Invest

Well, it’s 2024, and it’s time for a new year, with a new mantra, being such a big year for me! This year has already started with a manifested adventure to Australia, and halfway through this year, I will be turning 30! With that being said, there are some goals and the mantra I would like to share with you all, and I hope it inspires you to do the same.

In 2024, my mantra, or “Word of the Year,” is Invest. Now, by definition, invest means:

1. To put money into financial plans for future ventures or achieving profit.

2. Devote (one's time, effort, or energy) to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result.

This to me, is a challenge for my future, and a reflection of my younger self. I want to grow this year not just personally, but as a man, husband, son, brother, friend, teammate, player, coach/mentor, just a person in this world. Some of these things you could look back and question, what legacy have I left behind? But I want to rethink that idea internally, and ask myself, what am I doing to better myself to help my future self, family, and those around me?

Back to the literal definition of invest, I am constantly going back to the word devote. By that definition, typically you give most of your time/resources to achieve something. If I devote the same, if not more, amount of time to aspects of my life as I devote to being on a baseball field, there could be some really serious changes (for the better) within my personal life, that would affect my life as a whole.

For example, this past week in a bible study, we discussed how our routines at a baseball practice/training could be determined so effortlessly and we will devote all of our time to stretching, mobility, throwing, arm care, ground balls, fly balls, hitting, lifting, eating, recovery, etc. But when it comes to our spiritual life, we struggle to find five-minutes in solitude to pray or reflect on the blessings of the day. So how is it that we can invest in certain things and not others? My short answer, it’s where our attention is at. The hard answer, it’s where we place value in things.

So if I am supposed to grow, and invest into many areas of my life, that means I need to be present when I am changing where my attention is. To better myself, I need to learn and challenge myself in a multitude of ways, but also not be afraid to fail along the way. It’s ok to fail, but it’s not ok to stop trying. Learn and move on, assess and make change.

As there are so many ways I want to invest in myself, in the future, and literally just setting my family up situationally and financially - there certainly is a lot to learn. But I wanted to be vulnerable and share this with you all! I hope that there is also some motivation in this to figure out what your “word of the year,” could be. 

I also will say this as I talk about investing and devoting more time. I hope to be back more regularly and sharing on here to go along this year. This certainly will be a great year and I am looking forward to seeing how investing in myself can impact this year!