10 SECRETS OF HIGHLY RESOURCEFUL PEOPLE
You dont need more to win. You are enough.
I was born in a very low resourced household of a family of 9 staying in a single room apartment. Though, material resources were low but I had a happy life full of family and societal camaraderie. I never knew what is meant to be poor until I got into medical college.
More than half of my classmstes were from middle class and almost 20% of them were from upper middle class. In Nigeria,if your parents were in academics or civil service ,you will most likely fall into such category.
Raised by an amateuer machinist and a trader, I learnt how to become resourceful with little I was presented with. As I entered into the world of business, I realised that that my upbringing was a preapration for anyone that wants to thrive in a resource low economy.
I have started two community clinics in the last 4 years and employed more than 35 people. The businesses is providing secondary care to the cimmunitues while striving to be a household medical company.
As I ruminate on how far I have come, I began to study people that have started low but are household name now. I found same trend among them.
The ability to become resourceful instead of waiting to grab more resources is the new thing. I discovered that the mindset of the so called resourceful people are the same. They never use resources because its available. They ask,” how can I make more with less resources?
I have studied and read about being resourceful. I discovered 5 secrets that anyone can use to increase productivity, create abundance and live a happy life.
More importantly, the covid19 pandemic has made a lot of us rethink how we source and use our resources. Despite the fact that we have a lot of time in our hands, we find it difficult to put it to better use to do better work and build solid relationships. Our penchant to always scramlbe for more resources make us to want more tommorrow and more liberty to squander the time.
This shows that resourcefulness is about mindset more than the resources within our grasp.
This acceptance is the first step to unlocking the secrets of being a resourceful person without which one can not recognise the secrets even when they are brougt to light.
Although people will become creative with what they have when they have less but to be resourceful begins from the mind with a philosophy that life is abundant and one can not know the limits of things until one pushes against it. They believe that the greatest resource is our intellect and ability to persists and persevere. Intellect and virtues of patience and persistence never runs out.
With this mindset we will be able to undsratnd why these secrets are secrets.
Just like you, I have wasted time and resources thinking I needed more resources to get better or achieve more out of life. So forgive yourself that you have done the same to yourself and just be open to a new way of living.
- The Default Answer is Always NO
“people are effective because they say no.”- Peter Drucker
While we are grasping for more resources, the resourceful people go for less of materials. They say “NO” first and look for how best they can utilize what they have best. They see additional resources mostly as hinderance to creativity and freedom.
We all believe in the new world of abundance where the consumerism nature has made us cling to the theory of more is better. More of what? We never ask because thats how we have been raised. But recent researches has found that the more we depend on outside help, the less we become creative.
As I write this, I feel calm and more in tune with myself because all I have on my desk is my laptop. If I need a drink, I walk to the water dispenser. Do the same for yoursel too. Ask the qustion, what can I remove from my life or work that can make me better? Extend this to other areas of your life and make a resolution that your default will be to say NO.
The change in mindset will allow you place more bet on your creativity and you will begin to find your way in life with the little you have
2. Old Things , New Use
An old thing becomes new if you detach it from what usually surrounds it.-Robert Brenson
It is very rear to find anything that has single usage in life. An object made for opening a door can be used to do hundreds of other things.
Can you think of any? Try.
The consumerism nature in us has tied our purchase to our happiness to an extent that we buy things just for their novelty. There are thousands of things in our garage or store that we have bought and we are not sure when we will use them. Old skills , acquitances and friends are some of our resources that we can use instead of looking for the next shinny things.
3.To explore is resourcefulness
There is always vacation every day of our lives. We can alter our routines and see what we can learn. Presently, I am taking a year off my business to learn some new things or explore some areas of my life that are hidden to me.
What we get and use when we disrupt our status quo is nothing more than exploration.
An engineer that move into sales; a doctor that wants to learn literature; a CEO that changes the sitting in a meeting. The chance to explore will always present themselves but it takes a resourceful mind to know that.
There is nothing like chaos except that things turn out against our preconceived planning and ideas. The resourceful people turn disorder into opportunity because in their minds, everything is dynamic in structure and function.
I started many businesses when I was in medical school for the curiousity and the necessity of making ends meet. The vast knowledge I have gained has made me better with my team and my clients.
4. Power of distraction
Focus has its own power but overtly done, concentration has its own peril. If we are to shut down everything in our lives for one particular to triumph, we miss a lot of things. And who knows if the random things we dont pay attention to is the answer we are looking for.
Our resources have varying forms and usage, but if we are so focused on single usage for them, we will be missing out on possible advantages.
Most times, to see things clearly, we need to step back, take some time off. Taking break to focus on less demanding and unrelated task gives the brain the required nourishment and different perspectives to get better at solving problems.
We can begin to take a break with our routines by the way we schedule our days. Switch a role with a co worker or begin your work in an unusual way.
Some times I take a walk after a demanding work. Other times, I go down and do some push ups after I have some fairly amount of words. Ideas come faster when we decide to add compulsory break to our schedules
5. Be grateful
The best way to appreciate what we have is to acknowledge its usefulness. Being grateful make us utilise the resources at our disposal instead of asking for more. Appreciation is the best form of ownership. Ownership is the best way we can begin to think of how we can use our time, connections, relationship and skills in better and creative ways instead of asking for more all the time. Those who practise gratitude are found to delay gratifications because they are content with what they have. They feel the need to exoplore all the choices they have now.
The best way to be more resourceful with appreciation is to express it in written form. I always wake up with my gratitude book on my working desk. I write down three things I am grateful for that day based on my feelings and what has transpired in the last 24 hours. Some will like to do theirs weekly or monthly. I feel better afterwards and I tend to do postitve things during the day that will make more grateful the next day.
6. Change Your Environments
One of the reasons that make people demand for more material things at the expense of their peace and wellness is neighourhood influence. We tend to behave like the people around us most of the time. Environments is very powerful in determining our behaviours.
We tend to follow the Joneses. Our friends, work colleagues, our kids classmates are part of the people will relate with. Since we can escape from this reality the best thing to do is to use it in our favours. We can change our location if we so choose. Sometimes, getting to know someone that brings creativity and resourcefulnes to his work and life is enough. We can spend some hours with him and get to absorb some of his resourcefulness. We tend to get smarter if we spend sometime with people taht are smart.
7.Start From The Closet
Create some time and go through your closet or ask someone to do it for you if you are too busy. Whenever I am overwhelmed with tasks and I feel lost, my closet is always where I start to unburdened my soul. By the time I am done with with my closet, I would have come up with new clothes I have not wore since I bought them and cant even remember I bought them. Same things with my digital files and workspace.
Most time, by going through our closet will come up with a lot of abandoned resources that can solve most of our pressing problems.Comb through your list of old friends and you will find somenoe that have the skills to solve some of your problems. Once we organise things in our lives, we begin to see better use for our resources.
8. Turn Trash To Treasure
The same diagnostic test that broke some people is the same one that made some get passionate about their healths. Yes, we have different personality make up but the resourceful people always lood for the good thing in bad situstions. My first fruit drink was made by my sister from abandoned fruit market. In my household, nothing was a waste. There is always almoat usage for abandoned things. Though I learnt this throug necessity but it has been my second nature to look for good use for most people say its bad.
This in not being a cheapstake.It is expenging our resources before we toss it out.
One mans meat is another mans poison is what thet say. What the wasteful ones as useless is what you see as treasuure. This article was first written at the back of trash paper while I had my baths or driving. And when I was ready to write, I assemlble all the scraps and begin to write.
9.Reverse Thinking
What if I told you that I started writting this article from the last paragraph?Well you wouldnt know because it is a complete article now. But seriously, I started from the last point because I was lost after writing the first two lines. This is what I do when I am stuck. I begin most of my reading from the last chapter so that I can have an idea of how to train my mind to do more with less.
Who could have taught that one of the most important drugs that help man to last longer in bed was an experimental drugs that was intially desigbed to treat heart disease?
Yes, Viagra was an accidental product.
Accidentat discoveries abounds in our daily lives. Thus we must look for the benefits of serendipity in all things.
It is a good strategy to begin from the end sometimes to have a feel how to put our brains under stress and watch it come grow with enough ideas.
10. Consider individual Usage
Consider the usage for a candle. It is to be used for light and nothing anymore, according to the makers.. Do you see the hammer differently apart from its ability to force a nail through a hard surface? Try to see each of your most used obect as conglomerate of many parts that are brought together.
Apart from some drugs, every other things can be used in another way. Even drugs can be altered or used in different combination. Apart from the functions communicated by the users, I have been doing some strenght training with some of my big books when I couldn’t go to gym.Begin to see a product as amalgamation of many parts and your resourcefulness will improve.
This list is not exhaustive but you can begin from anywhere to have a bountiful lists of what you can do to become resourceful.
This is an internal job that of you master, you can make do woth anything life theows at you and build works that matter and change lives.
Pls kindly follow me on twitter and lets rub minds on how to love better and live healthier @adlawceo82
