There are many different ways to spend your money or time. Consider all the activities and purchases you have made in the last year. How many were focused on personal growth? Investing in yourself will often come last if we don’t intentionally make it happen. Our minds are focused on other things.

I was focused on financial, nutritional, health and fitness, and career stressors. I focused on my spiritual growth and building up a group of supportive friends. Yet an area that was lacking was personal growth.

I sent all my resources to survival.

Yet here’s the thing. I couldn’t really survive when I didn’t invest in myself. When I didn’t see Mary Blacklock as worth buying a $20 self-help book for (I had bills to pay!) I was unintentionally holding myself back. Buying those kinds of items, financial or career focused books, weren’t even considered. I was too lost in my stress and struggle.

When a big opportunity for personal growth came by, I was almost too scared to take it. I had already convinced myself that I was too far behind in life…that even if I had the money to invest in myself, it wouldn’t be worth it.

But I was wrong! That investment in myself was huge-it led me to my current path.

It sparked a desire in me to invest in myself more and more.

Investing in oneself is vastly important. As I reflect on the journey I’ve made, I’d love to share with you some of my thoughts on why personal growth is important.

• We pay for our academic education and personal growth is education of self. We spend a large amount of money on college or go into debt for our academic self, but we make excuses for why we can’t spend money when it comes to a large personal investment. Even when it will perhaps change our way of thinking and increase our happiness.

• You never know where investing in yourself will lead. When we invite ourselves to take in the wisdom of others through their books, podcasts, art, lectures, etc., we are inviting ourselves to begin a journey.

• Investing in yourself can help you balance your life. There are so many areas that we can learn and grow in. The areas that you are struggling with the most right now are the areas where you have the opportunity to grow.

Please comment below with any thoughts or questions related to this post.

Questions: Do you make an intentional effort to invest in yourself regularly and in different areas of life? Do you see an area that you might need to focus your investment on more intentionally?

Career clarity is something that we want, but it’s often times more difficult to achieve than we hope. Whether you lack career clarity due to the endless options in front of you or because you are fighting off discouragement, there is something you can do. When the path isn’t clear, don’t give up!

For many years, I have struggled with a lack of clarity and direction in my career. This lack of clarity and direction effected my personal life and I didn’t even realize it until I had broken free from the discouragement that was weighing me down.

How did I finally see what a lack of clarity was doing to myself? I did something big. I invested in myself. I paid for a goal setting course. I was terrified that the course wouldn’t even help me because I was too far behind.

However, that goal setting course started me on the journey that I am on today. The one that brought me here today. The one that pushed me to imagine the possibilities and embrace positive change.

It helped me to set personal goals and led me to start building a career plan even with my lack of clarity.

Here’s how you can start creating a career plan when you lack clarity:

Get to know yourself. This was a major realization for me as I went through the goal setting course. I knew that I didn’t know what I wanted to do for my job, but I didn’t know that I also lacked clarity in other areas of my life. I wanted to set goals for myself, but how could I know what goals to set if I didn’t know what was important to me? I started the process of getting to know myself.

Pick one area to focus on. There might be several areas that you want to explore after some personal reflection. Maybe you really want a job with more freedom in your work environment. Maybe you realize your interest in a certain subject and want to see if you can connect it to your career.

Take one step forward. It doesn’t have to be a big step. My first step was realizing that I had some negative thinking that I needed to free myself from as it was holding me back. Maybe your first step is interviewing people that are doing a job you’re curious about. Maybe your step forward is reading this blog or a career change book and joining the conversation. Whatever the step is for you, take it.

Trust the process. Trust me, I would love to say that all it takes is one shot at these steps and you’re on your way to perfect clarity. But I am still in the process of becoming clear on the direction that I want my career to go. It’s a constant process of getting to know myself, focusing on something I’ve learned, and taking a step.

In future posts I will share more of this journey with you. If you’re looking to invest in yourself and overcome your discouragement, you’re in good company.

Read my post on why personal growth important, here.

Please comment below with any thoughts or questions related to this post.

Questions: What is your area of focus? What would be a next step? Remember, a tiny step is still a step.