Our Resources

We All Have Strengths (Resources)

What if Getting Ahead isn't about how much money you have, but about the resources you have to navigate life?

At Thrive 10:10, we spend a lot of time talking about resources. Through our Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin'-By World program, we explore the 11 resources that help people build stability, pursue their goals, and create a different future.

When people hear the word resources, they often think about money, food, housing, or the things they need but don't have.

Those things absolutely matter.

But resources are so much bigger than what we can put in a bank account or store in a cabinet. When we only think about what we don’t have, we create a sense of lack that can remove our ability to dream. It lessens our bandwidth!

Resources also include our strengths, our relationships, our knowledge, our ability to navigate difficult situations, and the skills we use to make our way through the world.

Resources aren't just about what we have. They're also about what we can draw on when life gets hard, what we can develop when life changes, and what helps us move toward the future we want.

Here's something important: these resources aren't just for people who are struggling to get by. They're for all of us.

Think about the last time you had a difficult conversation at work. Did you have the emotional resources to draw from to manage your frustration? Did you have the language resources to explain what you needed? Did you have someone you trusted to help you think through the situation?

What about the last time you faced an unexpected bill, made a difficult decision, or tried something new? Your financial, mental, relational, and other resources all played a part.

We use these resources every day, whether we recognize them or not.

Getting to Know Our 11 Resources

In Getting Ahead, we explore 11 resources that contribute to stability and help us move toward our goals. Each one offers a different way to understand our strengths, recognize what we may need, and identify opportunities for growth.

1. Financial Resources

The money and financial stability available to us to meet our needs, respond to emergencies, and work toward our goals. This is important, of course, but we all often stop there and think if we have enough money, we are successful, or if we do not have enough, we are failures. There is so much more to it than that!

2. Emotional Resources

Our ability to recognize, manage, and respond to our emotions, navigate stress, and handle life's challenges without allowing the moment to determine every decision we make. Dealing with life on life’s terms and not utilizing self destructive behaviors to deal with setbacks. Also, having adults in our lives that we can “vent” to (not confiding in your 9 year-old). Another example would be understanding restraint so one doesn’t just walk off of the job impulsively in response to a stressor.

3. Mental or Cognitive Resources

Our ability to think, learn, process information, solve problems, consider options, and deal with daily life. Understanding that increases in stress reduce bandwidth to a trickle even in one who is very intelligent under stable circumstances.

4. Language Resources

Our ability to communicate effectively and express our needs, but also to understand when someone from another background is sharing information with us. Likewise, being able to communicate as an adult in situations of stress (not in the child or authoritative voice). Code-Switching. The self-talk we use with others is positive and not self-deprecating.

5. Social Capital or Support Systems

The people and networks we can turn to for information, encouragement, assistance, connections, and opportunities.

6. Health or Physical Resources

Our physical well-being and our ability to manage health needs so that we can participate in daily life and pursue our goals. Having access to healthy food, safe environments to get fresh air and exercise and access to culturally competent health providers.

7. Spiritual Resources

Our sense of meaning, purpose, belief, or connection to something greater than ourselves that can help guide us through life.

8. Motivation and Persistence

Our drive to pursue goals, keep going through challenges, plan for the future, and continue taking steps even when progress is difficult.

9. Integrity and Trust

Our ability to act honestly, follow through on commitments, take responsibility for our choices, and build relationships in which others can rely on us. Having others we can rely on for the same.

10. Relationships and Role Models

Our access to healthy relationships and people whose example, encouragement, and guidance can help us learn, grow, and envision new possibilities.

11. Knowledge of Hidden Rules

Our understanding of the unwritten expectations, behaviors, and communication styles that influence how we navigate different environments, including workplaces, schools, and community systems.

These resources work together. They influence one another, and their importance can change depending on the circumstances we're facing.

For example, having a strong support system may help us find a job. Emotional resources may help us stay calm during a stressful interview. Language resources may help us communicate our strengths. Motivation and persistence may help us continue applying when the first opportunity doesn't work out.

No single resource tells the whole story.

Strengths We Can Build

One of the most powerful parts of Getting Ahead is learning to look at our lives differently.

Instead of focusing only on what is missing, we begin identifying what is already present.

We recognize strengths we may have overlooked, relationships we can nurture, and skills we can develop. We also begin to see the places where additional resources or support could make a difference.

This isn't about pretending that barriers don't exist. A person can be resilient, motivated, trustworthy, and incredibly resourceful while still facing barriers that make stability difficult. Personal strengths matter, but so do healthy relationships, accessible opportunities, and systems that allow people to use their strengths.

And nobody has all 11 resources fully developed at all times.

A successful business owner may have strong financial resources but struggle with emotional regulation. A young parent may have extraordinary persistence but need a stronger support system. A caring teacher may have wonderful relational resources but feel overwhelmed by financial stress.

We can be strong in one area and need help in another. We can have resources that serve us well in one season of life and discover that we need to build different resources in the next.

That is not failure. That is being human.

What Could Change If We Recognized Our Resources?

Imagine if we stopped looking at ourselves and one another only through the lens of what was wrong, what was missing, or what needed to be fixed.

What if we also asked:

What strengths are already here?

What resources have helped this person survive difficult circumstances?

What resources could help them move from surviving to building the future they want?

And what role could I play in helping those resources grow?

At Thrive 10:10, we believe people have potential worth recognizing and strengths worth developing. We believe healing happens in community, and we believe we are more alike than different.

That is why we teach these resources. Not to label people, rank them, or suggest that everyone should be able to handle every challenge alone. We teach them because understanding our resources helps us recognize where we stand, where we want to go, and what might help us get there.

We'll take a closer look at each of the 11 resources, exploring what it looks like in everyday life, how it affects our relationships and decisions, and how we can continue to build it.

Because getting ahead isn't simply about having more.

It's about recognizing what we have, building what we need, and creating the conditions in which we—and the people around us—can thrive.

We all have resources. We all have strengths. And we all have room to grow.