The best investments are those done for you by you. It is true because your habits and behaviors have a significant influence on your overall satisfaction and future.
Simply, your previous actions, attitudes, and decisions are major determinants of where you are contemporary. So? Invest in Yourself!
Think on these, “What investments am I making for my dream-tomorrow?! How can I invest in myself with little or no money to build that dream-tomorrow?!”
You can create a better future for yourself, however, You’ll need to reinvest in you by making intentional efforts and applying yourself in meaningful things.
This post will show you 20 cheapest ways to invest in yourself in 2022 and even more so, enable you prioritize investing in yourself subsequently.
Why Do I Need To Invest In Myself?
You own and determine your future. Yes, you! The power lies only with you. This is solely why you need to improve yourself.
Improving yourself will enable you to maximize every capacity within you to determine the trajectory of your life.
I am so sure you want that for you.
Are There Ways I can Invest In Myself Without Money?
Yes and sometimes no! “Yes” because several ways to invest in you without money abound and “No” because it’s not a progressive idea to think that you do not require money to improve yourself.
Investments are designed to be costly. Costly because they require efforts, discipline, time, etc, and these are very costly resources.
However, here are ways to improve you without money;
- Manage Your Time
- Read Books or eBooks
- Save Your Money
- Choose Your Friends Wisely
- Get Rid of Toxic Friends
- Get a Mentor
- Learn Something New and probably take a Class
- Set Goals
- Plan Your Day and Week
- Measure Results
- Exercise
- Go for Medical Visits
- Practice Healthy Activities and Hobbies
- Eat Healthier
- Stop Procrastinating
20 Cheapest Ways To Invest In yourself In 2022
Here are 20 Cheapest ways to invest in yourself in 2022:
1. Manage Your Time
It is very important to manage your time effectively because time is so valuable. Make an audit of how you generally spend your time each day to see if you are prioritizing correctly.
You may be surprised to learn that you spend too much time checking and updating your status on Facebook, looking at your phone, hitting the snooze button on your alarm and lazing in bed, watching frivolous reality TV, daydreaming, sitting in a bar, etc. Create a schedule that forces you to invest your time in the things that are most important.
2. Read Books or eBooks
Reading is a fantastic way to invest in yourself. It also is a relatively cheap activity and can even oftentimes cost nothing. With the advent of the Kindle, iPad, and Nook, it is even easier to find great reading material.
Reading regularly has tremendous benefits. It stimulates your imagination, improves your vocabulary, increases your general knowledge, helps you relax, allows you to tap into the minds of great thinkers, assists you in solving problems, and can be tremendously entertaining.
Almost all the great leaders in this world invest their time in reading great stuff.
3. Save Your Money
It is extremely important to save part of your income diligently. I suggest that you decide what percentage of your income you want to save and set it aside each month or every 2 weeks. Do not touch that money, except in extreme emergencies.
Building a nest-egg will cushion you from any unforeseen circumstances, and you will be happy that you did.
4. Choose Your Friends Wisely
The types of friends you choose to around have a dramatic effect on your own actions and behaviors. The old adage, “birds of a feather flock together” is especially true when it comes to your friends.
If you want to be successful, happy, positive, healthy, more productive, etc, make sure you associate with people who possess those attributes. Conversely, if you currently have friends who do not conform to your goals, politely get rid of them, or, at the very least, greatly reduce the amount of time you spend with them.
5. Get Rid of Toxic Friends
Having good friends is an important aspect of life. But having friends who are a positive influence is even more important.
Be discriminate when choosing your friends and get rid of the ones who are negative, problem-laden, unmotivated, and who do not care about bettering themselves.
To a large extent, you are a product of your environment and this includes the company you keep. Find friends that share your values.
6. Get a Mentor
If you are serious about investing in yourself and your future, find someone to mentor you, especially in a field you want to excel in. You will be surprised by how many experts are willing to share their knowledge and experience with you if you simply ask.
In fact, you should seek multiple mentors, each with their own skillset. Finding someone to mentor you will help you avoid unnecessary mistakes that the mentor made in the past, affords you the opportunity to learn new skills and techniques, and it will provide invaluable inspiration.
7. Learn Something New and Take a Class
You should always be learning a new skill or process. That is what successful people do constantly. They are where they are at because they are always improving themselves.
If you do not make it a point to keep learning, you are stagnant and getting left behind in a world that is constantly changing. You could enroll in your local community college, online classes, sign up for a course, attend a talk conducted by an expert, watch TED talks, etc. The possibilities are endless.
8. Set Goals
Setting goals is one of the most powerful ways to invest in yourself, yet many people neglect to do so. Setting clear goals is like looking at a map and determining your eventual destination.
It is a lot better than driving around aimlessly and hoping that you will reach a destination you like. It provides you with a clear focus and helps you decide how to spend your time.
Further, it makes decision-making much clearer. It also allows you to plan more effectively and attain amazing results.
9. Plan Your Day and Week
After you set your goals, it is important to plan how you are going to achieve them. Goal-setting is the act of deciding your destination.
Planning, on the other hand, is similar to determining how you are going to get there. It is the route you are going to take to your destination. Without planning, it is nearly impossible to achieve your goals because you will waste valuable time and other resources wandering aimlessly.
All productive people plan, so invest in yourself by doing the same. The effects are powerful.
10. Measure Results
Monitoring your progress and measuring results is an essential way to invest in yourself. Think about it: goal-setting is the destination, and planning is equivalent to deciding on the route and how to get to your destination.
Measuring results, on the other hand, is making sure you are on the right road, making progress, and deciding if there is a shorter route that you could take because of obstacles.
Let’s use an example: you establish a goal of learning to play the piano proficiently. You then plan on buying a piano, taking a class once a week with a local piano teacher, and practicing 3 days per week.
You also need to measure the results periodically to decide, for example, if the piano teacher you have hired is an effective one, or if you are practicing sufficiently or effectively.
11. Exercise
This one is a no-brainer! By exercising regularly you will be investing in a habit that creates a healthy mind and a healthy body. The benefits of exercise include disease prevention, better mood, lower body-fat and weight, increased energy, better sleep, and improved sex life. There are so many different ways to exercise so find the kinds that you find fun.
12. Go for Medical Visits
Your health is extremely important and one way to ensure that you stay healthy is by making sure you do not neglect your regular medical check-ups and visits. Whether it is your dentist or doctor, invest the time in your health by going regularly because prevention is much better than seeking a cure.
13. Practice Healthy Activities and Hobbies
One exciting way to invest in yourself is by making the effort to engage in wholesome and healthy activities, both indoors and outdoors. For example, you could kayak, hike, ride your bicycle, bird-watch, go on a picnic, visit a beach, play scrabble, do some gardening and grow your own herbs and vegetables, do yoga, etc.
All of these activities will make you healthier, teach you new skills, facilitate camaraderie and make you a more interesting person to be around. The options are endless so find things that you truly enjoy.
14. Eat Healthier
By making better food choices and paying attention to your daily nutrition, you will be much healthier in the future. You will look better, feel better, and greatly increase your chances of living longer.
Eating healthier can even affect your mood, and that affects every other aspect of your life.
Eating is an activity that most people engage in at least 3 times per day over the course of their lifetime. Learning to cook healthy and delicious food is a great skill that you can apply in your life.
Not only does it save you a lot of money, but it also is fun and can be a bonding activity between your family and friends. It also teaches you patience. You do not have to learn to become an Iron Chef.
You can learn to prepare your favorite foods at home and control the types of ingredients you use. Most prepared and restaurant foods are not healthy and include excessive fat and preservatives.
15. Stop Procrastinating
This might seem obvious, yet, most people are guilty of procrastination. Time is the most valuable asset we have because once gone, it cannot be reclaimed. While it may seem nearly impossible to completely avoid procrastinating, reducing its frequency will facilitate amazing results.
First of all, identify the most important actions you can take in your life that will lead to positive results. Secondly, reiterate the benefits in your mind and recognize how fulfilled and happy you will be if you complete the tasks at hand. Imagine as realistically as possible the feeling of having accomplished these tasks.
No matter how difficult or daunting the task at hand may be, do it anyway. Once you develop the momentum, it will get easier as you go along. When you learn to manage or conquer procrastination, it will become easier and it will develop your character.
16. Get Professional Certifications
In the modern workplace, company hierarchies are optimized by a variety of comprehensive, standardized expertise that often comes in the form of a professional-level credential.
A college degree may not be the best kind of continuing education for you in some cases. Some employers are more interested in qualifications and advanced skills.
At the very least, there are not many sectors that do not allow advanced qualifications to be earned.
As an example, take the finance industry. In the industry, most career-minded positions require a minimum of a college degree. Yet Accredited Financial Planners, with a CFP designation, are some of the most effective financial planners.
Arguably, the technology arena provides the most, and most varied, opportunities for certifications that are readily attainable.
In only a few months, certificates intended to demonstrate competence in Cisco networking, Microsoft systems, and coding languages such as Java and C++ can all be won.
In most instances, when you work a full-time job, these certificates can be protected. The expenses associated with them would also be borne by certain employers.
17. Develop a Routine
Many people do not have a proper productive daily routine despite the fact that it is very powerful. Some even have unproductive and detrimental routines. Developing a daily routine provides your life with structure. It helps to make good habits automatic and reduces your reliance on willpower. It allows you to accomplish great things with less effort.
18. Travel
Make the time and expend the effort to travel as often as you can, including internationally. Rather than spend money on ‘stuff’, save your money and use it to create travel experiences and memories.
You will learn a lot from traveling, especially outside of your comfort zone. You will learn new cultures, expose your palate to different types of food, and be immersed in a different language. It widens your perspective and makes you realize how the whole world is connected. Traveling also offers you a new and different perspective on life.
19. Start a Side Gig
The idea of a “job” has changed dramatically in just the past few years. Gone are the days when individuals clocked in at 9 a.m., worked for an employer that was trusted to remain in business, and then clocked out at 5 p.m.
Roughly one-third of U.S. workers claim they utilize “alternative work” arrangements as their primary source of income. That is, they don’t necessarily run their own businesses per se, but rather are contracted, self-employed people that rely on middlemen to connect with a stream of customers.
Think driving for Uber, completing projects through Amazon Mechanical Turk, or picking up regular work at a website like Freelancer.com. In some cases, these workers might see more income by being self-employed. But certainly, some see less.
It doesn’t have to be an either/or matter for the entrepreneurial-minded, though. Side gigs can be managed without “giving up your day job” by doing work outside of regular work hours.
The effort is arguably worth it. A recent survey performed by The Hustle found that the average side-gig operator spent an average of 11 hours per week as their own boss, and earned $12,609 per year – an average of about $22 per hour.
Real estate, management, and money-related side gigs appeared to be the most lucrative, according to the survey.
The payoff can be more than in immediate income. You can use a side gig to hone new skills or test new ideas that can be used to fuel a career shift.
SEE ALSO: How To Make Money on Social Media Fast in 2022
20. Invest Your Money
Additionally, invest your money! It is one perfect way to invest in yourself. Once you have accumulated enough savings, it is important to invest part of that in assets that will appreciate. It could be as simple as an interest-bearing savings account or mutual fund. Stocks, real estate, and commodities are also options to consider.
Diversify your investments to mitigate the risks. Investments that offer compounding interest really add up quickly if you are in it for the long haul and if you start investing early.
For example, if you are 20 years old now and decide to invest $5000 in a one-time investment that earns an 8% annual return, you will have accumulated $160,000 by the time you are 65 (and that is assuming you make no further investments)!
There are numerous online investment firms that will do the legwork for you and you can invest as little as $10 per month.
SEE RELATED: 15 Legit Ways to spend money to make money in 2022 | Expert Advice
Conclusion
Changing your values and visualizing the ideal results is one of the best ways to invest in yourself.
As much as you can, practice imagery and optimistic affirmations on a regular basis, and you will be shocked at the real strength it can unleash in you.
Most people associate too closely with their thoughts without recognizing that thoughts of themselves have little influence until they contribute to action.
Above all, INVEST YOUR EFFORTS IN YOU!
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