Are you investing in yourself?

The question came to me because I hear from an awful lot of people who tell me: “Andrea, I really, really want your Money Manifesting Mastery program. But I just can’t afford it right now.”

It breaks my heart, for a few different reasons.

The first is that “I can’t afford it” is simply not true most of the time Sure, the investment may not be comfortable, or easy. I understand these people don’t have extra money lying around. But “I can’t” is often a disempowering overstatement that has become our knee-jerk reaction to spending outside of our comfort zone. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Given enough desire, most people can find the money, even if it’s on a credit card, even if it means tightening up the household budget, taking out a loan, and doing away with the Starbucks lattes for a while. So what we’re really saying is “I choose not to invest in myself right now.”

And that’s the real heartbreak. Most people will not go out on a limb, not trust themselves enough, not love themselves and their lives enough, to invest in themselves. If we truly want something, we believe it might help us, and we still don’t invest – well, what we’re really saying is that we don’t think we’re worth the investment. We’re not worth the risk.

Here’s the problem. If we are not investing in ourselves, can we expect anyone else to invest in themselves through us, by hiring us, becoming our client, or buying our stuff? If we don’t even think ourselves worth our investment, how can we possibly attract others who see our value and invest their money in what we offer?

I invest between 20% and 50% of my income back into my business each and every month. Sometimes these investments are really uncomfortable decisions to make. Even back in my starving graduate student days, I invested half a year’s income (which I “couldn’t afford”) into my massage therapy education … because I trusted myself to create a huge return on that investment. Over time, every single uncomfortable investment I’ve made in myself and my business has been well worth … especially when I “couldn’t afford” the investments I made, especially when I felt like I was going out on a giant limb for myself.

It seems counter-intuitive, but the less money we have, the more important it is to invest in ourselves. So find a resource that you think will improve your situation, and know that you are worth it. The Universe will never argue with your beliefs, will never prove you wrong. Your worth will improve as soon as you declare yourself worthy … by investing in your greatest asset: YOU!