Seasons Leadership Podcast
Join Debbie Collard and Susan Ireland, co-hosts and co-founders of Seasons Leadership, in making positive leadership the norm rather than the exception. On the Seasons Leadership Podcast, we will bring you practical, actionable advice you can apply now to improve your leadership - and life. Join us on Wednesdays throughout the seasons.
Selected by Feedspot as one of the Top 15 Positive Leadership Podcasts on the web.
Seasons Leadership Podcast
Invest in yourself now
This episode of the Seasons Leadership Podcast dives into the importance of investing in yourself for long-term success and growth. We share personal stories that illustrate how minor, everyday choices can accumulate into substantial rewards on your leadership journey.
Show Notes:
(1:25) Everyone agrees with it, but they just don't do it. We break down why people choose not to invest in themselves.
(4:46) We share what it means to invest in yourself through gaining knowledge incrementally. How seemingly small investments amount to large pay offs in the long run.
(7:40) We observe that the most successful leaders are the ones who have invested in themselves. We talk about some inspiring stories from the 2024 Summer Olympics and the importance of having a clear vision of what you want.
(11:20) You are worth it! We talk about why it is not being selfish to invest in yourself and the example you set for others.
(17:00) Coming soon you will have the opportunity to invest in yourself by taking our new, online leadership course Elemental Leadership. Don't wait for anyone else to give you permission, if you want to be a better leader, invest in yourself today.
Join Debbie Collard and Susan Ireland, certified coaches and co-founders of Seasons Leadership, in making positive leadership the norm rather than the exception on Wednesdays on the Seasons Leadership Podcast. (Selected by Feedspot as one of the Top 15 Positive Leadership Podcasts on the web!)
And now you can join our community of values-based leaders on Seasons Leadership Patreon at Patreon.com/seasonsleadership. At our gold-level, unlock our exclusive Lessons in Leadership Column from our Resident Seasoned Leader David Spong, a lifetime member of the Board of the Malcom Baldrige Foundation and our Leadership Elements Series.
Welcome everybody to the Seasons Leadership Podcast, where we are committed to leaders everywhere, at all levels, who want to make progress on their leadership journey. We will bring you actionable advice to improve your leadership and life today.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining us At Seasons Leadership. We share a vision to make excellent leadership the world-wide standard. Learn more at seasonsleaderseadershipcom.
Speaker 1:Hi Debbie, Hi Susan, Welcome to another episode of our Seasons Leadership podcast.
Speaker 2:Right, what are we going to talk about today?
Speaker 1:Well, this topic's been coming up quite a bit. You wrote a blog on it last year and it was important then and it just seems the universe wants us to talk about this because it keeps coming up everywhere and people we've talked to prospective clients. It's on commercials. The Olympics are on right now. It's in the Olympics. So this topic is investing in yourself.
Speaker 2:I. This is one it is close to my heart and, I think, one of the most frustrating topics or situations that I come across over and, over and over again say more about that well, it's a, it's a good, everybody agrees with it, but do they actually do it?
Speaker 2:And people just don't do it For some reason. There's always an excuse. There is something that is a higher priority. They don't have time, they don't have money, they have too many demands on themselves, and so they just deprioritize themselves and their development for everything else. And you know, I have sympathy or empathy, maybe is a better word for this because I was the same way. You know, you were busy and and to take the time to invest in ourselves just doesn't in the moment it does. It seems like you can always do it I'll do that later and I didn't. And that's one of the reasons why we're doing seasons leadership is because I think like if I would have known then what I would have known now, what I know now, I would invest in myself.
Speaker 1:Well, I think you told a story at one point about doing the contribution in the company matching funds for your savings. Yeah, like things that you could invest, literally investing in yourself and you can tell the story much better than I. But if I remember it right, it was something along the lines of hey, I'm a single mom, I've got expenses, I've got kids, I got all these things that I need to be doing, prioritizing. How can I justify putting in that amount, that percentage, in this little teeny paycheck I'm getting? And the person who gave you the advice was saying, no, you need to do it, you need to do it now.
Speaker 1:And sometimes I think it takes that. It takes a person that we trust and respect to tell us this is what we need to be doing and, even though we can't, still can't see it, we can't see that this is really going to be hurt. Hurt me, this is going to be hard for me, I don't want to do it. But then, much later, we realize we owe that person a thank you, because they encouraged us to do something. And I had a very similar experience as you. Someone said you're not contributing to the company matching funds. What are you crazy? You're never going to get this opportunity again, so figure out a way to cut back elsewhere so you can invest in yourself Right.
Speaker 2:You know both of those examples. I mean, both of us had this example too, because at the time our perspective was limited, we didn't have the wisdom of time to see what this is, because the other thing is is it really wasn't that much money. I mean we both at the time didn't have much, so it felt like a lot.
Speaker 1:It felt huge right at the time.
Speaker 2:It was like I can't do it Well and you don't see it. You don't see immediate results or immediate returns. But really, when we're talking about investing in yourself and we're talking about our leadership development and just gaining knowledge about how to be a better leader, an excellent leader, we're not talking about a huge investment. It's incremental and regular and consistent, regular and consistent and over time it will really reap benefits tenfold for you?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, if not even more. I saw this thing on social media last week and I can't remember exactly what the thing was I was looking at, but it was a um, a guy, a video of a guy that was bringing his and he's a billionaire or something like this, and he's on social media but he had and he tells people how he became a billionaire, basically. And so he had his lunch, his brown bag lunch that he was taking to the office. He was making it, it showed him making it and then eating it in the office. And someone said to him why don't you just go to McDonald's? Why don't you just go, you know, get lunch with everybody else or whatever? And he said because if I save that money now and then he did like these math calculations he goes over amount of time. It will add up to over a million dollars saved If I do this for this many years. He goes.
Speaker 1:So that seemingly small amount this is kind of the inverse of what we were just talking about the amount seeming huge. Right, this is just baby steps, right? You, you save on, he goes and my ham sandwich and apple tastes ever so much better, it's healthier, and I saved all this money and I'm going to, it's going to end up paying off in the long run multiple times right. Right, with all this money and so that's a tangible thing though right, the money, you can say, okay, if I save, if I don't go to Starbucks this day and I put that money in a savings account that gets interest, then it's going to multiply like this. And those are figures, that's math you can figure out. Okay, here's what it's going to grow to eventually over time.
Speaker 1:As you said, it's not such a clear picture when you're investing in yourself, in growth, when you're saying, okay, I want to invest in myself so I can be better at communicating, or I can be better with time management, or I can be better with my people, skills or whatever it is. It's not so easy to see that return on investment, even over the longterm, until you're there and you need it. Right, and that's why you've got to depend on am I doing things towards where I want to be or who I want to be in the future? Right?
Speaker 2:Right, right, and it's been our observation that the most successful people and leaders and successful is defined by them. It could be money position, but it also could be the their dream job that they have. It could be where they're located. You know there's success is defined by the person, but the most successful people are the ones who have invested in themselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, that's so true. Well, let's, let's look at I know you're not big into athletics, but let's look at athletes for a minute, because the, the Olympics, are on right now. Right, there's all kinds of stories, as often come out around the, the competitors in the Olympics, and one story was talking about this. One competitor thought that her Olympic dreams were over because she found out that she had a very, not one, but two very rare diseases. And she found out when she wasn't in the Olympic trials or anything. And and she was like, oh, my dreams are over, I'm not going to get back there for the next time. And then she had to invest in herself, make some hard decisions about what she was going to focus on and, long story short, she eventually got back there and now she's competing in this Olympics in 2024. And now she's competing in this Olympics in 2024. Amazing story, right, but she invested in herself.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about other athletes that aren't even facing those kind of odds, where they have some horrible disease diagnosed Just the day to day. Okay, I can, I've got family, I've got kids, but this is my dream to go to the Olympics. Where am I going? How am I going to invest in myself so that I can actually realize that dream and get there. And they're purposefully thinking about what's it going to take, what do I need and how do I get what I need? How do I make it a reality. And they're not wealthy people necessarily right. They are looking for ways to figure it out, just like all of us are, at any point in time, right. And they do it because they have this dream, they have this goal.
Speaker 1:So I think that's a critical element. You said it's one of the most frustrating things for you, because people say they want to do it, but then they don't do it. Right, right. But I think, maybe, maybe one element that makes it worth the investment in people's minds is is it something that's going to help me achieve what I want?
Speaker 2:Right, right. And to have a clear vision of what that is, yeah, yeah. And also there is a point to appreciate the process of getting there, because we don't arrive. We don't just then say, ok, I've done, I've taken all the classes or I have all the degrees and now I'm here, I've reached a certain level. It's a continual process and but it is appreciating yourself and and knowing that, just like anything that we value, we take time. Right, we take time, and it doesn't have to be a lot of time, but it does have to be consistent.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it has to be purposeful purpose. You have to know I'm doing this to get this right. Um, there's an ad on right now by L'Oreal, the cosmetics company, and they've long had the slogan L'Oreal because I'm worth it and they've had different people saying it, while they switched that up a little bit recently and they've had different people saying it. Well, they switched that up a little bit recently and their ad was talking about it still says because I'm worth it. But it has different examples of why each person thinks they're worth it and they're not necessarily talking about shampoo or hair color or whatever the thing is right. They're talking about why they invest in themselves. And they said in the ad I'm not going to quote it exactly, but free L'Oreal commercial. I'm not going to quote it exactly, but they basically said because I'm worth. It is the clearest representation of how important it is to invest in yourself and what you want how important it is to invest in yourself and what you want.
Speaker 1:It's true. It is true, and and we at Seasons Leadership think you listeners are worth it Absolutely, you're worth it. Every single one of you is worth it, and it's not being selfish to focus on yourself, as well as your other responsibilities, and figure out what that balance is for how you make what you need to make happen happen. It doesn't require always you to be the one who sacrifices right. You can make happen what you need to happen, but, as you said, susan, you got to be purposeful about it, you got to be dedicated to it and you've got to consistently work towards it.
Speaker 2:It's true. The other thing I just want to throw this in is that remember what you're modeling for your children or your peers or your people around you. If you are sacrificing, they're going to see that and they're going to do that, 're gonna do that and we don't. We don't need that, we need. We need everybody you know being their fullest person that they can be or who they want to be in, and so when you do it, you model that for others, especially, especially, either way.
Speaker 1:You're saying, either way, you're modeling it right, you're modeling.
Speaker 1:Yes, rejecting the. Oh no, I can't do that right now, or I'm going to wait, or some point in the future, someday, I'm going to do it, or you're modeling. How can I make this happen? Look at me I'm going back to school. Look at me I'm taking this course. Look at me I'm going for that next level promotion, whatever it is that going back to school. Look at me I'm taking this course. Look at me I'm going for that next level of promotion, whatever it is that's important to you.
Speaker 2:Right, I have just a small story, but it really was impactful to me when I, when I my two girls were young, I was going to school and I felt kind of guilty because I was a single parent, you know, they were going to school, I was working and going to school and then I had to study and that kind of thing. So we often after dinner we would get down, we all get at the, at the paper, at the dining room table and to be doing our homework. And I felt guilty, I thought, like this is not so fun for them, you know, and um, and then it was a little while a great example you were saying but I was like I did not feel good about it at the time.
Speaker 2:I thought like we should be doing more fun things, you know, but I just couldn't. And um, there was like later that year, one of them wrote something for school Like what do you? The question was what do you like doing with your family? And she said my favorite thing is when we all do our homework together. And I was like, wow, so what something that I wasn't feeling good about they were feeling fine about, so, and they have both grown up to be very successful. So I thought, well, see it works.
Speaker 1:It does work. It does work. So we've been thinking a lot about this, this concept lately about investing in yourself, Because we've had to make some tough decisions about investing in ourself. And it didn't just happen when you were a single mom with kids and trying to go back to school. Right, it happens even now. So it's like you said you're not done, you don't arrive. You're constantly going to have to be making these decisions throughout your life. What, in what way do I want to invest in myself now? And it could be self-care, it could be learning new things, it could be achieving new things. It doesn't matter what age you are or what phase of your life you're in. You're always going to be. It's always a good concept to invest in yourself in some way, shape or form.
Speaker 2:I just.
Speaker 1:The world changes, so you gotta keep up to date yes, I've recently had to be learning lots of new things that I never could have told you, even a year ago, that I would be learning. But you know what it's been energizing and it's been a good thing to to make, make that investment and and get that out of it, get that satisfaction out of it, get that um sense of accomplishment, um out of it. So, um, there's lots of ways you can do this investing in yourself. There's no one right way or one wrong way. There's no wrong way.
Speaker 1:If you're investing in yourself, you're doing it purposefully and consistently so that you can achieve what you want to achieve. One of those ways we can offer you is well, we can offer multiple ways. Coaching is one, but another way if you want to become a better leader, we do have a leadership course online launching very soon and you can check our website, wwwseasonsleadershipcom for more information and the name of it is Elemental Leadership and it teaches you everything that you need to know about upping your leadership game, being a good leader, and you can do it at your own pace. You can do it in 90 days, like it's designed, or you can take much longer to do it.
Speaker 2:It's tailor-made for you to take it at your own pace, that's fantastic and this is is this is one way that we are trying to help people have the opportunities that you know that they may not have in the place that they are right now. So it's it's kind of like back and why we even started seasons leadership to support people.
Speaker 1:Remind everybody why we started it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to support people wherever they are in their leadership journey to be better leaders so that we can have a world world filled with excellent leaders absolutely, and they don't have to wait for anyone else to give them permission.
Speaker 1:Right, you can take it into your own hands and start, and if you want to be a better leader, you can be a better leader. Yeah, that's great, all right. Well, well, that cuts it. I think the bottom line here is and your takeaway listeners invest in yourself, start now.
Speaker 2:Great. Thank you Until next time.
Speaker 1:Until next time. Thank you, listeners, for joining us today. We hope that you were inspired by this conversation.
Speaker 2:And we invite you to join our community on Patreon See the link below. There you will find more resources to help you on your leadership journey.
Speaker 1:Make sure to join us next time for more conversation about leadership excellence.
