Sure, talking about resource scarcity is real, but from my perspective, it can also be an easy crutch to lean on versus figuring out how to do more with less. Especially since seldomly do people complain about having too much. Although of course some do.
On a regular basis I’m having conversations with others who are creatively figuring out ways to accomplish extraordinary things. Most of the time without the resources I would have expected them to have. Resources including money, staff and sometime access to equipment which they don’t have. Does this slow down or put people at a disadvantage when they are seemingly running at a deficit compared to others? Not always, and in fact, this can be one of their competitive advantages.
Consider a time in your life when you were in a scenario when you only dreamed of having all of the elements you thought you would need to guarantee or have a chance of increasing your level of success. I’m certain at that time you felt differently than you have when you had every resource at your disposal. Perhaps you felt more energy or excited about having to leverage your creativity to great lengths to overcompensate for what you didn’t have access to? Or, based on heightened levels of anxiety, you leveraged your anxiety levels to fuel your passion to succeed?
If you haven’t experienced operating in any given scenario at a disadvantage, I’m going to let you in on a secret. It’s actually a tremendous advantage when you have less resources to work with. How do I know this? Because I’ve experienced being on both ends of the spectrum. I can also credibly share with you that being on the disadvantaged side 100% of the time served me and others I was with very well. Namely because we didn’t view ourselves as being disadvantaged. Instead, we understood and simply perceived that we needed to work and think differently to accomplish what we were attempting to accomplish.
When you or anyone else pulls the “pity me card”, it’s equivalent to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Can you admit to having done this? If not, did you instead blame others for your situation?
Blaming others is equivalent to taking the easy way out of any scenario. I’m going to state that it is also a cowardly approach, and at the height of being selfish, and places the person in a supremely unaware position of the consideration or consequences for others.
Conversely, the people who have the best interest of others in mind, and who might be challenged with not having all of the resources they need, are typically the ones who don’t complain. They also make the best of most situations they are in, and amazingly get things done with either little to work with, or the need for recognition of their achievements.
The teams I have seen who have everything at their fingertips are not always the ones who have the advantage over others. Perceptually it might appear they do, but in reality, the majority of the time they don’t. You might be wondering why this is the case, and it comes down to a simple, yet not well understood method. One that more people are beginning to figure out and embrace. It’s the concept of doing more with less, and being successful…in terms of your own measurement of success. Not everyone else’s.
If you are wondering what suggestions I have if you want to achieve more with less, below are some tips for you to consider.
- Many of us are guilty of having too much “stuff”. Literally too many items for us to deal with, and that can cause us unnecessary stress just having to deal with and manage all of these physical items.
- How often are you regularly leveraging your creative ability? If you don’t consider yourself to be creative, is this due to a limiting belief? Or, have you simply not tapped into being more creative to address coming up with a solution for something you need, want or think you can’t live without, but do not have in your possession?
- Would it be possible to borrow what you need?
- Is it possible to barter for what you want?
- Perhaps you have a skill set or physical item that you could leverage, yet haven’t considered tapping into yet?
- If you are honest with yourself, will having (fill-in-the-blank) really increase your chances of success or allow you to accomplish without whatever you think you need to do so?
- What if you scale back on what you are trying to accomplish? What are the actual repercussions of doing this, and could you extend the time you need to achieve what you want to with an alternative timeline?
- Are you willing to work harder, longer or perhaps more strategically than anyone else? What will this involve doing, and is it possible to do these things and have it make a difference?
When we look at accomplishing anything from the perspective of having the mindset we are going to figure out a way to do so independently of the odds against us for doing so, this is often when amazing achievements occur. What’s stopping you or your team from doing this?
TAGS: #Success #Mindset #Motivation #Creativity #Teams #Leadership #Sportsteams #Sports #Business #Businessteams #Achievement #Competitiveadvantage #Teamdynamics #Leaders