Don’t Waste Water: The Opportunity Mindset
My good friend, welcome back to my blog. Today we shall rub minds around resource management and the scarcity mindset. I am writing in real-time as I teach a friend how to publish articles on Mediums. Let’s go Pal.
What is a Resource?
In lay terms, a resource is anything I use to achieve some tangible goal I want. For instance, food becomes a resource if I wish to settle hunger, and water could be my resource for quenching thirst. As we know, resources are not infinite in nature, in fact, resources are usually scarce in supply. But the people who work and have been blessed by the good of the land can amass resources, which I refer to as riches. The next concern therefore would be how to manage these resources. Let’s share thoughts on this in the next section.
Resource Sourcing
We may use water as our case study in discussing this. If you have lived in an environment where you have constant water supply from running taps you may be tempted to take water for granted until its supply becomes cut-off by something unexpected. Suddenly you find people greeting their neighbours who they never cared about, new relationships are built and instant policing structures are set up for the working taps on the street to manage the queue of people. This is something like what happens globally around resources like skills, crude oil, food, etcetera, which people exchange money and time to get. Some people need these resources while others have them, hence, trade takes place.
Resource Management
For the woman who has water, her management concern is that her tap is not broken by a surge in demand. She is also interested in maintaining its supply so that she may continue to commercialize it to gain goodwill, blessings, money or inner satisfaction from rendering charity (which may represent the various motivations for people who work). For the man in need of water, his management concern is around sourcing the best possible quality of water. He is also interested in the amount of money he needs to pay for that water. Finally, he is thinking of how to rectify his bad tap so that he stops perpetual dependence on the public supply. These are some of the goals of individuals and nations who have resources or are seeking resources.
The Case of Wastage
Wastage often arises when people think they have more than enough for themselves and for those (or the needs) they care about, or when people do not understand what brings about the availability of a resource. So in our water scenario, where the taps work in 5-Star homes, there is the tendency to leave a tap turned On all through while brushing one’s teeth in the morning instead of turning it Off when not in use. You find security guards who leave the tap On while draining water from the body of the cars with a towel because they do not understand the value chain that is coordinated in bringing about the running water. People buy things they do not need because the money seems to surpass what they can visualize as their current need.
The Case for Savings and Investment
How could one save water you may ask? Well, you save the burden on the infrastructure that supplies it when you use only what you need when you need it. You invest water when you realize the greater good it can afford for your plants and flowers. The joy it can bring to your environment and the gains of growth you can experience with it are also important. You may now replace water in this paragraph with any of [money, time, energy, attention, love or skill]. Also, consider replacing the plants and flowers with people.
For me, my time is my water and everything that contributes to the good of people and the work of God is where my resource goes to. Please don’t waste your water, the world needs it.
Cheers 🥂
