I recently had an intimate conversation with a billionaire. And by intimate conversation, I mean I heard Warren Buffet being interviewed on a nationally broadcast, sports talk show, to millions of listeners. However, what he said in the brief interview was very profound. Of course, I guess anything a billionaire has to say would be, for the most part, rather profound. At the end of the interview, ESPN personality, Mike Greenberg asked him this question, and probably one that he has been asked countless times: “What is the one piece of advice you could give to us”?
Without a single pause, Warren Buffet responded with this statement: “Invest in yourself”. Well, there you have it folks! We’re all one step closer to being billionaires! That would actually probably be dangerous, because many of us couldn’t handle that type of wealth…but I digress…
Powerful. Simple. Yet so true. Here is a man, 83 years old I believe, that sounds like a man in his 50s, super sharp, mentally showing no signs of aging, and his advice to all of us is to do something, that we can all do! Invest in ourselves!
I went through a stretch several years ago, when I thought I was doing the right thing…dare I say the noble, honorable thing…by not investing in myself. My typical excuse for not staying in good shape, and keeping my weight under control was, “I’m just trying to be a good dad and husband, that’s just sacrifice”. Well, I’ll have to reluctantly admit now, that I wasn’t doing my family any favors, because I wasn’t taking the time, no, let me rephrase, I wasn’t making time, to invest in myself (physically).
So, I had to figure out a way, and it’s been somewhat of a difficult journey (and I certainly haven’t reached my goals yet), to invest in myself. The fact of the matter is, in order for me to fulfill my obligations and duties as a good dad and husband, I have to invest in myself, but not at the expense of my loved ones. After all, if my health continued to decline, and I killed over with a heart attack, clearly I would be of no good use to my family! So, in order for me to stay active, play basketball, hit the gym, etc., the only way that this could be accomplished, was for me to sacrifice a little thing called sleep and get up early to do these things before my loved ones woke up from their slumber! Check out Jon Acuff’s book called “Start” and he will help to unpack this for you a little.
So today, what can you start, that will help you to effectively invest in yourself?
- Schedule a date night with your spouse
- Plan a vacation with your spouse and children
- Start eating healthier
- Establish a reasonable workout regiment
- Download a book to read
- Make sure you have a daily quiet time
- Check off that overdue item on your to-do list
- Ask someone that you have hurt to forgive you
- Write someone, that you have disconnected from, with a letter or send them a nice card
I hope that you will learn from me…what I learned from a billionaire.
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