Personal Development
November 13th, 2006 by KenricI’ve recently added Steve Pavlina’s web page to my list of blog links. His site is about personal development. I’ve been reading his page for a few months now and have found it very educational.
Yesterday, I was read his article titled, “The Best Place to Invest Your Money”. Obviously, as an investor, the title piqued my interest. As I clicked on the article, I realized that this article was totally different from what I was expecting.
Steve says,
“The best place to invest your money is in yourself. The rate of return from investing in your own knowledge and skills will be much higher than anything you’ll see from stocks, real estate, or other investments.
In some cases you can even measure the rate of return. Say you buy a book. Even add in the cost of your average hourly rate multiplied by the time it took you to read it. Many books will be lousy. But every once in a while, you’ll get one good idea that gives you a huge rate of return. Like 10x the cost in a matter of months. This is especially true with business and personal productivity books. But often it isn’t a breakthrough idea but rather the continuous exposure to the same ideas presented in different ways that produces a steady return over time. And the results go way beyond monetary. If investing in your own knowledge finally gives you the idea you need to quit smoking, you can measure the lifetime financial savings in the cost of cigarettes, but what is the increased level of health worth to you? What is the idea that allows you to meet and connect with your future spouse worth? What is shedding 50 pounds of fat and knowing you can keep it off the rest of your life worth? What is building a career that totally fulfills you worth?”
To continue reading it, click here.
I’ve never thought about budgeting a monthly amount for increasing my knowledge. I’ve always believed we must always be learning and that we should never short change ourselves on education. I wonder how much more I would learn in a year if I did budget 3% monthly for knowledge. When we think about learning and classes we almost always think mentally. However, don’t forget the physical aspects of education. We can learn alot from it also, not to mention getting some exercise. It can be cooking lessons, dance classes, guitar lessons, martial arts, etc… Think about how you much you would learn in a year if you spend even $100 a month on books and lessons!
Posted in Personal Development | 2 Comments »
Stumble it!
This post is exactly why I got my library card. I read constantly. Between autobiographies and real estate books, I was spending way more than 3%.
More importantly, the library permits me a chance to really study a book. If it’s something I could get definite use out of, then I buy it.
By Clifford on Nov 14, 2006