“No complain. No explain – Drag Yourself Across the Goal line.”

—Sam Adettiwar

How many times have you been tempted to look for something or someone to blame for not getting the job done? Perhaps you have been plagued by bad internet connectivity or are feeling under the weather or seething against that annoying coworker who breathes too heavily in the next cubicle. Recognize these for what they really are – temporary glitches that can be overcome. Learn how to quickly get over or past them so that work and your own productivity does not suffer. 

The other common situation is when you are tasked with an important project and then for whatever reason, you are unable to deliver. Rather than taking ownership of the situation and then doing whatever it is required to set it right, you spend hours explaining to your boss why you couldn’t get the job done. Just consider all the time and effort you are wasting coming up with elaborate explanations which might be inconsequential at best and a cover-up, at worst. Recognize that such superficial, lengthy explanations for non-performance do not help anyone – neither your organization which is suffering the loss of productive hours nor you since you come off as incompetent.

Mahatman today urges you to take extreme responsibility for your own situation and set it right. Do whatever it takes to get over a technical fault, a weak body, or a negative attitude from people. Rather than blaming your situation and others around you, learn to be resourceful, and get the job done.

There is another reason why Mahatman wants to hammer the lesson of being resourceful to you. Thoughts and actions repeated in a pattern become a habit. So, turn away from this practice of complaining and explaining before it becomes a habit reeking of negativity and ineptitude. Build self-awareness through techniques like mindfulness so that you can catch yourself in the act the next time you start giving excuses for not getting the job done. Control your mind chatter and replace negative thoughts – that crib and whine – with positive thoughts that are more focused on solutions. If you have already been whining for some time now, it will be a while before you can get out of the negative loop but the main thing is to start – NOW!

There are so many icons of business, sports, and entertainment industry who are idolized for their success and star appeal. But most of them are proudly self-made which means they were not born in the lap of luxury. Rather than being showered with opportunities right from the beginning, they actively modified their circumstances so that opportunities would come their way. The Chinese billionaire Jack Ma for instance was born into humble circumstances but even as a teen, he would frequent tourist hotspots in his hometown not just to earn a few extra bucks as a guide but so that he could learn English from the Western travelers. These skills came in real handy when Ma had to look for ways to travel to America and then build his business in China. 

Yet another shining example of grit and resourcefulness is Media baroness Oprah Winfrey. She has survived sexual abuse, teen pregnancy and body bias to emerge one of the richest women in the world. You don’t find these people complaining that they lacked resources while growing up and that not enough opportunities came their way. Instead what you learn from their stories is to make your own opportunities – the crux of the Mahatman mantra! 

Apart from real-life role models around you, other cultures and characters can also teach you entertaining lessons about being resourceful. How many of you remember the swashbuckling hero of the TV show, MacGyver – now there was a guy to whom resourcefulness came as easily as breathing! He would disarm bombs with paper clips and use gum wrappers to fix fuses like it was all in a day’s work! Then there are cultural concepts like “jugaad” in semi-urban India where things break down our systems don’t work so often that enterprising people have learned to tweak situations to get on with their work and business – and that too in the most frugal way possible. Some examples of such resourcefulness that have made their way into public stage range from an ingenious electrocardiogram in a backpack, developed by GE Healthcare’s Indian engineers to SELCO India, a sustainable energy provider that sells solar panels to a network of small entrepreneurs who in turn use them to charge battery-powered lights rented to households outside the country’s electricity grid1.

It is however hardly enough to limit a discussion on resourcefulness only to why we need it. It is equally important to know the ‘hows’ of resourcefulness which is why I shall be leaving you with a few strategies on cultivating this most useful of life skills. To become more resourceful:

• Use technology – these days so many difficulties can be solved by smartphones, digital personal assistants, internet connectivity and apps. For example, if you have forgotten to take your driver’s license for an identity check, you can request a clear pic of the hard copy to be considered for the purpose.
• Creativity – allow your creativity to come to the fore when grappling with difficulty. So many times, problems are easier to solve when you willing to think outside the box. Resourcefulness is all about problem-solving rather than relying on ready resources and this can happen only when you are willing to imagine beyond the horizon of tried and tested. Indeed sometimes you may even have to break a few rules to this end. Do not break the law but by all means push the boundaries of a situation if it means overcoming your problem. 
• Persistence – We all know about Edison’s comment on one of his setbacks when inventing the light bulb, “I have not failed. I have merely found 10,000 ways that don’t work”. Being resourceful is not always coming up with awesome epiphanies but sheer determination to not let the problem get the better of you. Keep trying, again and again, until you have found a way around the problem.
• Be positive – At the same time, it is important that you persist not as a result of toxic egoistic reasons but in a positive frame of mind – being hopeful that persistence will pay, and eventually you will come up with a way that will work.
• Tap into your support network – Shamelessly ask for help if you think that could help you overcome hurdles. Feeling hesitant or hopeless about seeking genuine help are all signs of poor self-esteem. Overcome your anxiety of reaching out and you may be pleasantly surprised how often people are willing to help you. Additionally, nurture a support system you can tap into when you need certain skills and resources to get past a sticky situation. 
• Finally, Burn the ship – Heed that ancient story of Captain Hernan Cortes who ordered his soldiers to burn the ships before the conquest of Veracruz. This was so that the men knew that there was no going back and they would be compelled to fight to the best of their abilities. Sometimes, it pays to burn your ships too – do away with Plan B or the option of backtracking so that you know how you have to find a way around the problem – come what may!