Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter, where I gently provoke you to show you your own power. This newsletter is an invitation to your leadership. You can also read this issue online.

Hey,

Why you should never think twice about investing in yourself?

This was probably my biggest mistake in my early years.

Since I grew up with financial struggles, I always had a scarcity mentality around money.

Because of that, I always saw spending money as a cost, not as an investment.

In fact, the first time I invested in myself was when someone forced me to do so – at a personal development seminar in 2010.

Otherwise, I always thought that my learning and growth is somebody else’s responsibility – my manager’s, my boss’s, my parents, the government’s, and so on.

As a result, without even knowing, I was holding myself back.

Books, quality food, travel and other experiences, fitness, hobbies and passions, and personal development/coaching all come under the bucket of investing in oneself.

The seminar I attended gave me so much back that I have never stopped investing in myself since.

I have invested both time and money in reading 100s of books since 2010. I never counted, but the number is certainly 400+

I have travelled and photographed in more than 25 countries. My photos are seen by thousands today and they give me tremendous joy and pride.

I have had a personal coach for myself for 6 of the last 12 years – including the last 3.

I invested over $30,000 last year in my own mentoring and coaching. And I will probably invest another 30-40k this year.

They are not costs and spending. They are investments. Without this shift, I would never have even dreamt of investing so much in myself.

These investments pay dividends and returns for a long time – till you are alive.

They are like a gift that keeps on giving.

They are like a candle which keeps on burning.

Are you investing in yourself to massively transform the results you are producing?

After all, if you spend 10 bucks and get 100 back, is that a tough choice?

The answer is clearly NO, but we are not taught to treat ourselves well and put ourselves first.

Servant leadership is a buzzword these days. But you can’t serve if you don’t put your own oxygen masks first.

Our society pays a premium to sacrifice and serve others. However, it ignores the one who is doing the service.

How have you been holding back on investing in yourself? What results could be possible if you do?

How will you invest in yourself this year?

Reply back and share what this is provoking for you. I read and respond to every reply.

Fascinating Articles & Stories

One

Sudhanshu Ahuja – “All the companies that I applied for a job and got rejected, are now our customers”

I interviewed Sudhanshu Ahuja, CEO & Founder of Impress.ai on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

  • that one of the biggest responsibilities in our business is to our customers
  • we put focus on new customers, and new sales to existing customers. And all of this meant that we were able to retain a hundred percent of our customers
  •  it became really sustainable. We had nothing to worry about in terms of keeping our employees well rewarded, so we didn’t have to do mass layoffs, uh, to achieve that. We didn’t have to cut bonuses or salaries
  • Wealth is created during bear markets and harvested during bull markets. 
  • You start to get this realization when you get older, that your younger years are not going to come back and the equation starts to change.
  • the challenge is how do you grow into what is needed to take the company to the next stage?
  • All the companies that I applied to a job for, um, are now our customers. All of them. Absolutely all of them. So that’s been. One of the things that make me feel like a winner,

Listen to the entire episode.

Two

Anastasia – “My best ideas come either during meditation or after meditation.”

I interviewed serial entrepreneur Anastasia Petrova on the Choosing Leadership podcast. We talked about:

  • I am result oriented and I really want to see the input of my actions. 
  • you learn to accept because sometimes you plan something in a very perfect ideal, uh, way. In a perfect ideal world that doesn’t exist
  •  I was basically locked in my comfort zone and right now I feel like I get bored if there is no risk. 
  • this mission is more emotional, It lies really deeply in my heart
  • as soon as you understand who you are, you understand what you’re doing and you start to value what you’re doing. And if you value what you’re doing, I mean, this is exactly the ground you’re talking about
  • Fear is blocking the potential always. For me, it was always fear like, uh, procrastination and fear. are Connected. 
  • So if you are afraid, like I think fear actually lays in the very basis of each and every negative feeling that you can have on top of it.
  • fear lays always in the very like root and then it can mutate in all sorts of like, procrastination or, um, I dunno, grief or any other like, bad feelings that you might have, but in the root is always fear. 
  • So what I can say is that it is important to realize that fear blocks your potential.
  • So as soon as you recognize it, you start to get even angry because as if you feel that there is something that is blocking you, you know, and at that moment you will start to actually release this fear a little.

Listen to the entire episode.

Three

Curated resources for your leadership

Here are my best finds from all over the internet for your leadership. Make yourself tea/coffee as you read, listen and learn.

Pro-tip – Listen and read the below about YOU – not about the author. (reply back and ask if you do not understand what that means)

That’s it for now. If you have any questions or feedback, or if you are new and want to introduce yourself, hit reply. I read and respond to every reply. All the best,

Sumit

P.S. – I am looking to interview more inspirational leaders on my podcast. If you know anyone I should interview, reply back with their name.

(Twitter) @SumitGupta
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