Week 4: What is This Moment Perfect For?

I'm willing to bet that you're better resourced than you realize.

In our family, resourcefulness is a value we hold dearly. My grandmother (far left) often said admiringly of my great-grandmother (far right) that she would use every part of a chicken but its squawk, and if recorders had been invented, she’d have found a way to use that too. Also pictured: baby Aransas, my mom, and great-great-grandmother. All proudly resourceful women, whom I think about when I think I’m missing something vital to my growth.

In 2021, I was laid off from the company I’d been with for 18 years. Two decades of building expertise, relationships, and credibility suddenly felt irrelevant.

I remember sitting on my couch that first week, terrified. What if none of my experience was useful anywhere else? What if I’ve just been wasting time?

When I told my wise friend, Julie, she laughed out loud at my short-sighted view and then lovingly pointed to the rich strengths and assets I had at my disposal! When I made a list of what I actually had and stopped focusing my energy on what I’d lost and thought I was missing, I began to feel like it might actually be possible that my long prior chapter was just the warm-up act for the one I was about to embark on.

That list of assets became the foundation for everything I’ve built since. The podcast. The coaching practice. The community. The retreats. All of it.

Last week, a friend called me with the same panic in her voice. Another round of layoffs. AI replacing her team. Decades of expertise suddenly feeling irrelevant.

“I don’t know if I can start over,” she said. “What am I supposed to do?”

I asked her the questions that saved me: “What resources have you accumulated? Not just on your resume. What wisdom? What networks? What proof that you can survive hard things? What do you know about yourself now that you didn’t know then?” These are the benefits of midlife.

When change comes, most of our brains go straight to scarcity: What if I lose everything? What if I’m not ready? What if I’m not smart/funny/stylish/talented/cool/experienced enough for what’s ahead?

That panic doesn’t help us see what’s possible. It narrows our view.

Taking a deeper look at all of our resources helps us put things in perspective.

We’re not starting from zero. We have skills, relationships, experiences, knowledge, and proof of capability that we’ve been building for years.

What if instead of “Can I survive this disruption?” we asked “What is this moment perfect for - given everything I’ve worked so hard to build?”

Why This Matters for 2026

Scarcity thinking keeps us stuck. Abundance thinking - based on actual accounting of what we have - opens up possibilities.

The people who thrive through disruption won’t be the ones who panic about what they’re losing, but the ones who get strategic about using what they have.

They’ll take inventory. They’ll look at their actual assets - not just their job title, but their whole accumulated toolkit. Their expertise. Their networks. Their resilience.

Then they’ll ask: Given what I have access to right now, what becomes possible?

That’s what we’re doing this week. Not toxic positivity, but honest accounting. Instead of diminishing our hard-won wisdom, we’re using it!

This Thursday we’ll release a really terrific episode of The Uplifters Podcast with Kiersten Barnet, Executive Director of the New York Jobs CEO Council, where she leads a coalition of Fortune 100 CEOs from companies including JP Morgan, IBM, Google, and Citigroup, committed to hiring 100,000 low-income New Yorkers into family-sustaining jobs by 2030. Kiersten also co-founded the U.S. 30% Club, a group of influential CEOs, including Warren Buffett and Larry Fink, who are committed to ensuring at least 30% of CEOs are women. You’ll hear in our conversation that even with all of her success, she’s constantly asking herself how to put her resources to good use. I found it incredibly inspiring and can’t wait to share it with you.

This Week’s Reflection: Your Resource Inventory

What are your resources? Make a complete inventory: Skills and expertise you’ve developed. Relationships and communities you’re part of. Things you’ve learned about how you learn and work. Experiences that give you depth of understanding. Challenges you’ve faced that taught you something. Work you’ve done that proves your capability. Resources you have access to. Knowledge you’ve accumulated. List everything, then notice what a badass you are.

What’s your current reality? What matters to you RIGHT NOW in this season of life - not what used to matter or what you think should matter. What are you unwilling to sacrifice? What needs attention? What’s your physical and mental capacity? Your financial situation? Your time availability? Your commitments to others? Where are there gaps that you are ready to fill?

Given what you have AND where you are, what is THIS moment strategically perfect for? Look at the intersection: your resources from question 1 and your reality from question 2. What could you create, build, or pursue that actually leverages what you have AND fits your current capacity and values? What becomes possible when you match your toolkit to your moment?

The question isn’t “Can you survive this uncertain moment?” The question is “What becomes possible when you leverage everything you’ve accumulated?”

Next week, we’ll explore who we are beyond all our roles. Your fellow resource accountant,
Aransas

P.S. Retreat attendees and clients: your detailed Week 4 worksheet is headed your way. This one is comprehensive! We’re doing a complete inventory of your professional capital, personal resources, support networks, resilience proof, and strategic opportunities. It’s the foundation for everything else we’ll build.