Suppose you were to take all the money you spent on developing yourself over one year, and you matched that against your yearly income. What percentage of the income would you be dedicating to YOU. To improve yourself - technical skills, mental health, exercise, diet, and anything related to you being improved.

For clarification, developing yourself expenses are courses, books on improvement, online learning - not, I bought lunch for my mate as he helps me think clearly and always brings the best out of me. If you treat your shrink to lunch, then chalk that up for development as long as it is strictly business.

When you do the calculation, does it match your other budgets, or are you shortchanging yourself? Even if it is a rough count, what does it tell you? 

You now have sight of that expenditure. Do you think you should have a budget for your self-development going forward, and if so, how much?

This is not for me to answer but for you to think about. (but the answer I am looking for is yes, and it should be a good chunk of my hard-earned cash)

My suggestion is that you make a budget. I dare you. Take one hundred bucks a month and allocate it as the budget for your development. This money can come from your other budgets or from a reduction of your daily wastage spend. What I mean by that is the money you spend on your fancy coffee, cake or extra bits a lunch. That in itself would cover the monthly budget of one hundred bucks.

So allocate that money at the start of the month and then get set to track it as you utilise this investment in YOU fund. 

But wait a minute, before you spend anything, take this approach.

  • Whatever you don't spend on development, you must put it into an indexed linked investment scheme. So if you only spend 30 bucks this month, then 70 bucks is put into the investment plan. Get it?
  • You must evaluate each purchase by reflecting on what you got in return for your investment in your personal development. Do some decent reflection, like, write a recap of the course or a book review of the book you finished.
  • Have a long term plan of what you are working towards. It does not have to be exact, but know that you are building the learning towards a greater good for YOU. You are filling that fountain of knowledge in YOUR head for YOU and if YOU improve then everything and everyone around YOU will improve. It has a halo effect.
  • If you are off track and what you are learning is not for you, course correct. Pause or stop what you are doing and move in another direction. Accept that what you have spent is a sunk cost and get clear on that experience that it is not for you and why.
  • Look for the free stuff. There is a wealth of free things on the internet that you can use to help you grow. Why would you not take advantage of that?

Remember, you are balancing a budget, and it is a win-win situation. You develop yourself, you win. If you save some money in the process while developing yourself, and you invest it, you win. What is not to like here?

So why would you not look for the freebies on the internet and beyond. I would point out the obvious here... in the budget and development situation. When you grab hold of the free stuff and manage well within your budget, you are quids in. 

You have to think of it in this way...

IT IS FREE MONEY.

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