements that could be made if you were better at your job - bigger bonus? bigger pay rise? promotion? generally feeling better about work?

Imagine if you're a trainer and say you do 30 sessions a week with clients. You purchase a dvd product for $100 and spend 10 hours studying it. Your hourly rate is $40. So in total the cost is $500 in time and money. Now imagine that from using this product you can get much better results with your clients and charge an extra $2 a session because you're now better at what you do. That's an extra $60 a week, or, $3120 a year. How is that for a return on investment?

In terms of fitness, if you learned more about training and nutrition you could get leaner, bigger, fitter, more ripped, become more healthy. Imagine finally getting that 6 pack, finally being able to fit into that pair of jeans you like or add 10 years to your life expectancy by better food choices.

It also really does baffle me when you try to help someone out to be better at what they do and they're not interested - especially when it is something they often complain about.

Help me out here, I truly don't understand!

For example, someone I work with always complains that they don't have enough time to do this, to do that, etc. So, I decided to lend them "Eat that Frog" by Brian Tracy. It's a fairly short, concise, easy read that gives some great information about time management, I've picked up quite a few tips from that book which I use to good effect.

I think that book must have sat unread in their drawer for 2 - 3 weeks!

I can't remember who first got me onto this idea, I think it was Dax Moy, apologies if I'm wrong! He was talking about taking 10% of your income and using it to invest in yourself - books, courses, dvd's so that you can be become better at what you do.

It was about 18 months - 2 years ago I was sold on this idea and have been investing in myself ever since. This year alone, I have invested in the following books / dvd's:

Alan Aragon Research Review
Gluteal Amnesia
Under the bar
EFS Stronger manual phase 1
EFS basic Training
Team Elitefts 2008 holiday tips
Diesel Crew Combat Core
Truth About Unstable Surface Training
Building the Efficient Athlete
IFAST seminar dvd
Ultimate back fitness book & dvd
Starting Strength and
Practical Programming.

I'll also be making quite a few purchases from amazon as well - Don't get me wrong, I haven't read all of them yet, but I'm working through them quite quickly and learning so much. That doesn't include all the articles I've read and podcasts I have listened to.

When I think about what I knew 18 months ago compared to what I know now it's unreal how much I have learnt. No doubt in 18 months time I'll say the same thing again.

Will you be able to say that in 18 months time as well or will you still be in the same situation?

If that hasn't helped to convince you to start investing in yourself, maybe this will....

I was reading some posts on http://patnickandjim.com/ and they interviewed some of the top trainers and coaches in the world asking for their top tips. I think that every single person interviewed said you need to continue reading and learning.

Just think about that for a minute - the top people in their field are all telling you to continue learning, it's a no brainer - go and do it!