Using what you have to get what you need

Author of ‘Practical Steps to Financial Independence’ and personal finance coach, Mr. Usiere Uko, writes about becoming more resourceful with what you already have

Many people have not taken the time to itemise what they have. We simply assume that to get ahead in life, we need a better job or more capital. We believe that what we already have does not count, hence we don’t reckon with it.

Most of us have skills that are dormant or not put to optimum use. We have a room we can call our own, space in our backyards, a laptop or phone with Internet access, various items at home, land, etc lying fallow. Many have good people skills used mainly for aimless socialising. Many can read and write very well, know the neighbourhood as the back of their hand and understand the currency, but have no clue what to use those skills for. The list goes on and on. An immigrant who does not know anywhere, speak the language or understand the currency can come in with a small bag, with hardly a place to lay his head and succeeds when the ‘owners’ of the land are busy looking for what is not lost.

It is not how much that comes into your hands that determine how wealthy you are, it is what you do with what you already have. You have no control over what you are expecting. You have control over what you already have. A farmer understands this very well. He focuses on yield – how to make more from what has. A hunter does not appreciate this. He hopes he will catch something.

Are you making use of what you have?

Anytime someone complains to me that his income is not enough, I don’t need a prophet to tell me that the person is not exploring other sources of income based on what he already has. He does not even think about it. If anyone dares bring up such an idea, they have ready-made excuses. I can tell that the person has not been studying. He uses his phone data for social media and chats. In the age of too much information, many are still ignorant.

I recently started backyard farming as a hobby a while back to motivate me to go outdoors more often, take fresh air and interact with nature. I have learned a lot of life lessons, nurturing and watching plants grow. Almost on a daily basis, I walk round the compound to watch my plants, looking for signs of growth. I get excited when seeds germinate, when trees start to bring flowers and bear fruits. I eat the fruits and vegetables from my garden with pride. It came from my farm. To increase the yield, I have to take good care of the soil. It takes effort. I have come to realise that it holds true in other areas of life – relationships, finances, career, health and fitness, spirituality, etc. You have to nurture it to grow. If it is not growing, it is dying.

The space I used did not just show up. It has been there all these years. I had to do something about it. Chances are, you have what you already need to get what you want. The challenge is that you are looking in the wrong places. A starting point is to really take stock of what you already have, which you take for granted – your education, language skills, social and other skills and competencies, what you own or have access to, etc. You need to be grateful for and appreciate what you have in order for it to grow.

Waiting for the ball to be passed to you

Many people are looking for what to do. Why not start to think of what you can do with what you already have? When you are looking for what you don’t have, you are stuck in one place waiting for the ball to be passed to you before you can play. When you think about what to do with what you already have, possibilities start to open. As you research online and interact with people already doing it, you get more ideas that you can put to action immediately. The ball is already with you. You can play it the way you want.

Don’t wait for your ship to come in. It may never come. Row out to meet it. Instead of spending all your time on social media, reading posts, making comments and fighting aimless cyber wars, why not use that time to read up on how to utilise what you already have? Why not focus your energy on improving your skills in the areas that matter to you?

If you think your only hope of getting foreign exchange is through the central bank or bureau de change, you are at the mercy of circumstances. When you focus on how you can earn foreign exchange, leveraging what you already know how to do, you start to see opportunities you were blind to. While most are lamenting, some are already doing it quietly. We cannot use the same thinking that got us into this recession to get us out. We need to step up our game. It is no longer business as usual.

A lot of free money has left the economy and we are in recession. You can blame the government all you want. I get amused each time I am online seeing cyber warriors slugging it out in the comment section of newspapers. After venting, reality awaits. We are here already and the only thing we can do is change or sink. The era of free money is gone. This is the time to learn the fundamentals of creating wealth. We can point fingers at the government all we want for neither diversifying the economy nor adding value to the petroleum value chain. What have we done with what we have? While the government has its own share of the blame, pushing the blame will not put food on your table or pay your children’s school fees.

This is not the time to look for help from abroad. It is time run with what we have got. We have no excuses. Many have done fantastic things with much less. As we usher in 2017, let’s resolve to leave the shadows and show the world what we have to offer. We have what it takes to turn this around.

Happy New Year

For questions, comments or inquiries you can contact him at usiere@gmail.com, www.financialfreedominspiration.com. Follow me on twitter @usiere, BBM C002B2697

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