Resourceful Beats Rich: How to Flex This Midlife Superpower

Riches can vanish, but resourcefulness is forever. Discover why midlife is the perfect time to flex this superpower, and how to practice and strengthen it on your path to location independence.

If my life to date has taught me anything, it’s this: being broke pretty much guarantees insecurity, but wealth only guarantees you’ll worry about different things.

Markets can tank. Housing values can wobble. Jobs we thought were “safe” can vanish overnight. Even retirement accounts that once looked solid can suddenly slip like sand through our fingers.

But while riches can disappear, resourcefulness never does. That’s yours forever.

And in midlife, resourcefulness is a superpower most of us don’t even recognize, let alone give ourselves enough credit for.

We’ve run households, navigated career curveballs, stretched budgets, managed families, and reinvented ourselves when life demanded it. That scrappy know-how is exactly what makes a location-independent, freedom-focused life possible.

When I first began dreaming about traveling more (on my dime vs an employer’s) and working less, I thought it would take a giant pile of savings to even consider it. Turns out what’s really needed is the willingness to:

• Trim back expenses without sucking the joy out of things.

• Experiment with various, smaller ways of earning.

• Stay flexible when the plan shifts (because it constantly shifts).

Practicing and building resourcefulness is what has kept my partner and I afloat through bad business deals, family crises, and widespread financial uncertainty — not a magic number in the bank.

Recommended reading: You Don’t Need an MBA to Start Consulting (And You’re Probably More Qualified Than You Think)

Practice Resourcefulness, Not Perfection

If you’re holding off on change until your finances feel “perfect,” you may be waiting forever. What if, instead, you looked at it this way:

• Could I simplify just one part of my lifestyle to need less?

• Could I test one tiny way to earn online in the next 30 days?

• Could I loosen the reins and let flexibility work in my favour?

You don’t need millions to change your life. What you need is confidence that you can figure things out as you go. And since you’ve made it to midlife, you already know how to do that.

So stay with me here, and let’s dig deeper. Resourcefulness isn’t luck. It isn’t a trait you missed out on at birth. It’s a habit you can practice and grow. Keep reading, and we’ll explore:

• Simple, low-stakes experiments: to practice and build adaptability

• Reframing Setbacks: how to see roadblocks as resourcefulness workouts instead of failures.

• Daily Habits: three small practices that sharpen creativity and flexibility so when the bigger shifts come, you’re ready.

Every time you flex this muscle, you’re one step closer to living on your own terms. Here’s how you do it.