Paul Gillin Quote on ROI and How To Maximize Your Return On Investments in Life

“When you say ROI, do you mean return on investment or risk of inaction?”

Paul Gillin

Beyond the Quote (246/365)

Why do we push ourselves physically? Maybe so that we might better appreciate our physical normal. Why do we travel far from home? Maybe so that we can return home with fresh eyes. Why are we encouraged constantly to grow and expand our minds? Maybe so that we might have a better understanding of the world. Why do we ever do anything outside of our comfort zone? Maybe it’s so that we can expand our zone of comfort for the rest of the time we’re not outside of it?

From what I have gathered, it seems to me that moments outside of our comfort zones have exponential return on investment (ROI). The return, in one sense, is that you get to enjoy a heightened state of comfort later. I workout religiously and for every one hour of working out I do, I seem to get the entire rest of the day in physical comfort—that’s a 23 hour ROI positive outcome. My body might feel sore or achy from the workout—but, it’s a good sore and achy. I equate that feeling to accomplishment, satisfaction, and growth. And I try to always keep that in mind if I’m hesitating to do a workout—the ROI is always worth the disproportionately small amount of invested time.

I find a similar effect happening with travel. For every day or two I spend away from home, I tend to get an entire month of comfort in being home as my ROI. This, obviously, might change depending on where I’m returning home from. Because as I’m sure you can relate, travel can give you a glimpse into a world that calls you and makes you want to leave home. But, once you’ve settled into a place that you consider “home”—not necessarily just where you were born, but where the “adult you” chose to live—then vacation can be a reminder as to why you love home so much. Maybe it’s not filled with the exotic pleasures and landscapes, but it is filled with the simple ones. The ones that comfort you, fill up your cup, and give you that feeling of belonging and familiarity.

When it comes to growth of the mind, this ROI concept rings powerfully true. For every problem that gets solved, you get back, as your ROI, all of the time, energy, and effort that would have gone into thinking about the problem from that point forward. And this can be one of the most powerful returns on investment we’ve discussed yet. Some people get so deeply stuck into a problem that they spend the entire rest of their lives maneuvering, adjusting, and orienting around it—They cater their life according to and around their problem’s needs. Some people never stop thinking cyclically about their problems. Some people just keep suppressing, numbing, and hiding from their problems. Some people are so pained by their problems that they become incapable of living their life in comfort at all.

But, when you can invest the time it takes to solve the problems that are giving you the hardest time in your life—regardless of the amount of time it takes—the ROI is always positive. Even if that means a day of research, a week of confrontation, a month of rehab, a year of group therapy, a decade of counseling—it doesn’t matter. What you’re getting in return for that investment is the rest of your life. And a life that is free from the bondage of a crippling problem is worth the investment of time that it might take. Or so has to be decided by you. But, living your entire life stuck on one problem because you don’t want to invest in the solution—is a meek way of existing for sure.

This is all to say, exponential returns on any investment in life should be the golden focus for our daily efforts. What else provides exponential returns on initial investments? Books. The price you’re paying for the knowledge you’re gaining is wildly disproportionate. Meditating. For just 5 – 20 minutes of mindfulness, you can get an entire day (or more) of clarity. Writing. The time it takes to write out all that’s going on in your head is always disproportionately smaller than the amount of time you would spend just thinking about what’s going on in your head abstractly. Undivided attention. The connection that you can make with another person when you’re fully invested into them and the conversation at hand is exponentially higher than what it is when you’re only partially paying attention, distracted, or on your phone. And the list goes on.

Think about what you’re getting in return for the time you’re investing into each of your daily tasks. For every 20 minutes you spend on social media, what are you getting in return? For every hour you spend watching a Netflix show, what’s your return? For every 6 hours you spend video gaming, how much of an ROI are you getting? This is not to say that you can’t get an exponential ROI by doing the above tasks—it’s merely to get you to take a closer look. Think carefully about your answers, be honest with yourself, and adjust your daily tasks accordingly. You might just find that with a few adjustments, you could be living an exponentially better life? Good luck.

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Read Next: 30 Comfort Zone Quotes – The Danger, How Far “Outside” To Go, and Strategies

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