Do you often feel jealous of other people? Do you fear having more money or success? You might suffer from a scarcity mindset. Learn how to develop an abundance mindset and build the life of your dreams.
Have you ever regretted a missed opportunity? Maybe you said no to a job offer, or no to a date, only to see someone else say yes and enjoy the benefits that came with that opportunity?
Let’s face it, none of us are without regrets.
I regret not asking for a promotion earlier in my life. I honestly thought the only way I could be promoted was to “step on someone”. That’s how I saw the world.
I thought that if I got promoted I would be taking an opportunity away from someone.
Luckily, now that I’m older and wiser, I see the world differently.
The truth is that anyone could get the same promotion I did. In fact, we both could have gotten it at the same time. It wasn’t a zero-sum game where only one could be promoted.
Similarly for opportunities. Yes, maybe I should have taken that opportunity to take a career break and go travelling a few years ago, but so what, I still can. The opportunity is still there, and will still be there 10 years from now.
In other word, I went from a scarcity mindset (missed opportunities I can’t get back, only 1 person can succeed at the cost of another), to a more abundant mindset (there will be more opportunities, we can all succeed at the same time).
What is an abundance mindset?
The internet is full of talk about the Law of Attraction, and it’s become a very popular millennial topic.
I have my own problems with the concept of the LOA which I won’t go into here, but suffice to say, I think most people look at it as a get-rich-quick scheme.
In contrast, an abundance mindset looks at all areas of your life, not just money or outward success (i.e. physical possessions).
Stephen Covey said it best in his 1989 ground-breaking book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.
He said that abundance is “a concept in which a person believes there are enough resources and successes to share with others.”
In other words, there is enough of everything.
Enough love, money, happiness, success, joy, time, freedom, kindness, gratitude, service to others.
Nothing is scarce.
And every situation is a win-win situation.
Abundance versus scarcity mindset
In contrast to abundance, Covey defines a scarcity mindset as “destructive and unnecessary competition”.
In other words, for someone to win, someone must lose.
The idea is that all resources are scarce and limited, and therefore for someone to gain more of anything, another must get less.
If we look at the example of a colleague getting promoted, someone with an abundant mindset will celebrate that promotion.
Whereas someone with a scarcity mindset will feel threatened, jealous, and might feel that an opportunity was taken away from them.
The reality is that opportunities are all around us all day long, and you too could have been promoted. However, in a scarcity mindset, you think only one person can be promoted at any given time so when your colleague is promoted, you feel you lost out.
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What does thinking abundantly mean?
Thinking abundantly simply means changing your mindset until you believe that there is enough of everything, for everyone.
More importantly, abundant thinking means accepting that abundance is not just possible, but in fact required, across all areas of your life.
Many of us focus so much on our careers, that we neglect our personal life and so our relationships suffer.
You cannot have abundance if you don’t have balance across all areas of your life.
Abundance means being happy, having great relationships, job satisfaction, enough money every month and great physical and mental health.
It also means that you don’t regret not taking opportunities because you know there will be more, or more importantly, you understand you can CREATE your own opportunities.
The benefits of an abundance mindset
The benefits of an abundance mindset are physical, mental, and outward.
When you have an abundance mentality, you change the way you see the world.
You feel more positive about the future, your confidence and self-esteem increases.
You are happier and more fulfilled in all areas of your life.
Life just seems easier, healthier, happier, more peaceful and generally just better in every way.
I’ve talked about mindset a lot, but one of the greatest benefits I’ve found in my own personal life is that I’ve come to understand my ability to create my own life.
I don’t have to wait for opportunities, I can create them.
I have the power to shape the world around me and build the future I dream of.
In changing my mindset, I have managed to build a life where I am proud of my achievements, I am happy and in love with a great man, I have a great career and earn a lot of money, and I believe I have what it takes to build my own business.
How do I develop an abundance mindset?
It’s not that difficult to develop an abundance mindset.
Or rather, I should say, if you are willing to change your mindset, and willing to put in the effort to change your beliefs, then it’s not that difficult.
1. Take responsibility for your life
Too many people believe that the world owes them, or that they are just passengers in their own life.
The reality is, only you can change your life.
Only you can make the necessary changes and do the work required to make real lasting changes.
You can hire all the personal trainers in the world to get fit, but in the end, you still have to do the actual exercises.
Don’t wait for things to happen, accept that it is your responsibility to MAKE them happen.
In the end, only YOU can create the life you dream of, no-one can do this for you.
But if you have a scarcity mindset, you will always be waiting for the right opportunity to be “given” to you, or for the right moment to come along. In other words, you are just a passive bystander waiting for things to happen to you.
But people with an abundance mindset understand that their success is up to them, that the world is full of possibilities and opportunities that present themselves every day.
2. Change your mindset
Negative people see the world as a negative place.
Positive people see the world as a positive place.
In other words, the way you think determines your perspective.
If you think that in order for you to earn more money, the universe has to take it away from someone else, you have a scarcity mindset. There is an estimated $37 trillion circulating in the world. Trust me, there is enough to go around even if everyone stopped creating more wealth today.
The same goes for success, happiness, achievement, creativity.
Unless you change your mindset, you will remain stuck in the life you currently have.
3. Become more positive
People who are more positive are more confident, have higher self-esteem, are happier, healthier, live longer on average, have a greater quality of life, have fulfilling relationships and achieve more success.
Read more about the benefits of positivity plus how to become more positive.
4. Focus of feeling grateful for what you have
The most powerful and fastest way to change your mindset is through the Practice of Gratitude.
It’s amazing how quickly you become more positive when you realise just how much you already have in your life.
A quick 5 minutes a day of writing down everything you are grateful for will change your life.
5. Build a Growth Mindset
People with a growth mindset are more resilient and more willing to learn from mistakes.
Compare that with a fixed mindset, where you believe you are born with certain skills or gifts (mathematics, athletic abilities). When someone with a fixed mindset encounters a situation where they are not excelling in the way they would expect, they will give up sooner.
Instead, a person with a growth mindset believes that they just do not have the skills or knowledge yet to complete a task. This also means that they view mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow.
6. Surround yourself with the right people who have an abundant mindset
A lot can be said for who we surround ourselves with.
If you want to go to university and get a degree, then surrounding yourself with friends who are always partying is not going to be very helpful.
Similarly, if you want to own your own business one day, surrounding yourself with people who live on state benefits or earn minimum wage, is going to hold you back.
We absorb a lot of knowledge and behaviours from our peers.
So surround yourself with people who either have the same goals as you, or with people who have already achieved them.
7. Identify areas of your life that shows a lack of abundance
Abundance applies to all areas of your life, including relationships, creativity, physical and mental health.
A lot of our more destructive behaviours (drugs, alcohol, toxic relationships) stem from a lack of balance.
It’s great having a fantastic career, but if your personal life suffers as a result, you lack balance and it will make you miserable, and eventually your work will cause you to burn out.
8. Deliberately increase abundance in all areas of your life
Once you have identified areas of your life where you lack balance, set out to deliberately increase the abundance in that area of your life.
If you suffer a lack of creativity, go to some art classes.
If your friends have stopped inviting you to dinner, then start by inviting them then showing up on time, again and again.
If your health is in bad shape, you are overweight and unfit, then time to overhaul your diet and start exercising more.
9. Identify and focus on your strengths
It sounds a bit counterintuitive after the previous section, but balance also means doing more of what you enjoy.
Some people really enjoy their jobs, and so should give it more energy and attention.
Others enjoy being creative more.
Balance is required for an abundant lifestyle, but balance doesn’t mean everything should be equal.
It’s not about giving all areas of your life the same amount of time and energy, it’s about how you feel inside.
10. Believe in yourself
Abundant thinking also means believing in yourself, that not only do you deserve the best that life has to offer, but you also have what it takes to achieve anything want.
11. Check your fears
Scarcity and fear go hand in hand.
People with a scarcity mindset have a lot more fears than people with an abundance mentality.
And I don’t mean a fear of bad things happening.
A person with a scarcity mindset also fears good things happening to them.
For them everything in life is limited, so the only way to get anything is to take it away from someone else, money, happiness, success, achievement, creativity.
12. Embrace change
Be willing to learn new things, be open to new ideas and embrace change.
Resisting change too much is a side effect of negative thinking, and leads to a scarcity mentality.
13. Pay attention to opportunities
Opportunities are all around us, they come and they go.
Yes you missed one today, but there will be another one tomorrow.
People with a scarcity mindset believe that a missed opportunity is gone forever, whereas someone with an abundance mindset knows another, possibly better opportunity will present itself tomorrow.
14. Accept you are not perfect and never will be
Perfectionism is the enemy of progress and happiness.
It’s also an illusion, it doesn’t exist.
What you consider to be perfect the next person will consider flawed, so don’t spend so much effort trying to achieve something no-one else will see as perfect anyway.
Perfectionism also holds you back, because you think if it’s not perfect then it’s not worth doing, which is just part of the scarcity mentality.
When you accept you can only grow and learn through trying, and therefore making mistakes, you will develop an abundance mentality.
15. Be proactive
It’s all good and well accepting all of this advice, but in the end you still have to take action.
This can include working on your mindset, reading books, going on courses, setting goals, achieving goals, and doing whatever it takes to make your dreams a reality.
Someone with a scarcity mindset will sit around waiting for the right moment, whereas someone with an abundance mindset will make it happen.
16. Learn and grow / Push past your comfort zone
Some of the darkest and hardest times of our life are the times we grow the most as human beings.
I was once made redundant, and while it was hard at the time, it was the kick up the backside I needed to take charge of my career.
If we stay in our comfort zone we pass up the opportunities and growth that would usually lead to an abundant lifestyle where we are happy, confident and free in all areas of our life.
17. Upskill yourself
If you want to achieve anything in life, you need to learn more.
Learn how to communicate better, how to be better at planning and managing your finances, how to do your job better or simply how to be a better parent.
For example, someone with a scarcity mentality might think it is not possible to learn how to play golf so will miss out on all those sunny days out with their friends.
Someone with an abundance mindset will practise so they can be better, without worrying that they can’t be perfect at it, and this way they can go out with their friends and enjoy life more, ensuring they have more balance and therefore abundance in all areas of their lives.
Conclusion
Mindset is everything.
There is a reason the world is so full of clichés and quotes about how your thoughts influence your life.
Your beliefs shape how you see the world and your place in it, as well as what is possible and how much you can achieve.
Just imagine how your life could change if you deliberately set out to develop an abundance mentality in all areas of your life?
What would that mean for your health, wealth and happiness?
Are there any areas of your life where you suffer from thoughts of scarcity? Do you have a fear or belief that holds you back in one area of your life while the rest of your life flourish?
Will you take responsibility for changing your thoughts and your life? Will you take action to build the life of your dreams?
