4 Clear Reasons to Invest in Your Self-Education

If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
Benjamin Franklin

Many people invest in financial instruments such as real estate and mutual funds, but forget to invest in their self-education. As the quote above says, however, investing in your self-education is actually one of the best (if not the best) investments that you can make.

The investment here takes two forms: time and money. You should invest both time and money in upgrading yourself. Don’t hesitate to do that because it’s a good use of your resources.

Here are four reasons why it’s important to invest in your self-education:

1. It helps you stay relevant.

We live in a fast-changing world. That, unfortunately, means that your skills and knowledge could get obsolete faster than ever. Being in the field of information technology, this is a reality that I face every day. Many of the techniques I learned a few years ago are no longer in use today.

Therefore, if you want to stay relevant, there is no other choice: you must constantly upgrade yourself. You must pay the price of learning and relearning.

2. It helps you see new opportunities.

The fast-changing nature of the world not only has a negative side but also a positive one: it opens new possibilities. Many things that weren’t possible before become possible today.

For instance, it’s now possible to have a location-independent (and even time-independent) career. You don’t have to stay at the same place all the time. I wrote more about it in my post about lifestyle business.

Seeing such opportunities, however, requires you to keep learning. You must keep yourself up to date with the new way of doing things.

3. It fulfills you.

Self-education gives you not just external rewards but also internal ones. It feels good to reach your full potential. It gives you inner satisfaction to be the best person that you can be.

4. It increases your capacity to help people.

Upgrading yourself will benefit not only you but also those around you. Why? Because it increases your capacity to help people. The fact is, you can only help others with what you have. So the more you have, the more you can help.

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Some people find it easier to spend money on things like meals than on their self-education. Don’t be that kind of person. Instead, make your self-education a priority. You might not feel the benefits right away, but believe what Benjamin Franklin said: An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

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Photo by Mattia Merlo