Abundance or Scarcity Mindset?
Are you struggling with stress, fear and worry? Have a lot of your decisions over the past few months been driven out of panic? When catastrophe hits (whether big or small, personal or widespread), it’s easy to fall into the scarcity mindset – a pattern of thinking that focuses on what you don’t have and the belief that there will never be enough resources to achieve your goals. As a result, your actions and thoughts stem from a place of lack. Don’t let scarcity thinking become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, frame your expectations through the mindset of abundance to unlock your potential and in-turn help others in our community.
Over the last few months, we’ve seen the scarcity mindset physically embodied with empty grocery store shelves and rationed resources. In fact, most people see the world through a scarcity mentality and believe that there is simply not enough to go around. The great thing about being a business owner is that you are creating MORE and adding VALUE. As businesses grow, you are creating jobs and employing more people, who then, in turn, become customers of other local businesses in town that will then need to create more jobs to keep up with demand. As we like to say at Clarity Business Coaching, the more… the more!
Turn the dark cloud of scarcity into a mindset of abundance. Just like the scarcity mindset, abundance is a feeling. The more you acknowledge the proof of abundance in your life, the more abundance is drawn to you. While scarcity says, “Why is this happening to me?” abundance says, “What is here for me?”
You may have already noticed this mind shift in your community. Back in March, we witnessed a massive movement in community members vowing to shop from local businesses before storefronts and restaurants could fully re-open. In turn, when social justice movements within the community needed support, local business owners have stepped up to donate their resources to the cause. Having an abundance mindset does not mean ignoring the real hardships that you, your business, or the world are facing. An abundance mindset is the opposite of scarcity, it allows business owners to keep an open mind to go after what is available and help others succeed on the way.
How do you define abundance? Start by defining your vision.
Sometimes it takes a pandemic to define and start living your values. Living your vision, mission, and culture are the first steps towards reframing you’re your mindset from scarcity to abundance. If your business does not have a clear vision, ask yourself the following:
What can I do?
What do I want to achieve?
What can we achieve together as a community?
From there, ask yourself, “what if I/we HAD to do this?” How better off would your business be? How many people in your community do you want to serve or help? How many community members will suffer because you didn’t or couldn’t help them?
Then, define the level of effort you need to make your vision a reality. When we’ve helped clients define abundance and the level of engagement needed to reach their goals, the response we often receive is “why haven’t we done this years ago?”
What does abundance look like in your work and life?
If you train your brain to operate from an abundance mindset, you’ll find that it impacts both your professional and personal life for the better. A scarcity mindset can impact more than just your business, it can affect your relationships, your time, your money and your bandwidth. When you’re working to improve your life or build a better business, scarcity will hold you back physically and mentally. Choose to live on the path of abundance, and you’ll think bigger, embrace change, be more proactive and feel as though you have plenty in your life.
People with an abundance mindset believe that there is plenty of money, power and recognition to go around. Therefore, they give more of themselves, their time, and their money, and receive even more abundance in return. When you share your vision with others, you’ll inspire others to join your team and build upon your mission. With an abundance mindset, “helping” becomes your best marketing strategy.
Be a positive voice during difficult times. Ask yourself what you can do to change the world. This mindset is an important aspect of why you are succeeding!