No one can fill you up but yourself. If you are not choosing yourself, what are you doing with your life? April Shprintz explains why prioritizing your very own self is a great return on investment, not just for you but even for the people around you. She also talks about the importance of taking a pause and doing the things you love to unlock a deeper sense of fulfillment every single day.
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Who Are You Choosing Instead Of You?
I am so glad you are here. I bet because you are one of those people who just make things happen, who achieve things that other people do not even think about doing, and who has done nothing but succeed and achieve for most of your life, that you are one of those people that does not often choose you. I find that those two things go hand in hand. They go together. You choose to do things for others, for work.
For your family, for your friends, for your partner, for your kids, for your dog, before you choose you. When you do the long list of what is most important, you tend to be at the bottom of it. After clients, after all those people I mentioned before, after anyone and everyone. It’s because while everyone else deserves it just because they are, you, my friend, have to earn it.
Why Other People Cannot Fill You Up
I say this because I have lived it. I want to show you why choosing you before you choose other people is such a better return on investment. Not just for you, but for everyone else. When you put everybody else and all their needs and everything important to them ahead of you, and only pour into you once all of that is done.
Choosing you before other people is such a great return on investment, not just for you but for everyone else. Share on XYour return on investment for putting all your time, energy, and effort into another person is about 25 cents on the dollar. Meaning, you will give them a dollar’s worth of effort, and you will get $0.25 back. For those of you who are more used to foreign currency, it is basically that you are going to get one-fourth of what you put out there back from other people. It’s because other people cannot really fill you up. They cannot fill you up the way you can fill yourself up.
If you are a high achiever, if you are someone who has made yourself successful through sheer grit, you are someone who is much more likely to invest in other people. I want you to turn that around. I am not saying do not invest your time and energy in them. I am saying invest your time and energy in yourself first, every single day in some way. Put it on your calendar, first thing in the morning, mid-afternoon, at night, it does not matter, you get planned first. The reason is that there is a two-to-one return on investing in yourself.
Slow Down And Spend Time On Yourself
For every dollar worth of energy you put into yourself, you get two back. You get double what you put in. If this were a monetary investment, every single one of you would be running to invest. It is more valuable than that. When you first pour into yourself, you give yourself love and energy and resources that no one else can give as well as you do.
If you start with yourself, you will go so much further. You will accomplish so much more. Most importantly, you will feel so much better. I started by going further and accomplishing more, because you know that is what you really care about. All of those things that you are doing and trying to accomplish and all of that giving is in the hopes that you will feel happy, that you will feel loved, that you will feel good. If you start with yourself, if you choose you and pour into you in some way, if you do not know what that is, do something that makes you happy.
If you slow down to pour into yourself energy, inspiration, and happiness, you will get far more than you were ever able to accomplish when you put everyone else before you. Share on XIf you do not know what that is, then your first assignment is to spend an hour thinking of the things that bring you joy. If an hour sounds like time you do not have to spend on yourself, well then, my friend, that is just like meditation. If you do not feel like you have an hour to spend on yourself, you probably need to spend two. In the beginning, it is going to feel like slowing down.
Just like in the military, they say slow is smooth and smooth is fast. If you slow down to pour into yourself the amount of energy you are going to have, the amount of inspiration, the amount of happiness, the amount of health is going to get you far more than you were ever able to accomplish when you put everyone else before you. Someone might say this is selfish. Someone might say this is crazy. Someone might say this is not the way to become successful.
None of the people who say that will be someone who has tried it. The people who have tried it know this is the secret to not just being able to do everything you want to do for as long as you want to do it. This is the secret to happiness. Figure out what you are choosing instead of you. You do not have to stop choosing it. Just put it in line behind yourself. Try this for just a week. If you are feeling really froggy, try it for a month and then let me know how it works for you. This changed every aspect of my life. Here’s to your success.
