One Key to Being Better Than Everyone Around You
The best investment you’ll ever make in your life.
When a job opportunity has opened, employers often look for the best candidates available.
Now, if you’re applying for a basic job or a small company, it can be easy to get the position — just conjure up a resume, throw in some references, and send it off.
If only it were that easy.
The problem comes in when you want to take the next step in your career. Bigger companies which receive thousands (if not millions) of job applications each year want nothing to do with just another “Average Joe”.
They need the finest people — those who make the best decisions, develop the hottest products on the market, and help generate the most revenue.
This means they look for university degrees, outstanding work experience, and glowing recommendations.
As a result, if you want to be the chosen one, you’d better have a hell of a good application.
Alright— challenge accepted. So how do you become the best of the best?
Start Self-Investing
We’ve all heard about investing into stocks, Bitcoins, homes, and vehicles, but investing in yourself can really be life-changing.
Self-investment involves dedicating your time, resources, efforts, and money to improve your life, making yourself an overall better person — the objective is to make you more likely to succeed in life.
You get smarter to make better decisions, you learn new skills to open more opportunities, and thus you increase the likelihood of landing your desired job.
I’ve come are four killer ways you can go about investing in yourself to help you get on the right path.
1. Books
Books are like a fountain of knowledge. As you read, your brain immediately turns the words into an understanding of the most complex or abstract ideas.
Therefore, reading is like drinking from that fountain of knowledge.
By reading just several well-written books by reliable experts, you can become more knowledgeable about a topic than most people could ever imagine.
Books allow you to deepen your expertise of a topic, or they help you discover knew topics that make you a more well-rounded individual.
Either way, you effectively separate yourself from the rest of the pack.
A quote from Dr. Seuss nicely sums up the benefit of reading:
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
So, whether paperback or hardcover, kindle or PDF, never hesitate to spend a few bucks on books — you probably won’t find a better fountain of knowledge anywhere else.
2. The Internet
If you compare the present day to, say, 100 years ago, many things will have changed — societal standards, opportunities in life, and so on.
One of the factors initiating so much change is the rapid development of new tech, notably the Internet, which has become quite a major part of our lives.
(After all, you’re reading this article via the Internet.)
So, take full advantage of all that you can get “at your fingertips”.
There are seemingly infinite resources that will help you gain knowledge, learn skills, and practice your craft.
YouTube videos, websites, and apps that can literally teach you anything. There are online courses about whatever topic you might think of.
But remember: self-investment doesn’t only apply to consuming content, but also content creation — the Internet is the perfect way to show-off what you’re capable of.
You can create websites, write blogs, or provide valuable services like tutoring or video editing.
Putting yourself out onto the Internet not only develops and refines your skills, but also demonstrates to people (who might be future employers) that you’re not an “Average Joe”.
3. Meaningful Hobbies
If becoming a more successful person than everyone around you is very dear to your heart, then don’t treat your hobbies as solely a pleasurable leisure.
Rather, treat them as yet another opportunity to develop yourself and widen the gap between you and “everyone else”.
Thus, when self-investing, pursue meaningful hobbies that are both fun and profitable.
Profitable hobbies are not necessarily profitable in terms of money — the main focus are hobbies profitable in terms of self-development and creating opportunities.
“Great minds must be ready not only to take opportunities, but to make them.”
The focus on meaningful hobbies is to further refine your best skills, improve your worst skills, and make connections with people.
For example, many individuals struggle with public speaking. If you’re one of those people, then place yourself in situations that allow you to practice public speaking, like by doing more presentations or joining an organization.
Volunteering work and sports are excellent examples of hobbies that help you develop strong leadership skills and meet new people, both of which are crucial to success like landing a great job.
Just remember: the more people you connect with, the greater the chance that one of those people is connected with an employer searching for capable job candidates like yourself.
So invest in the hobbies that will be the most beneficial— make your downtime a productive downtime.
4. Health
Although investing in health might be the most tedious of all these self-investments, it’s arguably the most important.
Imagine that you’re reviewing a new phone, perhaps like Marques Brownlee. On paper, it has specs that are higher than any other flagship.
That makes you think, “Ah, this must be a good phone.”
But upon using the phone, you find out that it’s awful. Infinite software glitches, background apps that eat up the storage, and absolutely no compatibility with your AirPods.
No!!!
You wouldn’t keep that phone any more, would you? What good are the specs if the phone doesn’t work?
If that analogy holds true, then what good is a fantastic resume if your health is non-existent?
Even if your resume lands you the best job you’ve ever dreamed of, poor health will simply make you suffer. You’ll burnt out quickly and you’ll get over-stressed, which may lead you to losing the job.
As I’ve explained in this article and that article, it’s crucial to maintain good health — poor health is simply incompatible with long-term success.
Buy a gym membership and hire a personal trainer to stay active. Join a sports team, eat healthy, force yourself to sleep adequately and consistently.
Although investment in books, the Internet, and meaningful hobbies develop your skills and capabilities, investing in your health is what keeps you chugging along the road to success.
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So what are you waiting for?
Use your time, resources, and money to self-invest and make yourself a smarter, more capable, and happier individual.
Self-investment done well is the way to separate yourself from the rest of the competition.
And when you manage to separate yourself from everyone else, the opportunities are endless.
It’s truly life-changing.
