Can you guess what it is?  If you can, excellent.

If your not sure, just look inside yourself.  The answer is YOU!  There is no better thing to invest in than yourself, especially right now.

One of the reasons our economy is in trouble right now is because people were investing in financial products that they did not really understand.  If we are going to get back on track as a country, we need to start self-investing immediately, and stop focusing our energy, time, and capital on things we don’t understand.

Human capital is the greatest resource in any country, company, or family, so why don’t we spend more time investing in ourselves and less time investing in complex financial instruments that are hard to understand and morally ambiguous at best?

How about an even better question; how do we start focusing on the positive and self-investing?  One of the best ways is exercise.  I know many of you are tempted to roll your eyes and stop paying attention right now, but give me a chance to explain why this solution is such a good one, and some truths about exercise that you probably don’t know.  EXERCISE MAKES YOU SMART!

Must people don’t know it, hell, most personal trainers and physical education teachers don’t know it, but aerobic exercise creates more neurons in your brain!  What part of your brain, you ask? Well, how about the ones that deal with memory, attention, learning, and survival.  But these new neurons need to be plugged into the existing network immediately after exercise, or else they will not add to your brain’s processing power.

So go for a run and then, after you are finished, immediately start working on whatever project is the best investment of your time.  Lost your job? Go swim and then work on your resume, guaranteed you will be calmer, more focused, and more creative.  (FYI Creativity and imagination are the 2 biggest and easiest ways to stand out and get noticed in a depressed job market).

It’s so easy to say “Well, I need to get a job first, then I can worry about getting into shape.”  Yeah right.  Once you get the job, you’ll probably be more worried about keeping it then starting a new workout routine.  So start now, establish the habits, make exercise a  priority, utilize it to self-invest, and keep it up as your investment starts bearing fruit.

To learn more about the research that PROVE BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that exercise builds neurons in your brain, please go to exercise-increases-brain-power, and please forward the article you find there to every teacher, principal, and educator you know.  We need to be more effective with our school system, and start making exercise a priority for our country.