As I was contemplating making 2 larger purchases that would benefit my business and where I want it to go, I was met with fear and some self doubt.
Fear to spend the money. Especially all at once. Negative thoughts crept in saying that maybe I'm getting a little carried away with my dreams lately. That putting this into the business isn't necessary because am I really going to achieve what's going in my head?
Then I started thinking about other investments I've made for myself in other areas of life and I asked myself if any of them were ever not worth it. Was there anything I ever spent money and time on where I failed and thought I should never have done that. The answer was no.
I've never once invested in myself and failed. I always achieved what I intended to do.
Here's a few personal examples of what I put money and time into that's getting me to my dream life.
Operation: Big Booty. Sorry I know that's not very therapist-ey or professional but it's something I always wanted! I wanted to be fit overall and strong too but I wanted an a$$ and I'm not ashamed to say it LOL. This began in 2018. I became a member of 2 gyms and invested in consistent personal training for a few years. It was very costly. Equivalent to a luxury car payment probably. But I showed up to every work out, trained hard with a really good trainer and got myself my the butt I wanted.
Skin care. Still to this day I don't have the courage to show my before pictures but for most of my life I struggled with horrible acne. Those that only met me in the last couple years wouldn't know but it was BAD. I tried every product in stores, nothing ever worked. I told myself I couldn't afford facials and continued using cheap products that did nothing. Eventually I had enough of caking on make up and committed to finding a way to fix my face no matter the cost. I committed to consistent facials and top notch skin care products. This is an ongoing investment and costs money, but my skin is smooth, clear and I look even younger now.
My own therapy. As I've mentioned in other blogs and on instagram, I had anxious attachment issues that I needed to get to the bottom of because it was impacting my life and relationships. I was doing all the coping skills and confidence building things while taking care of my physical health and it helped a lot, but it wasn't taking away the fact that I was anxiously attaching to every man I started dating and was allowing my whole life to get out of wack when I started seeing someone. So, I committed to healing that part of me, went back to therapy and paid full private practice rates because I knew the kind of therapist I wanted. I got to the root of my problem, worked through what I needed to and I stopped going. It wasn't a forever expense but it needed to be done and my healing was worth every penny.
Be Kind To Your Mind. Making the decision to do this and pay the start up costs was one thing. I was really nervous but I believed in myself and I know good things happen when I work hard so I went for it. Even though it's still a little baby, it's going really well and I couldn't be happier! I have additional goals for the business but all I was taught in school was how to help people so I decided to hire a business coach to guide me. Wasn't cheap but I only want the best for my biz so I'm going to treat it well! Right after investing in the coach, another learning opportunity for something I've been dreaming of doing in the distant future presented itself. I am certainly not ready to take this on yet but it's an opportunity to learn how to do it from one of the best in the game. Of course it isn't going to be offered again anytime soon, if ever. So I was faced with another choice to make. Do I take action and invest now just to get the knowledge so I have it for when I'm ready to launch this or do I let it pass me by?
Here's where I really started thinking about what investing in myself has done for me in the past and if I ever made the wrong choice by doing that. The above examples are what came to mind and my answer was no. Never once have I put time, money and energy into something and had it not be successful. So I had my answer and even though I didn't have the money just lying around, I made the purchase.
Now, I am not encouraging people to go make purchases and investments that they can't recover from but what I am saying is...sometimes you have to just find a way if it's something that's not an astronomical expense.
I've personally found that when I've spent money on things, I work even harder on it and I'm more motivated to not waste my hard earned funds. I certainly didn't want to always go or apply myself at every work out but the fact that I paid for it was always on my mind. Wasn't going to pay money to keep my body looking the same. No matter how tired I was, there was no way in hell I spent all that money on skin care products to fall asleep with my make up on. How stupid would that be? Not going to pay out of pocket for therapy and not do the work. Not going to pay a coach and not do what she tells me to do so my business fails. Wouldn't make any sense!
So many people are out here hoping for things, but hope doesn't get you very far. No matter what it is in life that you want to see change, get fixed, improve, grow, disappear... hope isn't going to make that happen. You have to make choices and create the life you want and the person you want to be. That involves ACTION.
Hope didn't get me a big booty. Hope didn't clear my skin. Hope didn't heal my anxious attachment. Hope didn't get my business off the ground. Action, each professional I worked with and the belief in myself got me those things.
Regardless of what your goals are, I hope you keep this in mind when you're stuck on what to do :)
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