Today’s people are used to functioning in ‘consumer mode’. Give money, get back value. Give value (service, going to work), expect money. It is always measure for measure, and now. Nature on the other hand, works in ‘investment mode’. What is it?
If you are familiar with economic theory of investments, you know that to earn something, you first must give money (investment expenditure) and wait. The countervalue does not come immediately. Sometimes it may not come at all. When you finally have some profit, it is usually in small doses and spreaded over time. Later on if succesful, it earns by itself.
This is how nature works. At the beginning, there is a seed, many seeds. They end up in the ground and need a lot of time, water and sun in order to grow. Only then, there is a plant or a tree. And only after that you can see fruit and the plant is beneficial for its surrounding. This is how it works with most of living speceis.
Nature is giving for a long time. In many cases, it is for no use. But in some it pays off multiple times.
(It is interesting that people who give more tend to be more successful in life. See some empirics behind in the book Give and Take by Adam Grant.)
#4 / It pays off to think as an investor in your life matters (besides money). Taking your life as an investment is aligned with how nature works. All the valuable things in life have been created in this way. For a good job you need to invest in education and experience, for a successful project it is never-ending trail-and-error and new ideas, for good physical health it is sports and exercise, and for mental well-being it is daily mindfulness practice. The common ground to all of this is that you first need to give and persist to get the results. What is it you want to succeed in? How can you think about it as an investor?