Sleuthing (Unfinished)

With the current state of the world being focused on figuring out how to stop the Coronavirus, I’ve been put into a state where I look around to see what other problem solvers are up to. Working as a software engineer my entire job is based on solving problems by writing code, but you don’t need to be an engineer or a tech professional to solve problems. We all have the capacity to solve problems in our prospective fields and for some reason I feel like we collectively aren’t doing what we can to solve said problems. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime. I’m a sucker for quotes and sayings and this one has appeared to ring true for me a lot lately. In the microwave era that we are in today people less likely to want to learn how to fish than ever before. Why learn how to fish when I can just ask for another fish tomorrow?

This word has continued to pop up in my head again and again over the last couple of weeks for a variety of reasons. That word has been resourceful. It’s an important skill to have regardless of field or industry you may work in or if you’re just at home trying to figure something out. Webster puts it simply: able to meet situations : capable of devising ways and means. In my unfinished post about zombies I started to write about what happens when the zombies (not so resourceful) convert all of the people (resourceful) into zombies. In tv shows or movies we never really see what happens when zombies no longer have people to feed on.

Staying away from the zombie theme because it was starting to get dark. The question that I’ve been pondering for quite some time and have asked for insights on is, how can we cultivate the skill of being resourceful? Why does that matter? Well, in my personal opinion it matters because embedded in the skill of being resourceful is a constant eagerness to figure out problems on your own which increases your knowledge base of whatever the subject may be.