Dare To Be Resourceful

On occasions, I would get these letters from various banks offering me a tempting amount of money. And man, we're talking about personal loans of up to $20,000!

Of course, you have to pay that stuff back, but I know how to use debt in my favor so that I won't get in trouble with it...again. Getting approved for such a large amount of money would solve many of our issues!

However, I always end up throwing those letters away. For one, I just don't care to have anymore debt. If I wanted to go back to school for something, I wouldn't take out any loan -- so, pretty much, that means I won't be going back to school any time soon.

But two, I don't want to keep depending on money to fix problems. I want to dare myself to be resourceful, to look for other ways to get what I want. If I keep depending on money, then I'll never have enough of it. However, if I could depend on my resourcefulness, the sky would truly be the limit!

One time, I put an ad on Craig's List bartering my personal training service for something else of value, not being sure what I'd get. One woman responded offering her time share! She really didn't want serious personal training, but just someone to push her to go in the right direction with her health. I really didn't think the trade was a truly fair one, because she was offering a six-day vacation at any resort (for free!) anywhere in the world. The service I've given her, in my opinion, didn't even match up to what she was offering. However, she wasn't going to use that time share anyway. She just simply wanted to give it away, but at the very least, in her mind, she could get a little something in return.

I never used that time share. I gave it to my mother, who has helped my family out so much. I wanted this to be a little "pay back" for what she has given to my family. I didn't pay one dime for that vacation. My mother had chosen to go to New Orleans because she had always wanted to go but never had the opportunity to go. She could have gone to France, Italy, the Bahamas, anywhere!

Now, instead of bartering my services, I could have stressed out about how to get more money to pay for her vacation. See, that's what happens when you think about how to get more money: you start stressing! You limit your thinking. All you could think about is that money is the answer to everything.

When you start being resourceful, you start looking for alternative methods to get what you want. When you're resourceful, you'd be surprised at what could be done with little to no money.

While I was a P.E. teacher, the school that I taught in had very, very little gym equipment. But that didn't worry me. I looked around for what the school did have: picnic tables, cinder blocks, a tree to do pull ups on, and lots of running room outside. I even asked if any parents could donate some items, and I've included in my wish list some used car tires. Well, one parent actually gave me several used tires, and the kids loved working out with them.

Also, I had kids push one of the high schooler's pick up truck, run races with rolling garbage containers, push a huge garbage dumpster, lift cinder blocks and picnic tables, etc. In fact, teachers and parents started donating some exercise equipment, but I hardly used any of them for the kids. I just stuck with the stuff I found outside.

The more resourceful you are, the less desire you'd have for the stuff that money can buy. Why? Because you'd have become so confident in your ability to be resourceful that you'd want to push yourself to be even more resourceful. Having money would make things too easy for you.

Now, you're thinking, "Uh...no! I prefer to have the money!" But think about this: if you're able to get something without money, why would you want to start getting things with money? If you could make ONE thing happen without cash, then you could make more stuff happen without cash.

One time, my wife and I were on the WIC (women, infants, and children) program. We were given government vouchers to get food for us and the kids. The program was, to me, a pain. When trying to use those vouchers at the store, many times the cashiers needed help to use them. It was almost embarrassing for me, because we would be slowing down the line with these vouchers. The cashiers weren't fast enough in using them and there would be people waiting behind us.

Finally, my wife started getting into couponing and looking for deals online. She became a coupon guru, bringing home bags of food at a fraction of the cost. Soon, we just decided to give up the WIC program because, well, we just didn't need it anymore.

You could spend your time trying to look for the best-paying job or trying to make the most amount of money from your business. Or...you could spend your time maximizing what you already have.

Whenever I look for a new job, I don't look for the highest paying job. I don't even look for decent-paying jobs. The jobs I look at would be the same jobs that you wouldn't want to get, because you'd be thinking, "I can't live off that!" But I could, because I know how to be resourceful.

• One day, the government may change the value of the dollar so that you'd be working harder for little in return.
• Your successful career could end unexpectedly.
• You may not be able to get the loan that you were hoping for.
• Your parents may run out of money and won't be able to bail you out anymore.

But if you could be resourceful, you won't be TOO afraid of any given situation. You won't be thinking about, "Where am I to get the money from?" You would be thinking, "How can I get what I want with what I already have?" This is why it's important to learn different skills in life, because you never know which of those skills would save you from hard times. Money is not only limited, but it's also fragile. It could go at any moment. But you could ALWAYS be resourceful, because as long as you're living, there is something you could offer that would get you what you need.

Don't obsess about riches. Don't daydream about having all the money in the world. Don't go around saying, "If only I won the lotto!" Seek to be resourceful. Use what you have. Find other paths to get to where you want to go. Build up your skills to make the most happen by using the least amount of tools.