To successfully manage a company’s resources (e.g. time, financial, physical, technological, human resources), you must first learn to master and understand the value of your personal resources.

To understand what “value” is, understand the fundamental resources of human life. Think about the various resources available to us that are finite and/or scarce.

What are some examples of personal resources? Time, energy, money, relationships with family and friends. 

Time is a limited resource, therefore qualities that save time such as speed and productivity are generally valuable. What time-conscious activities do you practice in your daily life? What habits do you practice that make you faster or more productive? 

Energy is also a finite resource and there are different types of energies—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. The amount of energy one can generate and apply is a reflection of one’s strength, health, or ability to preserve energy. In most cases, a physically stronger individual can lift heavier weights; and a physically healthier individual recovers faster and has better endurance than a less healthy one. A mentally stronger individual has better focus, self-control, and will power than a mentally weaker person. An emotionally stronger individual is more optimistic and positive, and has a greater capacity for love and forgiveness. What habits do you practice that give you more physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual energy?

We all know too well that money is a finite resource. A leaking water bucket represents how money is managed by most people. When we earn money, we fill the water bucket, and when we spend money, the water flows out of the bucket from a hole at the bottom. How well we can manage money represents how large or small of a hole our personal water buckets have. The rate at which our personal money flows out can be considered as a personal financial “churn rate”. In business, “churn rate” means the rate at which a customer stops being a customer. What habits do you practice that save you or make you more money?