Welcome to “How You Living?” a transformative podcast featuring best-selling author, inspirational speaker and minister, Dr. Rick Rigsby—and, now, Dr. Rick.
Dr. Rigsby: Hello, friends, and thank you so very much for listening today. I want to talk to you about being resourceful, specifically discovering the power of resourcefulness. “Resourceful” is defined in this way: finding ways to deal with barriers and overcome obstacles.
I love that and I love being around resourceful people. They think differently. They challenge themselves. As a matter of fact, I came across an article about a branding company in Wales. It was founded by Sid Madge and he developed a program called Mee. M, triple E. [01:01.8]
Its mission? Inspire everyone to believe in who they are, and according to Madge and let me quote him here, “We don't understand ourselves. We don't understand others. But we can put a man on the moon. We can put a Rover on Mars. But we don't understand ourselves.”
I found Madge’s five qualities of a resourceful person to be not only helpful, but rather illuminating. See if you agree. Number one quality, resourceful people are open-minded. They positively work at breaking boundaries and redefining what is possible and what is not. This means we have to have an open mind. We have to be open to trying new ways, trying new things. We must be open to considering alternatives. Here's a thought. Imagine if the pilgrims were not open-minded. [01:55.2]
Here are other qualities of a resourceful person. Number two, they read. They're vociferous readers. They love to learn. They love to learn. Resourceful people have a wealth of knowledge. Reading opens doors to this knowledge and stimulates the imagination. You know what? You can never read too much and I say a hearty amen to that.
A third quality of a resourceful person, they're imaginative. They don't just ask good questions, but resourceful people ask the right questions and they're the ones in the room that are never afraid to ask a question. You never hear a resourceful person begin a question with this declarative statement, “This may be a dumb question,” but there is no such thing as a dumb question. Don't you like that, friends?
Here's the fourth quality of a resourceful person. They're resilient. They power through. They themselves up. They continue on. Those who are resourceful are not idle. They don't sit around. There's no procrastination. They grab life and they go for it. [03:10.2]
Hey, how about this fifth characteristic of a resourceful person? They're honest. Madge says this is the most important of all five traits. Resourceful people will not lie about a task or a promise. They're known for delivering, not over promising, but delivering. They're very efficient, and if they don't know, they'll simply tell you, “I don't know,” because in the long run, they'd discovered that lying wastes time and it wastes energy.
I love those. Can I just review those? Resourceful people have the following qualities. They're open-minded. They read. They're learners. They're imaginative. They're resilient, and they're honest.
Friends, I had a major revelation about 10 years ago. It came as I was sitting on a beach during vacation. Here was the revelation. “Rick, everything you need, you already have.” I'll tell you how true that is, at least in my life. This revelation really challenged my thinking. It really changed my perspective. [04:16.0]
If I can self-disclose for a moment, I think I went on that vacation lamenting over the things that I did not have, over the things that I felt I was missing in my personal life and my professional life. Then, suddenly, sitting on a beach, this thought, “Everything you need, you already have.” Hmm, everything I need, I already have?
And no sooner than getting home from vacation, I found that to be true. A while later, I was recuperating from a brief surgery in the hospital and my in-laws were in. We call them Grandma and Grandpa. Now, remember the revelation. Everything I need, I already have, things like oxygen and sunshine. [04:58.4]
My recuperating was going slowly. My healing was delayed, and my father-in-law, Grandpa, as far as we know, never spent a day in medical school. You know what he told me? He said, “You're doing those exercises inside. You need to breathe fresh air. You need to allow that sun to hit you in the face. You need to fill your lungs with oxygen. So, get on your crutches, walk to the back door, open the door, and do your exercises in the will of the door. Everything I need, I already have.
How about this one? Since we're talking about in-laws, Grandma gets fair play as well. She was telling me that she does and have a membership to a gym. She doesn't go to the gym. She goes, “Why do I need to go to the gym?” She goes, for her biceps, for example, she will lift jugs of water, gallon jugs of water. That's a great workout for her arms. Everything I need, I already have. [05:59.8]
Friends, don't you love talking to people who are post-70 years of age? And if you listen carefully, you will see revealed in their comments, a life of being resourceful. You know what? I want to tell you a story. I want to tell you a story about someone who, in my opinion, is the epitome of resourcefulness.
Sadly, his mother died when he was just seven years old. He was raised by a single dad. His dad was a handyman, so, boy, there's some seeds of resourcefulness right away that this little boy was witnessing firsthand. This little boy was encouraged to play all sports except football. He chose tennis and he wasn't part of a country club, and there's nothing wrong with being a part of a country club, but he chose what was available to him, the public tennis courts and he started improving. He started excelling at tennis. He began winning. He won national junior titles. He played so well as an adolescent and as a teen, he won a scholarship to UCLA. [07:04.8]
Now, in order to help offset the tuition, he joined the ROTC to satisfy a lot of the financial demand, right? He's commissioned as a second Lieutenant. As a result of joining the ROTC, he was assigned to West Point where he taught tennis at West Point. He was the first African-American in the United States to play in the Davis Cup to make the Davis Cup team. He won three Grand Slams during his professional tennis career. You probably already know who I'm talking about. The legend Arthur Ash.
Listen to this. His simple philosophy is one of the best quotes I’ve ever heard on being resourceful. Here it is. “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” Oh, baby. So simple. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. [08:02.5]
It was Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance man, who said on one occasion, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” I came across an interesting, interesting blog online. If you'd like to look it up, it's by psychologist, Sherrie Campbell. Dr. Campbell is also an author and a speaker.
Listen to this. Dr. Campbell writes and I quote, “There is not a more useful or important trait to possess than resourcefulness in the pursuit of success.” I'm going to say that again because we usually don't see the word “resourceful” listed when we talk about success. [08:42.0]
Listen to how this psychologist opens up this blog. “There is not a more useful or important trait to possess than resourcefulness in the pursuit of success. Resourcefulness,” she says, “is a mindset, and is especially relevant when the goals you have set are difficult to achieve or you cannot envision a clear path to get to where you desire to go. With a resourcefulness mindset you are driven to find a way. An attitude of resourcefulness inspires out-of-the-box thinking, the generation of new ideas, and the ability to visualize all the possible ways to achieve what you desire. Resourcefulness,” the psychologist says, “turns you into a scrappy, inventive and enterprising entrepreneur. It places you a cut above the rest.”
Resourcefulness as a mindset. Who would have thunk, huh? A mindset to help us push through difficulty, a mindset that inspires out-of-the-box thinking, a mindset that compels us to re-imagine what's possible. I love Dr. Campbell's last line. Listen to it again. “Resourcefulness turns you into a scrappy, inventive and enterprising entrepreneur. It places you a cut above the rest.” Oh, baby. [10:15.0]
I’ve been thinking about my friends as I put this podcast together. I’ve been thinking about friends who are resourceful. Then I started thinking about relatives who are resourceful. Top of the list, right there with Grandma and Grandpa, are Roger and Viola Rigsby, my mother and father, although I did not appreciate that resourcefulness when I was a child. I hated eating leftovers, for example. I wasn't really crazy about my father's response whenever we have asked to go to what we used to call back in the ’60s “the drive-in.” You can insert McDonald’s, Whataburger in Texas, In-N-Out Burger, Carl's Jr., Burger King. When we would ask to go and get a burger, we got the same response. I got the same response my entire childhood. [11:04.8]
“Dad, can we go to McDonald’s?”
“Son, we've got food at home in the icebox.” Not refrigerator, but icebox.
As a child, I was clueless when it came to being resourceful and, truthfully, friends, I really didn't get it until I had to learn how to make ends meet when I got to be an adult. And, all of a sudden, your parents become genius, don't they? As a matter of fact, if you're like me, you wonder how your parents made it with little. I'll tell you how they made it. They were resourceful.
The pandemic has offered us a graduate course on being resourceful. Leftovers have never tasted so good. My wife and I are so different. Even to this day, I'm not crazy about leftovers, but you had no choice during the pandemic, right? I like fresh food. I like going out. I like the glitz and the glamour of a freshly prepared meal, right? I just loved that. My wife is completely and totally satisfied with a bowl of cereal, come on, somebody, with an egg sandwich, right? [12:11.8]
So, it has been good for me to see, especially during the week and pandemic, her love of using what she has. She grew up in the country. She's a country girl. Being resourceful and coming from a big family, that just went hand in hand, and so I have learned to enjoy leftovers at a much higher level.
Let me tell you something, another way that the pandemic has given us a graduate course on being resourceful. Home repairs. Come on, somebody. We were locked down for over a year. Can't have folks coming in your house, so you have to learn yourself how to change the filter on the refrigerator. Thank God for YouTube. That's the only way we made it. [12:52.8]
How about enjoying nature? The pandemic has literally forced us to slow down. You can only binge watch so much. You can only stay on your electronic gadgets so long. I discovered birdwatching over this last year. There is nothing to me outside on the patio as relaxing as watching the birds, especially my favorite, the mourning dove, M-O-U-R-N-I-N-G. I love the mourning dove because the mourning dove is oblivious to everything around it. It's just peaceful by nature.
Thinking about the pandemic, thinking about being resourceful, friends, I panicked when my gym closed. What am I going to do if I can't go to a gym? And then I thought about Grandma lifting those gallon jugs of water, and then I thought about that revelation on the beach several years ago. Everything you need, you already have. [13:56.0]
Recently, I was watching an interview on the TODAY Show with a mom that has literally transformed herself by exercising around the house. For kicks and giggles, I want you to check out Melissa Wood on Instagram, common spelling. This is a mom who developed a low-impact workout routine. It comes after years of torture thinking that the only way to get results was to spend hours in a gym and just literally torture yourself.
After the birth of her first child, she discovered that she's a very busy mom and she can't spin hours, so she created “micro moments”. All throughout the day, she combined just a couple of simple forms of movement. She started listening to her body, started paying attention to her breathing. Melissa Wood has 800,000 followers on Instagram. Her simple philosophy—you don't need a gym. You don't need lots of hours to get results.
I want you to check out her excuse-proof exercises. My two favorites are the stroller series and the park-bench series. Just go to Melissa Wood Health. Melissa, you are the epitome today of resourcefulness. [15:12.7]
Recently, friends, here in Texas, we had a massive snow storm all throughout the state. It resulted in total power outages for several days for many. For us, we had rolling outages where our power would come on for a half hour and then be off for an hour or so. Sadly, there was devastating damage and loss of life.
Now, I'm a city boy. When the power goes out, I go out. I'm looking for a hotel. I'm looking for … The bad part is there was no power in the hotels as well. You know what I discovered? It's amazing what you can do with wood and a fireplace, and blankets and candles, and battery-operated lanterns. Hmm. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. [16:02.7]
What I love about learning to be resourceful the most is how being resourceful encourages me to be hopeful, because when you have a mindset of being resourceful, you know what it means? It means just what Mr. Madge said earlier. You can be resilient. You never ever give up. You cultivate that expectation that, somehow, no matter what the obstacle, you're going to power through.
I love the fact that our mindset of resourcefulness really cultivates a heart of hope. Hope believes all things. What did you say, Helen Keller? “Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.” That sounds like a mighty good mindset to me. In fact, that sounds like a great mindset. [16:55.8]
Recently, I’ve been watching a person sink deeper and deeper into frustration and I thought to myself, What if this person could develop a mindset of resourcefulness? Now, friends, if that's you, just know that it's going to require a shift in our thinking. Rather than being overwhelmed, we have to learn to use anxiety and frustration to motivate us not to quit or to give up, or to give in.
But, Rick, where do I begin? In the words of a great man, start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can. Think about that just for a few minutes today, friends. I really believe with all my heart that this is a mindset worth holding on to for the rest of your life.
That's going to do it for this episode. Until we meet again, this is Dr. Rick, asking you the most important question I can ask, how you livin’? [17:58.2]
Are you ready to make an impact in your world right now? Do you want to stop existing and start living your best life right now? Dr. Rick wants to give you the first chapter of his bestselling book, “Lessons from a Third Grade Dropout”, absolutely free. Just go to www.RickRigsby.com/FreeGift to get the print or audiobook right now.
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