How to live a resourceful life
Financial rules are great, but they’re don't work without resourcefulness. In order to live a resourceful life, you must begin seeing every problem as an opportunity that you can take advantage of.
Resourceful people look for opportunity in everything they come across. My mom and many other women in my community knew how to stretch the minimum wages they got or the little food we had to create yummy, tasty meals, always. his illustrates the point of resourcefulness.
In the adult world it works the same way. When we stretch the resources we currently have; time, money, relationships, we are more creative, more prosperous, and more fulfilled. These resources can, of course, be internal, coming from within yourself, or external, coming from your surrounding environment.
There are two ways to resources; chasing and stretching. When you chase, you tire yourself out going after more, more, more. When you stretch, you use the resources you already have available. Once you stop chasing and start stretching, you are better able to solve problems which means you are more fully engaged in your endeavors.
When we keep chasing things just to keep up with those around us, we feel unfulfilled even when we manage to acquire those things because they weren’t the things we personally wanted.
I also need to emphasis that stretching doesn't mean making yourself be miserable in order to meet your financial goals. There are plenty of opportunities that I had to drop along the way as they were mind numbing and draining. I learned that the hard way but still I learned.
There are two ways to resources; chasing and stretching. When you chase, you tire yourself out going after more, more, more. When you stretch, you use the resources you already have available. Once you stop chasing and start stretching, you are better able to solve problems which means you are more fully engaged in your endeavors.
When we keep chasing things just to keep up with those around us, we feel unfulfilled even when we manage to acquire those things because they weren’t the things we personally wanted.
I also need to emphasis that stretching doesn't mean making yourself be miserable in order to meet your financial goals. There are plenty of opportunities that I had to drop along the way as they were mind numbing and draining. I learned that the hard way but still I learned.
"The human mind is our fundamental resource." – John F. Kennedy
When you think of a woman who’s extremely resourceful, what come to mind? Do you think of someone who’s wealthy and well-connected? Or do you imagine someone who’s creative, intelligent, tenacious and determined?
I once watched two separate TED talks. On one of the shows an artist used hamburger grease to paint a picture of Mona Lisa. On the other one a DJ played a set using fruits and vegetables. What if you don’t need art supplies to create art? What if you don’t need instruments to create music? What if you don’t need anything but a will in order to create whatever it is that you want? The saying: “When there is a will, there is a way” has never rung truer in my ears.
Most of us go into a situation already thinking that we will fail because we either do not have the resources we believe we need or the time available.
“Do it badly: do it, slowly: do it, fearfully: do it any way you have to, but do it.”- Steve Chandler.
When have you ever heard a success story that started with: she grew up in a well-off family that supported her fully and put down the initial R2 million investment needed and yet somehow she miraculously was able to overcome the odds and come out on top? It’s the “she beat all odds” stories that make up the amazing stories we repeat to others. It’s these stories that motivate us and give us hope that encourages us to action. These are not fairy tales, they are real life stories of women who had actual limitations and still managed to take over their worlds.
And these stories are of women who faced actual limitations, who grew up poor or handicapped in some form. There are women out there who couldn’t were raised in severe poverty and had nothing, but still managed to turn themselves into millionaires. If these women made it and overcame the odds, then what's holding you back?
Being resourceful means achieving your goals by doing more with less. It means going beyond your natural skills and making the most of the resources you currently have at your disposal in order to solve the problem at hand.
There are things you need to keep in mind about being resourceful:
- Being resourceful means reaching out to others by leveraging your network of contacts (friends, colleagues, and associates) to help you enhance make the most of your circumstances.
- A resourceful woman takes advice and finds a way for it to fit her own situation. If the advice doesn’t apply, she moves on and finds another way.
- Unfortunately, it’s easier to get stuck on what doesn’t work and throw out the baby with the bathwater. A more resourceful woman focuses more on what she can do and less on what she can't do.
- Resourceful women are able to see things through to the end, and for that, you will need to allocate your time most effectively by focusing on the right things in the right way and at the right time.
- Being resourceful requires courage, passion, commitment, persistence, determination, tenaciousness and versatility to effectively solve your life’s problems.
If you are a parent, give your children the opportunity to be resourceful by putting them in positions where they’ll need to use it. Plus, it will teach them how to make, spend and invest their resources wisely.
Whatever you may believe your limitations to be, the chances are they can be overcome by simple action. Resources come and go. Resourcefulness is always available because it’s in us. The only question is how far we have to dig to get at it.
How resourceful are you? How do you keep your tanks full so you can be resourceful when you need to?
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