Billionaire Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, is one of the most followed investors in the entire world.
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As the fifth-richest person on Earth, many try to replicate his success, and Buffett is all too willing to hand out pearls of wisdom to anyone who will listen. His investment acumen, when combined with his folksy wisdom, are enough to absolutely pack the annual Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting, held every spring in Omaha.
As reiterated at many of those meetings — and in numerous interviews as well — Buffett truly believes that the most important ingredient for success is to invest in yourself. But what exactly does he mean by that, and how can you accomplish it?
What Does Buffett Mean by “Invest in Yourself?”
One of Buffett’s key mantras for success in life is that you must make yourself stand out from the crowd. To do that, you must improve yourself to the point that others can’t ignore you.
Make yourself indispensable to companies that are looking to hire quality people, for example, by being the absolute best at your job. Do what you have to do to learn, grow and prove your own value.
If you go the self-employment route, make your goods or services better than those of your competitors so that there’s no other real choice than to use your company.
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What Concrete Steps Can You Take To Invest in Yourself?
Investing in yourself doesn’t always take money. Here are the general categories that fit the Buffett mold of investing in yourself:
- Building knowledge
- Improving your skills/abilities
- Understanding your strengths and weaknesses
- Working at something you enjoy
- Developing social and business networks
Building Knowledge
Building knowledge involves reading or studying any information that can prove valuable to your life. If you’re developing a business career, for example, you’ll want to read books from influential and successful figures in the industry, in addition to keeping up with the financial news.
Anything you can do to improve your understanding of finance and your particular industry is a key stop to improving your success.
Improving Your Skills/Abilities
Knowledge is one thing, but being able to actually perform at a high level in your industry will help make you invaluable. Whatever career you’re in, learn what it takes to be the best and put those skills into action. This will help make you always employable.
Understanding Your Strengths and Weaknesses
While knowledge and hard work can take you many places, there are some things that you may not be able to do, regardless of your effort. There are only a handful of people in the entire world, for example, that may have the skills to win a gold medal at the Olympics.
Understanding your strengths and weaknesses can help you avoid wasting time in pursuits that are unlikely to prove fruitful and rather direct your energy towards areas where you can be successful.
Working at Something You Enjoy
Buffett simply doesn’t understand people who work at jobs they hate. In line with other financial pundits, Buffett insists that you must work at a job you enjoy.
Not only is it less likely to feel like you are “working,” people tend to be more productive and simply better at doing things that they enjoy.
Building Your Social and Business Networks
No one succeeds completely on their own. Buffet is a big believer in surrounding yourself with successful people and learning from them.
Good business mentors will not only push you to be better but may also offer you opportunities that others may not have access to, such as a new job or financing for your own business.
What Specifically Has Buffett Said About the Topic?
There’s no better way to understand what Buffett means by “investing in yourself” than by reading or listening to his own words. Here are some of the most noteworthy quotes by Buffett himself regarding the subject:
- “Generally speaking, investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents. Nobody can take it away from you. They can run up huge deficits, the dollar can become worth far less, you can have all kinds of things happen. But if you’ve got talent yourself, and you maximize your talent, you’ve got a terrific asset.”
- “Address whatever you feel your weaknesses are and do it now. Whatever you want to learn more, start doing it today. Don’t put it off to your old age.”
- “The best investment by far is anything that develops yourself, and it’s not taxed at all…Whatever abilities you have can’t be taken away from you. They can’t actually be inflated away from you.”
There are numerous examples from Buffett’s own life that back up these insights.
For example, Buffett once told Forbes that “I was terrified of public speaking when I was young. I couldn’t do it.” To remedy this shortfall and improve himself, he took a public speaking course from Dale Carnegie for $100, which he says changed his life.
In that same interview with Forbes, Buffett summed up his thoughts in two simple sentences:
“You’ll have a more rewarding life not only in terms of how much money you make, but how much fun you have out of life; you’ll make more friends the more interesting person you are. So go to it, invest in yourself.”
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Warren Buffett Says the Most Critical Investment Lies Within Ourselves
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