Often, it takes being backed into a corner to bring out the greatest weapon in the arsenal of our minds – our resourcefulness. Last week I was driving home from Dublin with my mother. It was only after we’d made our way onto the motorway (a stressful experience at the best of times) that I looked down and saw, to my horror, that in the middle of my fuel gauge a little red light was lit – I was about to run out of petrol and we were maybe as much as an hour from the next filling station. Panic began to set in: the cars around me seemed that little bit louder than before and the crash-barrier seemed to be speeding by that bit faster. I told my mother what was happening and right away she had ideas dancing off the tip of her tongue as to what we could do. She suddenly remembered where there hard-shoulders further ahead, thought of places where we could leave the motor-way and was able to suggest all kinds of places we were likely to find filling stations nearby.

We are at our creative best when challenged. In order to unleash the full potential of our ingenuity we must set ourselves challenges, make ourselves approach each problem on its own and solve it.

When we are faced with challenges we discover our resourcefulness.