“The tragedy of life is often not in our failure, but rather in our complacency"

All too often as professionals in the working world, we sit back and wait on our employers to put opportunities in front of us, grow our education, create happiness, or just wait to be directed. While it is important for your employer to care about you and help in these areas, you should also be putting forth effort to better yourself. In fact, it should be you driving your growth and development.  We can blame complacency in the work place on our employers, but if you're not willing to invest in you - why should anyone else? Here's seven simple ways you can (and should) invest in Y.O.U.:

Take the Wheel: Take control of your own life. Don’t put your success in other people’s hands. That’s not only quite a heavy burden for others, it shows a lack of ambition from you. You have the ability to control your own destiny. Don’t sit around and think about how your life isn’t what you thought.  Take control of your own self-development.

Education: We don't mean “go back to school” (do that if you want). But, information has never been easier to access. Learn a new skill on YouTube, listen to an industry-specific podcast, go see a speaker, or just read a book (remember those?).  Commit to learn something new every week and every day, if you can!

Get Healthy: The majority of unhappy people have little to no exercise in their weekly routines. It is so important to feel good about the food you put in your body and the effort you put forth to be healthy. When you complete a workout or an exercise it can really snowball into something even greater.  Did you know that you are starting your day with thirty minutes of exercise will make you 10 percent smarter for the rest of the day?

Be Disciplined: Follow through on what you say you are going to do. Create a routine for yourself. Become someone that others can trust. Start small and work your way up!

Be Honest with yourself: This is a hard one. Within a community of professionals, there is an immense variety of personalities, backgrounds, and skills. Analyze yourself and define those skills. Ask mentors, supervisors, and co-workers for their input.

Seek a Mentor or a Coach: Having a mentor or coach that you trust can help you show greater returns in your success. They will help show types of qualities you need to emulate to succeed, provides a road map to get where you want to go, provides an opportunity for subjective feedback. This step also ties back to learning and growing.

Use Your Vacation Days: Simple as that. You have them, use them. We all need a mental break from reality. Even if you take 3 days to sit at home in silence…do that!

By working these seven steps into your life, you will begin to find success and happiness. Kick the complacency and invest a little time every day into learning how to better yourself. Watch the new opportunities roll in!

Invest even more in yourself