Hey, growth crazed reader, Did you know some believe they must spend their entire day cultivating other people’s growth? They think their effectiveness comes from watering other people’s lives without watering their own. They feel selfish when they take time for themselves so they don’t take time out to tend to the garden of their own life.

In the above quote, Brian and Michael Tracy from “Unlimited Sales Success” they advise us to invest 3% of our income into ourselves as a rule of thumb. This is a good habit to cultivate for everyone. The principle here is: tend to yourself.

I like the advice but I will change where we should place 3%. We should spend 3% of our time cultivating ourselves. Investing money in ourself is a must but time is more important than money. We should invest time into ourselves for greater impatience our life. We can earn back treasure if lost but we cannot regain time if lost.

Spend 3% of your day cultivating yourself. This is about 30-45 minutes. We are best for others and ourself when we grow ourself.

Imagine a gardener working in a garden for five hours. At the end of the five hours the gardener is hungry and thirsty but does not get water and food because s/he thinks that would take away time from cultivating the garden. S/he says “The garden needs me. If I go eat or drink it will take time away from tending my garden.” The gardener would best tend to the garden after having gotten his or her needs met. What good is a gardener, parent, teacher, or care taker of any kind if their garden is left untended.

There are many things we can do to cultivate our own garden so that we are growing our beliefs and behaviors beyond our current limits. Here are a few things we can do:

• Take care of a plant or garden
• Go for a walk
• Plan our day
• Calendar our day
• Meditate on a text
• Repeat a mantra
• Review affirmations
• Pray
• Write
• Read

If healthy financial returns come to individuals who invest 3% of their income into themselves, then healthy beliefs and behaviors come to individuals who cultivate themselves 3% of the day.

We are no good to anyone if we do not take care of ourselves.

Let’s continue the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and / or Twitter.