The definition of investing is to expand money with the expectation of achieving a profit or material result by putting it into financial plans, shares, or property, or by using it to develop a commercial venture.
When people hear that they think of money and the stock market. Maybe real estate and buying houses. But when I think of investing the most important currency come to mind… Time. Where you invest your time can have significantly more impact than where you invest your money. So, what are you investing your time in? Everyone has time, what are you spending yours on?
The words free time are used when referring to the spare moments between work or the buys ins and outs of life. However free it is anything but. When you call it free time it becomes devalued, no time is truly free. The time you use today cannot be recovered tomorrow. When you do find spare moments in life, make use of it. I to will find myself scrolling on social media aimlessly and jump at the realization that I am indeed wasting time, time that could be use much more productively. Instead of continuing to follow the memes, ill switch over to a news article, exercise description, or research an investment opportunity. You can still relax while staying productive.
Warren buffet is a famous investor, my favorite quotes of his is “By far the best investment you can make is in yourself”. That does not mean to spend money of yourselves but rather invest the time to make yourself the best you can.
How do you do that?
From the experience I have, looking inwards is the first step. Knowing where to put energy and where to spend the time. If you choose to spend time yourself but spend it on the phone, it may have been a bad investment of time. You may have gotten the quick moment of enjoyment, but unlikely attained anything useful in the long term. Rather if you took that same time and used to research a new subject of interest, you could begin to expand your skill set. With enough time spent leaning something new you can acquire a new skill. The more skills you have the more opportunity you will have.
The only key ingredient missing is aim. Without proper aim you will risk wasting time, and time is more valuable than money. Even with all the skills in the world if you don’t have a set goal, you risk spinning your tiers.
What does investing mean to me?
The willingness to invest time into yourself.
The ability to self-assess where you as an individual have room for improvement.
Spend time in those areas to build up the weaknesses and acquire new skills.
Direct your aim to utilize the skills to propel yourself further in life.