The Best Investment You Can Ever Make

Recently, I started playing online chess. In an effort to improve my play, I started reading chess-related articles.

One article, titled “The Must-Learn Skill to Skyrocket Your Growth in Chess “, by

GM (grand master) Avetik Grigoryan , relates the following story:

In 2012, I was in Ukraine.I was staying with my friend Yuri’s family. One evening we were invited to dinner. At the table, there were powerful people: bankers, high-ranking military officials, and the young generation representatives: my friend Yuri and me. We were both 23.

At the end of the evening, a man offered us to go out to breathe fresh air (later I found out he was the executive of a big bank). He talked with us about different things and then, at the end of the conversation, asked a question.

“Guys, what do you think, what is an investment? If you had a big amount of money, where would you invest it?”

And we started.

-In a bank?-No.-In gold?-No.-Real estate.-No.-This and that…-No.So we gave up (I rarely give up, but this time I did).

He slowly raised his finger pointing at his head and said:“You should invest in yourself”.

It was powerful. But more powerful than I realized at first.That night I couldn’t sleep. All the mistakes I had ever made were passing before my eyes.

When I was 21, I had some money saved, which I had won in chess tournaments. And I bought a car with it, not a simple one, but Mercedes.

I was proud of myself then. I was young, had a car, was a Grandmaster. You know what I mean. And that night in Ukraine, I realized what a stupid mistake I had made. Instead of buying that car, I could have spent that money on hiring good coaches, playing in strong tournaments.

But I was young and naive.

Well, I don’t regret anything in my life. Whatever I’ve done. Even all of my mistakes and the most stupid ones. Because I strongly believe that every time we either win or we learn. And that night I learned a lot.

That time I had already stopped playing chess professionally. I was coaching and was interested in something else, a new profession (I will tell you about it later). I felt comfortable in it and was making a good income.

When I came back to my country, can you guess what I did first? That’s right! I sold the car. And what did I do then?

I hired a few specialists of the field I was studying. My friends thought I was crazy. But surprisingly for them, 3 months later I literally doubled my income.

Since then I’ve never made my old mistake. I keep investing and investing--in myself.

Now coming back to our topic, what is the most important skill you need to learn? It’s not calculation techniques, not openings and endgames. It’s not like they are not important. But the most important thing is: LEARNING TO INVEST SMARTLY.

To invest where? In YOURSELF. To invest what? Your RESOURCES and your TIME.

The article continues, but a lot of it is chess-related; so, lets instead focus on your job search and the job market instead of chess:

The world is changing quickly. The job market is not only changing; it is turbulent and uncertain. To stand a decent chance of landing a job sooner than later, you must ensure:

1.       You know what problems you want to solve; what you want to do for work.

2.       You know the market for what you want to do; the expected job openings and the pay.

3.       You know yourself---Your skills, qualifications for the role, and your personal traits.

4.       Your skills are up to date/current.

5.       You know how to market yourself and differentiate yourself from all the other candidates.

Accumulating all that knowledge takes time and resources. Most job seekers won't spend the time or resources. They would rather apply for jobs online.

Applying online is playing the lottery.

Working from the inside out and networking is an investment in yourself.

Maybe  you already know all of this. Maybe you don’t need any help. Maybe you are the perfect candidate for that position. If so, congratulations!  Let me know and I’ll drop you from the mailing list.

But if you are like most people, you already realize you should know these things. You just haven’t gotten around to studying and leveling up your skills. Or maybe you don’t know to study these things.

In that case, find a coach; join a job seeker support group; take some classes. 

Give up that two hours of TV per night and start researching companies.

To not do anything crosses a red line and hurts your chances of landing the next job.

As Warren Buffet said, “Invest in as much of yourself as you can. You are your own biggest asset by far.”

If you need assistance, please contact me. I’ll help you get started.