Are you obsessed with lack?
The limits of scarcity mindset
I've been thinking a lot about scarcity vs. abundance lately. I love love love the idea of letting go of my decades long fear of not having enough, but my scarcity worries run pretty deep. All the way to childhood.
Scarcity is a way of thinking/believing that resources are limited so you must always compete for what little is available and it can impact so many areas of your life, from money to love to time to opportunity. Back in the late 80's, Stephen Covey wrote the definitive, best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People where he identifies the scarcity mentality as seeing life as a finite pie, so that if one person takes a big piece, there is less for everyone else.
My own already rooted mindset around this was reinforced through working in large and "corporate" organizations where the drumbeat of "limited resources" is beaten daily and the pieces of the pie were carefully hoarded. There is always a not-enoughness filtered through the HVAC. Frankly, it's a not very inspiring, collaborative or healthy way to work.
The scarcity mindset is limiting because it can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. By focusing on scarcity, you are training your brain to default to thoughts that create feelings of fear, anxiety or worry about never having enough. The result of this is that you will miss opportunities or fail to take risks that could lead to greater abundance or success.
An attitude of gratitude
The flip side of lack is abundance. So the paradigm shift is the belief that there is plenty out there for everyone and that success is not a zero-sum game.
An abundance mindset is a mental framework that supports the idea that there is always enough resources and opportunities to go around, and that you can create more of what you need or want in life. This mindset uses thoughts to create the feelings of optimism, positivity, and gratitude along with the belief that the success of one person does not come at the expense of another.
Here are a few ways to channel that for yourself:
Hack your brain to interrupt your default and create new, more expansive neural pathways that support what's possible.
Connect to your inner Oprah, who says, “If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” When you feel gratitude, you won't have room left for fear, anxiety and worry about not having enough.
Your thoughts are powerful, so reframe them to support a growth mindset which leads to more of an optimistic "glass half full" viewpoint.