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Do more with less — that seems to be the catch phrase of the day these days.

What does it mean?

Well, when the phrase was originally coined, it meant that more work was done with tools rather than manual labor; providing people with more leisure time. Then came the war and the meaning changed to encapsulate the need to conserve raw materials to put towards the war effort and the meaning changed to find work arounds for shortages in supplies.

And that’s the meaning that has stuck with the phrase until now.

Although “do more with less” can certainly still mean working around the current shortages in jobs, credit and money, it can also revert somewhat to it’s former meaning of finding ways to do more WORK with less effort and fewer resources.

Companies are downsizing employee ranks. Does that mean they need to produce less? No. In order to sustain and build our economy, we must find ways of doing that work, producing those goods for consumption by using fewer people and possibly fewer resources. And with the average age of the population becoming older and retirement age, fewer workers are available to do that work anyway!

We’ve become painfully aware that natural resources such as gas, oil and coal are in limited supply, so finding ways of manufacturing goods that use fewer of those resources in better ways is paramount.

Opportunity abounds for creative thinkers to roll up their sleeves and let their minds ferment those innovative ideas that earmarked the industrial revolution — which by the way, was sparked by an economic downturn.

So what can you do to do more with less?