The Power of Investing In Yourself and Your Well-Being

Punk Rock HR is underwritten by Headspace for Work.

Today I want to talk about my experience at Pfizer. That’s right, I’m talking about the global drug company, my former employer, and the place where I decided to end my career in human resources.

When I worked there, I was truly surrounded by people who made a big deal out of nothing and fought constantly over things that were unimportant and unrelated to patient care and well-being. These people really thought of themselves as performing at a very high level, but the output was very mediocre.

However, the truth is I was mediocre too. I wasn’t bringing my best to work every single day. Instead of pursuing my ideas, being a leader, going back to school to get my MBA, or even launching my career as a writer, I just stayed in that job. I thought I didn’t need those people but just needed to collect a paycheck.

Had I had the courage to fix my own employee experience, I would have made my life and the lives of other employees better. Instead, I was just stuck in a state of learned helplessness.

As the days turned into weeks, and the weeks months, and the months years, I sat in this job and grew increasingly disconnected from friends, colleagues, and even from myself. I was depressed, isolated, and suffered from insomnia. The only thing that soothed me was food, leading to even more problems as weight packed on quickly.

Eventually, however, I had a realization that companies put themselves first. If I wanted to fix work and my attitude toward it, I had to be like Pfizer and play a bigger, better game. I had to consider my long term interests, invest in my future, and put myself first.

The one way you can make it in life is through investment. Invest your money and invest your energy. If you want something bad enough, reallocate your budget to go and get it.

Back when I worked at Pfizer, I had a sense that if I wanted to do something great in this world, I needed to get a handle on my well being. For me, that meant addressing my size and my health.

At the time, I wasn’t thinking about goals. I was merely thinking about survival. All of that negative activity was permanently changing my body and it can do the same to you if you don’t invest in improving your well-being.

You don’t have to do exactly what I did, but the problem for so many of us is that we’re not doing anything at all. We’re not investing in ourselves and putting ourselves first. So, whatever your goal is, whatever will reboot your life and gives you another chance at happiness, get after it.

I’m talking about these topics—and the specific steps I took towards investing in my well-being, including a weight-loss surgery in Mexico—in my weekly newsletter. I’m also sharing a video to help you think about your week ahead. You can sign up here.