life |

How To Do More With What You Have

How to do more with what you have. One thing I love about being a jewelry designer is that if I create something I’m not head-over-heels in love with, I can melt it down and start again. Unfortunately not everything in life can be melted down and re-shaped. We can’t all be Marge Simpson with her Chanel suit. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me explain. Out of the hundreds of episodes that aired of The Simpsons, the only one that has stuck in my head since I was a little girl is when Marge finds a Chanel suit for dirt cheap in a thrift store. Even at such a young age, I was able to fully grasp that this was a once-in-a-lifetime fashion moment. She then repurposes the suit to fit her daily wardrobe needs, at one point even turning it into a ball gown. So while you can’t turn last year’s wedges into this year’s flatforms, there are some things you can do!

Simplify – So often times we find ourselves thinking we need more. More stuff, more money, more, more, more! Have you ever found yourself thinking, “If only I had more… I would have the options I need.”? Pretty much everything we need can be found right in front of us. The trouble is we already have too much stuff that it keeps us from seeing what we’re really looking for. So the next time you think you need to go out and buy something, try getting rid of some stuff instead. Even if it means putting it into storage for a while.

Stop Dwelling – The easiest way to make yourself unhappy is to dwell on something that bugs you. Maybe you regret the color of your sofa or the apartment you just moved into or the hair cut you just got that looked amazing on that famous actress but looks more like something out of The Rocky Horror Picture Show on you. Dwelling on it and wishing you hadn’t gotten bangs won’t make your hair grow any faster. It will only make you unhappy. Instead try getting creative and accept the challenge with grace and gratitude. Paint your living room walls to contrast against your crazy colored sofa and embrace the bold. Acknowledge that no apartment is going to be your idea of perfect but no matter the difficulty, you should still go about making it your home. And as for your hair, bobby pins and hair spray can do wonders!

Now while these first two things have to deal more with stuff and money, my last bit of advice has to do with you!

How To Do More With What You Have

Recognize Your Skills – I’d like you to make two columns. In the first column I’d like you to list all your professional skills. This may be typing at 70 wpm, speaking a foreign language or the fact that you hit your sales goals every month. List as many things that you can think of. Now in the second column, make a list of your hobbies, interests and things that you love to do. Maybe you have a creative hobby like painting or wood-working? List them all and when you’re finished, I want you to see where these two columns can be combined. For instance, if you’re good at sales and love to paint, why not try selling your artwork? This doesn’t have to be your new full time job, but if you’re looking for a new job maybe it could be. A new opportunity could come to light that you never realized before, or if you did think about it, you worried that it wouldn’t work. So many people fear the risk of investing in themselves but it comes from my experience that this is the least riskiest of all investments and the one that can pay off the most.

So to recap about how to do more with what you have, simplify and embrace what you already have. Learn to be grateful and work with what you have already. Second, realize that things can be repurposed and fixed. Often times with things you already have in your home. No one wants to hear you walking around whining about what you want changed, so you might as well just get your butt up and change it! Lastly, remember that you are full of more knowledge and skills then you might give yourself credit for. Sometimes it might mean facing a few fears to get to what we want but knowing in the end it will be worth it!