4.3 - Invest in yourself

You are the asset that compounds the most. Almost any other investment will be outperformed, over a lifetime, by money and time you put into your own capability.

A useful frame: treat yourself as a product or a business. What does this product need? What does it need to be worth more next year than this year? What knowledge, skills, tools, health, relationships, and experiences does it need to acquire? Then go acquire them.

A few specific moves:

• Learn new skills on an ongoing basis. Not just for your current job. Skills that compound, skills adjacent to your work, skills you find interesting. People who keep learning long after formal schooling ends tend to end up in much more interesting places than people who stop.

• Master English if it's not your native language. For better or worse, English is the operating language of the internet, of most international business, of most useful research, and of most software and AI tools. If your English is functional but not strong, closing that gap will open you to a much wider set of opportunities. Consume movies, books, and content only in English. Practice writing. Practice speaking. Stop treating your English level as a fixed thing.

• Stay curious. Read widely. Follow your interest into things outside your field. The most interesting and successful people are usually the ones who can connect ideas across domains, and you can't do that without spending time in multiple domains.

• Stay current. Read good books. Watch documentaries. Follow a few thoughtful writers. Stay aware of what's happening in the world, especially in technology, where the changes shape everything else.

• Follow your curiosity, and spend on it. When something genuinely intrigues you (a topic, a craft, a discipline, an idea), follow it. Courses, books, conferences, retreats, a coach or therapist if you're drawn to that kind of work, gym memberships, equipment for something you want to learn. The spending pays back more reliably than most other categories of spending, but more importantly it shapes who you become. Pay attention to what pulls your attention, and put time and money behind those pulls.

Over time, a meaningful share of what you earn flows back into upgrading yourself. The exact percentage doesn't matter much; the orientation does. You as the asset is the most important thing you're building.