I tend to view a good life as being one thats full of good investments.

If you use your resources (money, time, energy, etc.)

in a smart way, theyre going to give far more value back to you in return.

This post originally appeared onThe Simple Dollar.

So often, we think of investments as being purely about dollars in and dollars out.

Thats great, of course, but I like to think of investment in broader terms.

Ill give you an example of that down in the conclusion.

Thats generally time when youre pretty tired anyway and arent doing anything particularly productive.

There are a number of factors.

Heresjust a tasteof the benefits.

it’s possible for you to spend that time learning and keeping your mind active, too.

If you actually have an outdoor task to take on, even better!

Clean out the gutters.

Anything that gets you outside and moving a little bit each day is a good thing.

The cost:It burns 30 minutes or an hour where you could be doing something else.

If that other thing is more valuable to you, then there is a cost to choosing this.

The benefit:There are a ton of biochemical and psychological benefits, as noted in the article above.

So stick to them.

Its not real hard.

Just eat something different at every meal.

Switch it up a lot.

Try new stuff sometimes to make your palate even bigger.

see to it youre eating plenty of vegetables and fruits.

You dont have to eat stuff you hate, either.

The cost:Im hard pressed to think of a cost here.

You cant just endlessly repeat just one or two favorite meals, I guess?

It can increase the length of meal prep if you mostly rely on takeout or fast food, too.

Theres strong evidence of better brain health in a varied diet that includes fish, too.

Did it make you think more highly of that person?

What about the last time someone genuinely apologized for a mistake and put it squarely on their shoulders?

How did that make you feel about that person?

Now, transition those feelings and imagine youre the person who made that mistake.

Are they going to feel like you do when you witness someone blatantly passing the buck?

The cost:Its hard to do it.

It is really hard to confess that weve made mistakes to others.

It feels far easier to just pass the blame or kick the can down the road.

The benefit:Respect.

A lot of it.

That punch in of respect is the foundation of strong relationships.

People like to be valued.

People like to be remembered.

People like to feel important.

When it’s possible for you to do that for people, they like you.

Its not even hard to do.

All you have to do is listen to someone when that person is talking.

Dont stand there thinking about what you want to say next.

When you do that, the person youre listening to and talking to willnaturallylike you.

Theyll value your presence.

Theyll usually start asking for your thoughts on things.

Theyll respect you a little and will become predisposed to respect you more.

The cost:It takes some time to just listen to someone.

The benefit:It strengthens virtually every personal relationship you have.

Listening is likemagicfor building the strength of relationships.

It helps your reputation, as well.

Its also far, far cheaper than owning and driving a car.

it’s possible for you to even potentially divest yourself of a car.

It might mean a smaller living space or an area that isnt your perfect ideal.

You might have somewhat higher housing costs, too, depending on where your workplace actually is.

The benefit:You slash your commuting costs.

You slash the time devoted to tasks like commuting and getting food.

You slash your time devoted to meeting up with friends.

Simply put, this choice saves a lot of money and a lot of time.

The cost:It takes some time on a regular basis.

You have to be able and willing to criticize yourself.

The benefit:Your stress is lowered.

It really depends on the relationship that forms.

A mentor makes every knot in your life a lot easier to untie, and thatsincrediblyvaluable.

Im absolutely awful at starting conversations with people I dont know, for example.

There are some professional skills that I definitely wish that I had, such as faster editing skills.

I can name a dozen skills I wish that I had, but that I simply do not have.

The benefit:You add a new skill to your repertoire.

The benefits very much depend on the skill learned, of course.

However, its very tempting to just waste that day off in idleness.

Idleness is time spent doing nothing meaningful to you at all.

The cost:You lose a day that you could have devoted to other tasks.

The benefit:It kills stress and worry like nothing else.

It can still be quite productive, depending on what you choose.

Let me give you an example.

Its a game we all know and love.

It was an absolutelymarvelousday, built on the back of those investments.

Back in 2007, I was really struggling with the direction of my life.

So, one day, I gave my mentor a call (investment #8).

That lunch changed my life.

Those individual investments really didnt cost me much.

I didnt sacrifice a whole lot to get a good night of sleep or to build good relationships.

I didnt really sacrifice too much to build skills or to practice better listening.

Invest all of them wisely and they will pay out dividends far beyond your wildest imagination.