I work and interact everyday with Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Business Leaders who are good at what they do. But one thing I have noticed with 80% of them is that they don’t invest in themselves. They spend their time and energy on everyone and everything else – their employees, their business, their community groups, their families and friends. It’s very honorable to serve other people and I’m a huge advocate of the Servant Leadership approach. But what happens when you are giving, is that you are spending all of your emotional capital helping others improve, grow and advance themselves. These leaders rarely think about the needs they have for their own business, life, and relationships.
Years ago, I learned a very valuable lesson that I think about on a weekly basis. If the cost of the training, coaching, seminar, or book is less than the return on investment to incorporate that concept into your life, then you should strongly consider doing it. I realize there’s a time commitment to any training or self-development, so I’m not advocating for someone to do every training they come across, but you do need to focus on new approaches or concepts that can enhance your ideas, products, relationships, business approach, etc. You need to focus on differentiating yourself from everyone else who does what you do or you risk getting lost in the noise.
The world is constantly evolving and the biggest mistake you can make as business leader is to continue doing things the way we always have. If you do what you’ve always done, then you will get what you’ve always gotten. And I don’t think any of you want next year to be the same as this year – we all want growth – in ourselves, our businesses, our relationships. Because constant improvement is the key to real success. We need to hear different concepts, ways of thought and new ways to do what we’ve always done.
I strongly believe that the difference between building something good – your business, your career, your family – and building something GREAT is investing in ourselves. You are the catalyst to help everyone in our lives change and evolve, but to do that, you have to be willing to learn and evolve yourself.
So, my question for you is – what’s the last investment you made in yourself? If it’s time to think outside of the box and learn something that could transform your business or your personal life, then make the commitment to do it. The worst decision is the decision we don’t make.
Keystone Group International is an organization focused on helping your organization get the most out of their sales and improving clients’ retention process by focusing on why your customer buys. Visit our website to learn more about this market disrupting approach to changing your revenue and relationships: http://keystonegroupintl.com
