Having the motivation to invest in yourself

Over the last month or so I’ve thought a lot about motivation and how it affects our lives. We most commonly hear about being motivated right around the beginning of the new year as everyone is starting over in their lives and creating for themselves a “new me”. What’s funny about this, is that as human beings we struggle with motivation daily Just to accomplish the basics such as getting up on time when the alarm goes off, to doing things like going to the gym or eating healthy.  Most of our New Year’s resolutions actually focus mainly around these basic things which all involve creating better habits to make ourselves healthier and happier. The other day I heard a statistic on the radio that right around this time of year or 21 days after the New Year has started about 75% of us have already failed the resolutions we have set forth for ourselves. This is why it is so common to see gyms across the country filled with people the first few weeks after January 1st but just a few weeks later it is back to business as usual. It all comes down to losing motivation.

This blog itself is a perfect example of losing motivation. Myself and Gabe who you may have forgotten was a part of this blog, both started with a fire in our bellies (no pun intended) to really make this blog successful and spread the word about financial independence. Initially it started out with three posts per week and multiple social media posts per day which Gabe was 100% responsible for as I had no idea how social media worked. As time went on we both started to lose some of that FIRE and thought starting a podcast would help us get interested again. We did four episodes and learned that the editing process of making a podcast is not easy especially when you have other life obligations like a full time job.  Doing this whole blog thing started to become hard and we let it overcome us.

Gabe and I both became weak and started to lose interest for a variety of reasons. In the meantime I have tried to write an article here and there and find myself typing one out today after going a month without posting. This is a little embarrassing and there are some other reasons behind it due to other life events, but it mainly comes down to the fact that I just didn’t stay motivated. I let the ideas of weakness pop into my head and take over my drive to help others on their financial paths in life. 

I’ve been watching a lot of David Goggins lately, and if you don’t know who he is please google his name or watch the Joe Rogan Podcast episode(s) in which he is a guest. This man is the pinnacle of having mental toughness and strength and he pushes himself everyday both physically and mentally in ways almost no other human being does. Goggins is a former navy seal, ultra marathon runner, motivational speaker, and world record holder for physical challenges like doing 4,030 pull ups in 24 hours. Goggins points out in many of his speeches that as human beings we are just plain weak. We don’t focus enough on our mental toughness which in return causes us to be fat, lazy, in debt, and living in regret for not accomplishing the things in life that we set before ourselves. 

In the past month this got me motivated to go after something hard that I’ve failed at time and time again….. Learning Spanish.  As of right now I am one week into a 2 month intensive program which requires two hours of my time 5 days per week. I will get more into this program in a later article so stay tuned. 

What I see this Spanish program as, is an investment in myself. After deep thought and thinking about these New Years resolutions, I have come to the conclusion that we simply need to start thinking about investing more in ourselves and keep it as basic as that. Investing in yourself is one of the most rewarding things you can do and it encompasses so many different things such as learning new hobbies or skills, obtaining more knowledge on a subject that your interested in, learning an instrument, being a better parent, traveling, learning a new language, becoming healthier, and the list goes on and on. 

This list is very similar in fact to the things I want to achieve through financial independence. Financial independence is a gateway to self investment because it  gives you the time and freedom to stop worrying about investing in stocks and bonds or paying off debt, and the opportunity to invest in the most important thing which is yourself. 

So as I continue to struggle with motivational issues when it comes to many things in life such as writing blog posts, eating healthier, working out, and as of right now continuing to work each day on learning a new language, I challenge you to look at your life and point out the areas in which you are mentally weak. I challenge you to embrace the struggle of doing things that are hard and go after them with everything you got. Remember that nothing good in life comes easily and that our time to accomplish our goals is limited.

Oh, and because this is a blog mainly focused on the money, don’t forget to save, invest, and eliminate your debts. These are the foundational steps of beginning to invest in yourself and I will repeat them over and over. 

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more articles soon, 

Matt