The most important investment you’ll make this year.
Slowly, the man approached the well, water bucket in hand. He tied the bucket to the rope suspended above the mouth of the well and began turning the hand crank. The bucket began its long descent into the deep well.
Anticipating the sound of the bucket striking water, the man listened carefully as he continued to turn the crank -- but there was no sound at all. After some minutes there was indeed a sound, but not the sound of water. No, the only sound that rose was the clank of the bucket striking the hard, rocky surface of the bottom of an empty well.
Water is the source of life. Without water there is no life. Because of its importance, water is a fitting symbol of the sum total of your knowledge and experience. The more water you have in the well of your mind, the more life you have to put into any of your endeavors -- be they business related or otherwise.
The most important investment you'll make this year is not an investment into the stock market, or an investment into a business or product line. No, the most important investment you'll make this year is the investment you put into yourself.
What do I mean when I talk about investing in yourself? I mean taking the time to learn new things.
For example, I'm writing a novel for my wife as her anniversary gift. It's something she's wanted me to do for a long time, and I'm finally buckling down and making it happen. I did really great for the first forty pages, and then progress on the story started to slow down, almost stopping.
The cure? I started reading a really great novel. It had a great plot, interesting characters and great description. I immediately started seeing things that I could apply to my own writing, and it energized me to get to it. That was just a few weeks ago, and I'm up to page 110 in the novel now -- and growing fast.
That novel I was reading was an investment in myself and in the creative energies I needed to make things happen in my own story. The same principle applies to business endeavors.
If you're wanting to write more articles, read about other people's success in doing so -- or read high-quality articles written by other people. Doing so will give you some much-needed motivation.
If you're wanting to create a new product, talk to people who have created successful products. Ask other business owners questions at the forums you frequent. You'll be surprised how willing people are to offer their own experiences.
How often are you in the car? You probably drive almost daily to work, or to the store, or to appointments. If so, how are you spending that time in the car? Why not get some informational audio books related to your niche, or about marketing and business? Listen to a little bit each time you're in the car. But don't just play it for background noise. When you hear some good advice, advice that you could use, pause the recording and repeat it to yourself three or four times. Think about how it can help you and how you can use it.
All of those things will add "water" to your "well". And it's from that well of knowledge you will draw new ideas, new products and fresh perspectives on your current efforts. You'll be amazed at how many ideas will be sparked by broadening your horizons through learning.
Programmers have an axiom that we call GIGO: garbage in, garbage out. It means that it doesn't matter how good the software is if the data being put into the software is bad -- if garbage goes in, garbage will come out. The same applies to people.
So be sure that you're taking in high-quality advice and information, investing in yourself through learning and experience. Doing so will benefit you, in everything that you do, for the rest of your life.
