Week 8: Be Resourceful Without Resources

At this point in the game, you should be writing about what you are doing each week to work on your project. You will start your TED presentations in just several weeks, so that means you will need to have had some time to reflect on your project before speaking.

In other words, you should already be doing what it is you are working on. No more planning. This is the time for serious action.

For example, you should have:

a. Volunteered if you are volunteering at a center.
b. Created one version of your music video or dance tutorial.
c. Sold shirts to raise money for breast cancer.
d. Be doing what it is you're doing.

What to write about:

Besides reflecting on what is on your mind lately with your #20time project, take a look at Chapter 4 in Start Something That Matters. The chapter, called "Be Resourceful Without Resources" dives deep into how you can create something extraordinary with limited resources.

You don't need much to do incredible things. Just ask Michael Phelps. Most people don't know that Phelps doesn't train in an elite facility. In fact, his training pool is a beaten up simplistic pool, no different that a local YMCA's pool. Phelps trained with limited resources and went on to achieve several Olympic gold medals.

The same goes for J.K. Rowling. Before becoming a billionaire author, Rowling worked as an English teacher in Portugal and lived off a meager salary. After ending an incredibly unhappy marriage, Rowling moved back across the pond to England and worked a meager job at Amnesty International. In just a small coffee shop, no different than our local coffee shops, Rowling penned away her masterpiece, Harry Potter.

Key message: You don't need much to create something extraordinary. Not having enough money, not having enough time, not having that degree yet, not having enough (fill in the blank)...these are just excuses to give up.

Dig deep. Stay Simple. Create Something Remarkable.

After reading ch. 4, answer these questions in your blog post (or your notebook if you don't want this on your blog):

1. How can having limited resources actually work to your advantage? What products or services are must-haves when launching an idea into the real world (and perhaps making a business out of it)?

2.  What free resources do you have at your disposal that you could use to fuel your project? Which of your family members or friends could you reach out to for help?

3. If I gave you a cool $1 million check, how would you approach your project different?

4. Antione de Saint-Exupery once said, "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." Is there anything about your project that is making it clunky or is just unnecessary? If so, strip it away.

In other news!

I had some fun tinkering with the stand-up desk idea I had, so I created a prototype and sent it out to my business-minded friends.

I put together a business pitch (click here to see it) and got some great feedback. Everyone was excited about the idea, but one friend, Tyson Adams, really helped put my idea on a realistic playing field. Here's a snapshot of what he had to say:

Okay, that's it for this week. I'm feeling inspired to create something extraordinary and I hope you are too.