(Hint: it’s not a stock, bond, crypto or alternative investment)

In crisis there is opportunity.

If you’ve been following the news, the volatility surrounding the pandemic shut down and recovery has been an insanely profitable time for those with the money and risk tolerance to invest. Though it may be a historic bubble, history shows an ideal time to invest is after a major crash.

Unfortunately, therein lies the problem. If you have IRS back tax debt, you know it can function like a prison keeping you from achieving your goals. As such, the risk and reward of conventional investing is often unfeasible. So it goes.

Even if one could somehow invest with significant tax debt, common sense and sound financial planning almost always prioritizes eliminating debt first. Simply, to reach the next level in your life, you must get beyond the burden of your back tax debt. If this isn’t clear, please give us a call.

However, there is an investment that is within reach for all. It’s sometimes called the most profitable investment you’re likely to make. Even those with great wealth continually consider this investment.

There’s no catch. It’s so obvious it’s so easily overlooked.

If you have IRS back tax debt, know that it’s an investment you MUST make. In my experience, it has at least 100% return, guaranteed, with no true loss of those earnings. And it can be essentially free.

If you haven’t guessed yet, the simple answer is YOU.

YOU are the most important investment you can make.

YOU MUST CONTINUALLY INVEST IN YOUR SELF

So what does investing in your self even mean?

Answer: it depends – which is usually correct for a great many things.

Many successful people advise, go to sleep smarter everyday, read books, exercise, eat healthy, sleep better, reduce stress, deconstruct your cognitive biases and invest as much as possible in an IRA/Index fund(s). This would all be great but without a systematic plan to achieve these markers, or even guidance about the best place to start, how helpful is it really?

So let’s dive a little deeper.

First, let’s begin from the start. Pithy statements or slogans are often misleading as the truth is far more nuanced and complex, and the phrase “invest in your self” is no different.

However, pithy statements are oft quoted because they can hold a wealth of knowledge/wisdom, if one approaches them with the necessary care and consideration to properly unpack, open and receive it.

Generally speaking, investing in your self usually means, spending time, money and effort to expand one’s knowledge, education and influence. More specifically, most usually take it to mean learning how to move some lever to increase one’s money, which wouldn’t be incorrect. But since money is but a tool to help free up our time, which is the true marker of wealth, self-investing must aim higher.

Consider this: A $30k pay hike in income is much like an annual 10% return on $300k savings. If you can imagine how hard it is to save $300k, a $30k boost in income is obviously something much more achievable, though certainly not easy for most.

The point of the above example isn’t about money per se rather, it’s about how the right leverage point can make all the difference. Yet ask one person what “invest in your self” means and they’ll tell you it’s buying more lottery tickets. Another thinks getting any book(s) that interests them meets that threshold and still, another thinks the time, energy and cost of an advanced degree/certificate is the bare minimum required.

Why such a difference? Because our perspectives, or the lenses we use to perceive the world and our lives, ultimately dictates what “investing in our self” (or anything for that matter) means.

Of course different people will obviously have different perspectives. We all have unique vantage points. However, it’s also very important to point out that not all our perspectives are equal from an optimization point of view. Some views are more optimal for YOU than others. Without this KEY, the idea of investing in your self (or even self development) becomes meaningless.

Teachers, experts and leaders are there to help guide and shorten the time to get us where we want to go. But you are also free to ignore trustworthy, professional, experienced advice. This too is part of the Hero’s journey, which you can read more about here. But then, asking and inquiring into how your views are serving you or not, as the most fundamental type of self-investing, becomes even more important.

CAN THE EYE SEE THE EYE / CAN THE “I” SEE THE “I”

Are your current views optimally serving you?

If not, how can you optimize them?

Unfortunately, this is a question that has, more or less, been asked by the great philosophers, scientists and sages thru the ages, without a clear definitive answer.

Complicating matters, both science and the great sages agree, our perspectives mostly operate below our conscious level of awareness, making it all the more difficult to see them, let alone have a chance to deconstruct them.

There is some good research that shows meditative self-inquiry is the only known activity to consistently do so. Now before you close up because of the word “meditative,” it’s just a word. It can be dropped, or even replaced by mindful/prayerful/open/curious and many other similar words. In the simplest terms, meditative self-inquiry means paying attention to our selves. More specifically to our actions/reactions without judgment, and then trying to create a catalog of what makes us act/react so we can reference this data to modify our views and behavior. Or in other words, it’s your very own tech company within, tracking and compiling your personal data to invest back into your self.

What I’m calling meditative self-inquiry is essentially a practice to put a mirror to one’s Self. Which means by observing our Self, we actually have a chance to see what may or may not be happening at, or even below our conscious level, so we can use this data to make better decisions for ourselves and our future. If Our Time = Our Life, this very process also leads to a greater awareness of our moment-to -moment lived experience, which is the foundation of living a more full life, which you can read more about here.

Truly, meditative self-inquiry can be practiced anytime, even as you’re reading this. But that takes some mastery, so skill and practice is always beneficial. Thus supplementing with an actual sitting mindfulness practice would be ideal as it’s focused on technique and the fundamentals. But that isn’t required. The mirror is put to the Self when we are able to quiet and still our reactive mind. As such, we often get the best data when we are in challenging and intense situations that are more able to bring up our ideas, beliefs and worldviews, like when owing tens of thousands of dollars to the IRS for one example

Admittedly, this is complex and a concept heavy post. There is enough here to make a years worth of posts, which I will attempt to simplify in the coming weeks and months, from different angles. However, if I were to break it down to the most basic of building blocks for self-investing, something that even a master could use a refresher on in the fundamentals, it would be these recommendations. I will break it down into 3 main categories of Mind/Body/Soul, which all integrate and work together, but 2 of which are combined for efficiency’s sake:

1) Mind: discovering/uncovering one’s internal viewing system via some form of meditative self-inquiry.

To optimize our perspectives, we must first learn where we are and how we view the world. We can’t consistently optimize what we can’t see or understand. Achieving mastery in this is a lifetime’s work because as we grow, our needs and problems also change. Thus any wisdom gained in this is more precious than gold. At the very least, knowing ourselves better can save us a lot of grief in day-to-day life.

The major difficulties we encounter regard the very nature of knowledge itself. We all know we don’t know everything. Yet many of us don’t consider how our not-knowing also has depths and degrees, as there are many things we don’t even know that we don’t know. However, this is no special problem, it’s a human one. They say it’s an evolutionary survival byproduct that our normal operating human mind is set up to take what we know, or think we know, as all of reality, especially when things get difficult or intense. Or as Mark Twain so eloquently stated:

It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble.

It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.

Though wise, this too, is a pithy statement. Because in reality, our knowing and not-knowing are not 2 separate things. Our knowing and/or incorrectly knowing, as well as our not-knowing, are always enfolded within and on top/beneath of each other. These are not separate things, but rather parts of a whole, and are more like Russian stacking dolls nestled within each other. Bringing this process into the light of our awareness is the beginning of taking a wider/deeper view. This then allows the possibility for greater optimization. Any true self-investing begins here.

Thus, as you are able, in every moment, but especially in the extremes, from those that are charged and difficult, to happy and peaceful, simply ask: What do I want.

However, this is not a question for your brain. Ask without forcing any answer. Normally our reactive mind wants to fill in any empty space. Here, we are intentionally doing the opposite. Keep your mind open. Ask more as a felt experience in your body. People have the most success trying to feel it in the head, heart and/or gut. This is when adding in recommendation 2 & 3 below would be ideal.

After you’re able to consistently do so, now when you are able, look back to your thoughts, words and actions in those moments. I say look back because looking while you are in the thought, word or action is virtually impossible. This is also when recommendation 2 & 3 below is ideal. Look back and now try to answer: What do I want? Some examples: Are your actions consistent with what you want? Are you being honest with yourself? Did you forget? Procrastinate? Are you afraid? Did you start but not finish? Are you full of it? Are you blaming someone or something? The better questions you ask here, the better. Repeat over and over and over. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers, only more optimal ones for you.

2 & 3) Body/Soul (grouped together): the breath integrates the body and soul.

There are very few things as good for over all wellbeing as a walk in nature. Deep breathing calms the nervous system and quiets the reactive mind. Couple these activities together and you have an invaluable tool for life. Schedule and take a walk every day, even around the block. When people who don’t regularly exercise ask me what’s the best place to start, this is it. Moving the body in an intentional way makes the blood flow and releases toxins and blocks of all kinds. Bonus – both are also great meditative self-inquiry activities, but combined together, become rocket fuel.

I wish everyone reading this, wealth and happiness beyond their wildest dreams. But I’m also here to tell you getting to the next level in your life requires more than wishing and hoping. It takes massive action. However, action without the right perspective is like learning how to run faster but without knowing which direction will take you where you want to go. The right perspective is that map.

One more pithy statement: some say investing in the stock market is about transferring money from the impatient to the patient. Investing in your self is no different. It’s a lifetime’s project. On the journey to self-investing, know that it will never be a straight line up or down. There will be times when you’ll feel like you’re going backwards, that the losses will never end. This is not only unavoidable but a great sign. Like giving birth, bringing up those parts of yourself that you can’t (or don’t want to) easily see is inherently difficult. The good news is unlike conventional investing, you’ll know you are getting your return because of the difficulties, especially early on. This simply means your awareness is getting stronger. Don’t give up. This is the essence of self-investing.

In life, there is always another opportunity, but will you choose to take it?