The best investment you’ll ever make

Recently I attended Master NLP trainer Christina Hall’s ‘Language in Action’ programme. There were only ten of us on the workshop, over the six days, and in this small environment we all got to know each other a little better than you would on a much larger event.

What struck me was the commitment to growth and excellence of each person there. Every single one owned a business and had a great deal of responsibility. Yet they all had managed to take the best part of a week out, foregone a weeks money, travelled far to get there and happily paid for the training and accommodation. Why? They all understand the importance of investing in themselves.

Many years ago I had the privilege of hearing a speech by Frank Dick O.B.E. Frank is a legend in sports coaching and has worked with many successful athletes including Daley Thompson, Boris Becker and the UK athletics team.

Frank said “there are two kinds of people in my world, valley people and mountain people. Valley people seek the calm and comfortable ground of shelter, safety, and security. Mountain people have decided that valley life is not for them, and seek to test ambition on the toughest climbs”.

Mountain people invest in themselves. They want to push their own personal limits and explore what’s really possible. They take the long term view and are prepared to make sacrifices today for a bigger gain tomorrow. They take calculated risks knowing that to continue to be successful you’ve got to push the boundaries and do what most others aren’t prepared to do.

If we forego the opportunity to invest in ourselves we’ll most likely pay a heavy price. Treading water is not an option, if you want to thrive. The business world moves fast and if we’re not updating our knowledge, skills, and staying enthusiastic then its easy to get left behind.

The coaching profession has emerged and grown from this need. Years ago, when the pace of change was much slower coaching wasn’t regarded as a need because there simply weren’t the demands that exist today. Now many successful people work with a coach because it gives them the edge and helps them to stay focused and productive whilst maintaining a balanced life.

In most popular sports you wouldn’t imagine a top player without a coach, or more probably, a coaching team. Yet many business people attempt to build success all on their own and fail to reach their full potential.

How much time, each week, do you invest in improving your skills, thinking strategically and building a better business?