Most business owners understand the need to invest in new equipment. The money you spend today helps to grow your business tomorrow. But are you willing to make the same investment when it comes to your personal growth? It too can pay off by helping you grow your small business. Get started with these tips to promote your personal development and achieve a better work-life balance.

Invest in You to Grow Your Small Business

Learn at Your Speed

It’s not easy going back to school after running a business all day. But you don’t have to. A number of colleges offer online classes that let you work on your schedule. The Small Business Administration also offers no cost, online courses in areas like finance, marketing and management.

Looking for something you can do in less time? There are a number of podcasts that focus on small businesses. Just download them onto your mobile device and listen as you speed down the road. Here’s Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2017 list of the 24 best podcasts for entrepreneurs.

Fail Fast, Fail Often

This is a technique that comes from the Agile approach to managing projects. The idea is to try something quickly, determine if it works, then adjust and start again. When applied to personal development, it helps to remove the over-thinking that sometimes prevents people from trying new things. It reduces the emotional investment that’s required. Instead, the emphasis is on taking smaller steps toward something bigger. So your business benefits from a more innovative approach.

Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness might be considered the opposite of multi-tasking. Rather than instantly reacting to the events around you, its aim is to pause for one second before taking action on something. By doing so, you replace knee-jerk reactions with more purposeful ones. That can lead to better decision making.

Learning how to be more mindful involves meditation training. It is suggested that you train for 10 minutes each day. There are a number of guided mindfulness training programs. Here’s a link to a free program you can try out. It includes a downloadable practice manual.

Monitor Your Activity

Physical activity is an important part of a personal wellness program. But that doesn’t mean you have to join a gym. Part of changing your behavior is becoming more aware of your activity levels. Then you can create goals to increase that level.

There are a number of wristband devices that make it easy. They’ll track the number of steps you take each day, how many miles you walked, and how many minutes you were active. They will also remind you if you’re inactive for a long period of time. Some even let you compete with friends to see who is more active.

Find Your Tribe

Just because you’re in business for yourself, doesn’t mean you have to do it by yourself. Look for opportunities to interact with people who can provide support. It could be the local chamber of commerce, a service or civic group, or a trade organization.

LinkedIn also offers online interest groups where you can pose a question or share information with others in the group. They offer the flexibility to interact on your schedule. Here are Business News Daily’s pick for groups that might appeal to entrepreneurs.

Remember that your business’ most valuable asset is you. Investing in that asset can help grow your small business. These tips will help you start.