#MyWordForToday is #Resourcefulness

“The mind of a child is where the revolution begins, so if the solution has never been to look at yourself how is it that you expect to find it anywhere else?”-⁦ @ImmortalTech⁩

#MyWordForToday is #Resourcefulness

A word that can mean clever and tenacious, it is a skill that I look out for were I to be interviewing prospective employees.

For resourceful people, giving up is not an attractive option. Our 9-year-old daughter continues to teach us lessons on being resourceful and tenacious.

She simply does not recognise the word "NO". When she asks for anything, she does not hear no, I think she hears "come back later" or "not yet", she's a persistent little bugger 💞💞💞. 

I had written a medium post about her here: https://link.medium.com/6BEAKY6S56. She took a shine to ballet dancing, I tried to dissuade her because I was convinced she had two left feet and was wont to dance faster than musical beats, but she persisted in her belief and has now put me in particular, to "shame" she now leads during her school presentations, and even does solo presentations (this is just one instance of her being persistent when she really wants something).

The life lessons I have picked, and still picking from my little Ejura is that if you really need to do something, you must find a way in spite of obstacles barring you. You must find resourceful ways of achieving your goals, she forces us to sit and watch her practice, she even tries to make us dance ballet 🤭.

It has now become a thing for me, when I find myself in difficult situations, to ask myself what would Ejura do? 😁

I have read very many things about the universe, how it opens up for you when you really want something, I do not know how true this is, I do however know that in achieving a goal, one must be persistent, consistent, determine and tenacious.

Rome indeed was not built in a day, but the bricks to build it was laid every single day. It is trite that as a leader, you must cultivate the ability of being resourceful.

Finding enterprising ways of tackling issues that arise, as life is such that there will always be challenges, the ability to find ingenious ways of solving those challenges will forever be an admirable skill.

Some people refer to being resourceful as the skill of "thinking outside the box". I call it thinking "enterprisingly" or being a jury-riger.

Perhaps being resourceful is a follow-come skill (follow come is hilarious Nigerianese for "factory-fitted"), but I also know that it is a learnable skill, after all, everyone in my family is learning from our 9year old.

One of the hallmarks of being resourceful is being open-minded and flexible in decision making. Always willing to hear others before taking a decision. After all the mark of an educated mind is to examine all possibilities and discard the ones that are not useful for you.

A resourceful person is also great at building useful friendships and contacts, this was aptly named by Ms Carla Harris as having "relationship currency". She said, "If you have a good relationship with someone, they will often be willing to introduce you to others and even to use their reputation to vouch for you or to give you an endorsement".

This is simply using the relationships that you have built over time as a currency to be spent when the need arises, that is being resourceful.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made some of us resourceful, one of the positives to this nightmare. We have had to dig in into ourselves.

The phrase "it is not what you do not have that holds you back, it is what you do have but you're not using that holds you back" rings very very true now.

COVID is making some of us utilise some of the tools in our creative arsenal, it has caused us to take a pause and look inward, to identify what we already have but paid no mind to. And this is quite fantastic.

I follow Shil Shanghavi on LinkedIn, he wrote a post on how one of his shoe boxes, not the shoes themselves, have served to be one of the most valuable pieces of equipment he possesses because he now uses it as a magnificent prop for his MacBook. He said it has now become "an effortless asset for his online presentations".

Bedros Keuilian, author of the best-selling book "man-up", speaking on being resourceful said "If you cannot do it with no money, no connection, and no experience, then you can't do it even WITH all of these things. Being resourceful he says, is the "Ultimate Resource", your biography does not determine your destiny, your decisions do.

A resourceful person is one who chooses their battles carefully. My people are wont to say it is not every dog that barks at you on your way to the marketplace that you must stop to throw stones at, for when will you get to the marketplace?

A resourceful person is aware that his/her energy is limited and should, therefore, be spent on activities that bring a return, and not on just every type of activity.

Perhaps the most important trait of a resourceful person is their resilience and optimism.... going from one failure to the other without giving up their cause. A trait that can also be annoying because they are just like a dog with a bone. 😄

A resourceful person is an emotionally intelligent person that would acquire additional skills, knowledge and self-confidence. Being teachable and open to learning is a vital characteristic of an ideal resourceful person.

I had spoken about flexibility above, let me also mention that a resourceful person is able to shift their perspective on issues. My daughter when presented with a No, pivots to something else and "okay, how about......."? ☺

I have constantly reiterated that if you cannot change a circumstance, you must change how you view that Circumstance. Changing or pivoting from a perspective is very key 🔑 in being resourceful.

A resourceful person will realise that no man is an island and that seeking the opinions of others or bouncing off ideas around others is not a weakness, but a resource. Take time off to see stuff from multiple perspectives whilst not forgetting to keep an open mind, this is my view of being a resourceful person.....

Namaste!

p. s : Ejura is also a budding creative, destroying several papers in her artistic bid. The attached fiery picture is her depiction of " the ickabog" by J. K. Rowling.

Bibire Omotoyosi Salihu

07062020