“An investment in yourself will pay dividends for the rest of your life. It won’t depreciate, it will appreciate. It will never be devalued or stolen. Clearly, your inner portfolio is the best investment you can make.”

We spend a good deal of time and money on the outside of our bodies. We pay for haircuts and styles, we buy cosmetics, lotions and colognes. We purchase expensive clothes. We spend many minutes each day primping, combing, washing, feeding and, hopefully, exercising our bodies. Most of this activity is devoted to adorning or nurturing the outside of our bodies.

But what about the inside? Doesn’t it make sense to spend as much money and effort caring for our emotional, spiritual and mental side as we do on our exteriors? You might find it easy to agree with this notion, but I’ll bet you’d be hard-pressed to find many people who spend as much on inner work as outer work.

With the exception of a formal education, most people have no budget for the inside job of success.

What about you? What investment have you made in your attitude? How are you improving it? What new skills and knowledge have you acquired? What do you do to insure fresh, stimulating ideas for yourself and your company? What are you doing on a daily basis to be your best?

Everything you do to improve yourself will last the rest of your life. How many material acquisitions will last that long? Think of personal development not as putting something on top of what you are, but rather developing more of who you already are. Like the development of a picture from its negative, real self-development just exposes more of what already lies hidden.

Take a hard look at exactly what you’re doing and what you’re spending on developing your mental, spiritual and emotional stock. Are you reading books that feed your mind? Are you listening to tapes that educate, inspire and stimulate you? What are you doing to enhance your emotional well-being?

It doesn’t matter where you begin as long as you start. Pick an area you’d like to improve upon and have at it. It can be fun as well as rewarding.