Invest in Yourself

It was about 7 years ago when I found a book that helped re shape my life, my thoughts, my routine, and my concept of value about how important it is to invest in myself. It's called core performance and it is written by Mark Verstegen of Athletes Performance Inc. It stood out to me so much and I decided I was reading the whole book as fast as I could once I read the following paragraph from the book...
(In summation) "I find it ironic that so many people, especially Americans, will take such great care of their cars. They'll change the oil right at 3000miles, fix a dent or a scratch, rotate the tires every 30k miles, etc...but when it comes to their bodies, care and maintenance are just to big of an inconvenience." I thought about that and felt it had a lot of truth to it. That paragraph literally changed my life.

Investing in yourself means more than just realizing it is important to be healthy, it is the willingness to consistently use your resources (ie; money, time, effort) to optimize the decisions you make regarding your performance, be it in athletics or in a more traditional setting like an office or work place. Health is not something that should ever be looked at as secondary if you aspire to soak up every bit of beauty, fulfillment, and smile that you can while you are on your journey around this small tiny little planet called Earth. I repeat, health should never be considered secondary. Even when we know we make a bad choice about something we do to or put into our bodies, when we recognize it consciously and make that decision with a preemptive intention to counter the action or to just plain allow yourself a little bit of lee way. Your level of discipline will always be proportionate and relative to your desire to get better and get the most out of whatever it is that you do.

Baseball has helped me so much to realize the immense value of my health and how much I want to treat my body as well as I can as often as I can. The power of the idea of making it to the big leagues for a young baseball player equips that player/person with strong mental tools. These mental tools are rooted in the foundation of the mental willingness to do whatever it takes to get us to the place we want to be...the major leagues. Baseball is a portal that enables us who love to play the game so much to maintain such a focus...some have laser-locked focus and some have a blurred focus. The beauty is in the battle, in the dance, it's in the process. Once we make that decision to invest in our dreams and go for them with an extreme vigor EVEryday, we have already achieved success. The rest is inconsequential, it's just details. The thoughts that we have as soon as our eyes open in the morning are the fuel that keep us strapped in...we get to decide what those thoughts will be. We can use it to our advantage and harness it in a way that shapes all the decisions we make.

This aspect of our make up as human beings is not "figured out." It is only achieved by deciding to change the way you think, then executing, and refining your routine, all the time. It's achieved by falling in love with the process and choosing to find all the things you appreciate and love in your process. This positivity will serve your life unmeasurably. It will shine when you are around others. It will carry you through anything. But, again, it is not achieved...it is practiced.

"Baseball" can be interchanged with any other activity that is specific to you. Invest in yourself so you can show the universe that you are thankful for this one body and one life.

3 simple ways you can invest in yourself are:
1) surround yourself with positive and like minded people, consciously invest your time in cultivating these relationships and appreciating them to your best ability
2) buy the things and foods that are going to put you in a position to make the more optimal decision, for example: you know you love ice cream, but maybe this time instead of buying ice cream, you buy strawberries and eat those for your dessert. (Be conscious of how great of an effect this what seemingly minuscule decision can have once you make start making this decision consistently...you will inevitably gain momentum in this state of mind and making the right decision will continue to get easier and more and more gratifiying as well)
3) buy a dry erase board, put it right by your bedrooms doorway, refrigerator, or any place that is consistently visible. Use it to put positive words in front of your eyes constantly, for example I like to write "Get better EVERyday" or "Sweat equity" or even just a reminder to do my push ups and pull-ups and squats, I write a ton of different things! This reinforcement on a non stop basis is like a positive commercial for your subconscious every time you see it when you open the fridge or walk thru your doorway.

Try different things and see if you would feel like they would signify investing in yourself. Just by asking yourself the question of "is this good for me to be eating/doing/thinking right now?" Or should I be making an alternative decision? You will find that your ability to pin point things that you want to have happen will increase their likelyhood of happening ten fold.

Thanks for reading. Stay ruthless.