i was talking to a friend and he was lamenting a discussion that he and his 8 year old son had about the economy. His son said that if they ever ran out of money that they wouldnt have to worry… the government would give them what they needed. My friend tried to explain to his son some of what was going on (as best as any of us could). mostly he and i talked about was the perception that his son now had. If you dont have enough, the government will just give you more.
so… what’s this got to do with looking at the “Resources” associated with my self or my business?
because we are training ourselves and our kids… even managing our businesses and our government… from the perspective of not being responsible for the choices and decisions we make. when we “rescue” the auto industry or the banks to prevent them from “failing” (newsflash: as businesses, as employers, as members of a free market - they have already failed!) we set the tone that this is how things work… when we create an expectation that profits are private but losses should be socialized the system loses integrity, lacks accountability and creates an environment of unrealistic expectations.
and this is concerning…
i’m reminded of what Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense, “… a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises a formidable outcry in defence of custom.”
and that is what we see from the car companies and the banks (and others as things begin to trickle down and up and around)… if we dont save them what will happen to us? this is the defense of custom that Paine was warning us about. not thinking something is wrong does not inherently make it right… it just means we havent really been thinking about it.
in looking at the resources available to us either personally or professionally we have to be realistic and grounded in an expectation that while there is abundance and opportunity, but they dont come without effort; while we have more choices than any other culture that has ever existed, this freedom doesnt come without accountability for our actions and choices. as we look at what resources we do have and how to best utilize them, keep in mind that we are ultimately responsible for the resources we have been given and are accountable to how we use them… hopefully responsibly while we seek to achieve the results we are after.
as we look at resources, i want to categorize them into fiscal, physical, network, and temporal. money, stuff, people, and time. the thing about resources is not what or how you are using them - that is up to you… the issue is more about being conscious of them and making sure that you are using them as you would really want them to be used. resources are limited and using them consciously our responsibility.
Next post will be about breaking down each of these categories: fiscal (money), physical (stuff), network (people and relationships), and temporal (time).