To become an authority in your chosen niche or area of expertise, you need to invest in yourself. If you take a closer look at our world, you’ll see that everything around us is an investment of some sort and investing in yourself is a sure way of becoming valuable. 

What is an investment? An investment is a price-value equation. When you make an investment, you are paying a current price for a future value. The question is, what price are you willing to pay today in terms of personal development? To become an expert in your niche, you have to be willing to learn and grow as you work toward fulfilling your purpose.

Believe you have what it takes

You are not going to make an investment in yourself if you don’t believe you are going to get value from it. There’s a difference to be made between blind ambition and earned confidence. Blind ambition is a desire to succeed without regard for yourself or others. Earned confidence means you have gone through adversity and, as a result, have developed a deep level of self-confidence. Earned confidence makes betting on yourself a safe bet.

Every single action that we take or don’t take stems from a pain-pleasure association. However, every time you get immediate pleasure from something, you are actually delaying pain for the future. As a result, we change our lives by forming reversed pleasure-pain associations. The process of investing in yourself may cause you pain, but you have to be focused on the payoff. This way, you are willing to do the painful stuff now so you can gain pleasure in the future. 

Be an expert in your niche: commit to your goal

You have to be so committed to your goal that you are willing to get criticism for it. Most people are not so clear on their goals that they would do anything to reach them. In that sense, being relentless is vital. When you set a goal, there are going to be obstacles preventing you from achieving your goal. Being relentless means being aware of those roadblocks and taking charge of your life.

Part of being relentless is controlling your own belief system. How does someone take control of their belief system? Beliefs always revolve around an idea. Our beliefs are the silent directors of our lives. We can change our beliefs by first becoming aware of the ingrained value system that results in the reinforcement of these negative beliefs that we have. 

Recognize your potential: Look beyond your limiting convictions

Sometimes people challenge their beliefs, except for the ones they really believe in. Convictions are our brain’s survival tool that makes us keep doing things the way we’ve always done them. If we have conviction and we don’t challenge it, then we have a very low chance of growing and creating a better life. 

The majority of people are held back by self-limiting beliefs. This creates a huge opportunity for you to believe in yourself and work towards becoming an expert in your niche. It means that if you can become the biggest learning machine in your niche, you’ll be the most successful authority in your industry. 

Invest in yourself by learning and growing

How do you become a learning machine? First and foremost, you need intellectual humility. The only way we can be aware of what our strengths are is to know what our weaknesses are. So intellectual humility allows you to own the areas you are not strong in. All innovation starts from a place of awareness of what’s working well and what isn’t. 

You can either learn from trial and error or from other people’s mistakes. What makes our species unique is our ability to learn from past generations’ mistakes through communication. So use it! If you are not learning, then you are not listening enough. 

Remember to consider these factors when trying to invest in yourself:  

• What price are you willing to pay today in terms of personal development?
• We tend to base most of our decisions on seeking value and avoiding pain.
• Investing in yourself may cause you pain, but you have to be focused on the payoff.
• If you can become the biggest learning machine in your niche, you’ll be the most wealthy person in your industry.