Your Main Investment

There are a lot of things out there that are wanting your attention. From kids’ programs, debt collectors, mortgage payments, charities, and anything in between, they all seek for your help. Work calls on you night and day to be on top of your game, to meet the requirements of the clients, deadlines, and sales goals. Children call for your attention to be the best parent on the planet. Your spouse calls on you to be excellent.

But what about you? What do you call on yourself to be?

It is so easy to fall as a victim of someone who is overworked and underpaid. It is so easy to put others’ needs in front of your own. We call it valiant. We call it being a man, a hero, a parent, a servant.

I think that this concept is a lie that we are led to believe. We call ourselves valiant but lead a life that is miserable. Instead of taking the time to find out our intense passions and what we really want to do to experience true freedom, we settle for a 9 to 5 job that pays the bills, makes the minimum payment, and allows the family a little bit of social time.

We wonder why 50% of marriages end in divorce; we wonder why our kids struggle with their emotions or schooling. We wonder why there is no trust between our kids and ourselves in their teenage years.

I wonder about if we were truly free.

If we were truly free, I would want to wake up in the morning and take a walk with the family. I would feel the brisk morning air fill my lungs and chills run up my spine when I initially walk out the front door. I may have to warm up a little by bouncing or jogging in place. On the walk, my wife and I would talk about how beautiful each day is, and we’d talk to our children about the important things in life. We would finish our walk and come in and make a nice breakfast, make plans for the day, and execute those plans. In the end, we would be a family unit; we would not be a coexisting unit that gets together when we can between events. The family would be the priority rather than the leftover.

I would make goals and complete them.

How do we get to the point so that we experience freedom? We have to invest in ourselves. Today, I took an important step in investing in myself. I have just hired a life coach to talk to me on the phone for 20 minutes one morning during the week. This coach is going to keep me accountable for living up to my potential. He is a fantastic listener. He cares and loves the human race. I’ve known him for a long time, and it’s great to have someone like him on my side.

What about you? What is the next step for you?

Do you need to get rid of an addiction? Do you need to start a new habit? Do you need to begin listening to podcasts or audiobooks on the way home to improve where you want to be in life? Do you need to find time to go to the gym?

I encourage you to invest in yourself. Others depend on you to be the real you; in that case, you need to be the best you that you can possibly be. You will be happier when you make the step to care for yourself. In caring for yourself, you learn how to properly care for others. If you don’t invest in yourself, how will you learn to invest in others?

I hope that this post motivates someone out there. Let me know.

Thanks for reading.