You most likely have heard the phrase: Invest in yourself. But what does it mean, exactly?

Investing in yourself simply means spending money on things that will help you grow and evolve so that you can reach your full potential. This of course can only spring from a tacit acknowledgement that you are not born fully shaped and, even with the passage of years and the potential wisdom these years will bring, you don’t fully become who you are meant to become without some amount of work on yourself.

But before I go further, I should point out why I’m speaking here to women. The fact is, women are the more hesitant of the species when it comes on to this topic. Men, by and large, will just go for what they want once they decide what they want. They don’t hold back, as women often do, or feel they need to ask permission. They embody the Nike slogan: Just do it. And, as the Jamaican saying goes: If ah dirt, ah dirt.

Women need to acquire this mindset too without limiting our growth potential.

For the sake of argument, let’s say you realise your passion in life is art-related: interior design, perhaps. You’ve helped your girlfriends fix up their living spaces (free of cost) and they pick your brain all the time about style because they appreciate your talent even as you, too, recognise that this is what makes your spirit soar. Let us also say your nine-to-five is something design-adjacent. Or maybe it isn’t. All you know is that it’s becoming less and less palatable to go to work every day because, deep down, you know you should be building a business that belongs to you, and not someone else.

But your job now is a pay cheque, after all, you tell yourself. Besides, you don’t have the tools to create something that’s wholly yours. You have a list of reasons why you can’t start your own design business. You don’t have the money. Things are too busy at work. And so on, and so on. (Mind you, you have no excuses when it comes on to dropping money on clothes, junk food, out-of-town excursions with your friends, the expenses for which you gladly heap on your credit card.)

Then you report back to work in that unhappy head space, living from pay cheque to pay cheque, earning a few dollars extra, here and there, on off-duty jobs but never enough to allow you to save the way you want to and invest the way you yearn to, and claw your way out of debt the way you need to.

What would investing in yourself look like?

If you want to become the woman who lives the fulfilled, abundant life you know you have the potential to live, who isn’t drowning in debt and is able to look forward to the later years with confidence knowing that your financial future is secure, you must first invest in yourself. That is to say, invest your time, energy and money in things that will yield a return for you and the people dependent on you.

1. Connect to the divine. Whatever or whomever you recognise as your higher power (you don’t have to be religious), make a connection with it to tap into what your heart’s desire really is and guidance for how to go about finding the path to it — be it by sending a mentor your way or showing you inspiring people to let into your personal space.

2. Be open to ideas. How many times have you seen notices for authentic online workshops that could possibly help you to the next level by getting you accredited, but you balk at the price? Then you go happily on to a fast fashion website and throw multiple items in your shopping cart without even batting an eyelid. Keep learning about other things that interest you. Tell yourself you will learn something new each month. You might just stumble onto something that you can also turn into another revenue stream.

3. Disconnect from social media every now and then. We know that social media is a highly curated space that can depress as much as it is meant to inspire. Figure out what you want your life to be before you use someone else’s as the yardstick and find yourself in the unenviable position of leaning into debt by keeping up with the Joneses.

4. Commit to reading for motivation. Too often people these days think reading is about reading online blogs about gossip and make-up. No. While these have their place, buy and read books. Whether ebooks or actual books, read. Memoirs and biographies of people you want to emulate, especially, are good to see how other people succeeded in their lives. Or you can search for books on your specialised interests which can help you understand how to build out from passion to something tangible, from someone who is just good to someone who is great at their talents.

5. Take self-care seriously. Your health is your wealth. Carve out time in the hurly-burly as often as you can for working out, eating healthy, a massage, or even simply unplugging from your devices.

The bottom line

An investment in yourself, like an investment in the stock market, bonds, mutual funds, etc, is meant to make you somehow wealthier — whether through actual money, peace of mind, self-worth or even your relationship with others or the Divine. You are who’s responsible for choosing how your valuable resources will pay dividends, whether now or in the long term.