When times are challenging, it’s easy to begin focusing on what we lack rather than what we have. This can cause action paralyses. Our attention and focus becomes increasingly aware of the desire for what we don’t have that we stop using the tools that we do have available.

Once I went to my mentor complaining about what I didn’t have. He listened as I went on talking about not having enough money to implement the new programs that I wanted to add. I went on and on about one hindrance after the other. When I was done complaining, he asked, “What is it that you do have?”

I sat there a little startled by his response. I began naming off a rather long list of resources that I did have available to me. It wasn’t long before I realized that he was trying to redirect my focus from what I didn’t have to what I did have. So I said sheepishly, “I see your point.” He went on to ask how well I’d been putting those things to use.

I explained that I’d been using them effectively for a while, but that I’d sort of put them on the back burner so that I could focus on this current issue. He asked, “So you stopped using the tools that you do have so that you could focus on the tools that you wish you had?” His question was crystal clear. In fact, it wasn’t a question at all. It was a statement that stood out like a full moon in the clear night’s sky. I knew what I had to do.

From that moment, I began putting my attention on what I had. I was amazed at the result. The amount of energy that I put in my efforts increased. It was my use of those tools that brought me the tools that I lacked. Needless to say, it was a valuable lesson for me. I’m reminded of it each time I start to focus on lack.

Do the best that you can with what you have to work with and let that be your testimony. In that power, you may find that you may not have everything you want, but that you have everything you need.

Eric L. Lipsey
President/Co-Founder
Phoenix Business Development