Three reasons for adopting an abundance mindset for our well-being and moving from surviving stress to thriving despite them.
Here's a loaded question for you. How has the pandemic affected your view on life and the world we live in? For me, it has amplified stress, anxiety and uncertainty in daily life.
However, I have also learned many lessons in my capacity for hope and gratitude and am still learning more each day. Meanwhile, the primitive survival instinct part of my brain wants to pull me back to anxiety and fear to survive our continuing pandemic times.
As we work our way into the new normal, I am challenged to maintain my abundance mindset and glass-half-full view of the world that I had pre-pandemic.
Two and a half years into our pandemic world, one of the lessons we have all learned is how to live with scarcity. Most of us have experienced at some point, empty shelves for everyday essentials like bread, milk, flour, rice and toilet paper (which I still don't understand). Most of us have experienced long lineups for new normal necessities like Covid-19 testing, vaccination and buying self-testing kits.
All of us have been challenged to find a sense of safety for ourselves and our families.
It's no wonder that Covid-19 has triggered a 25% prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide according to a news release from the World Health Organization in March 2022.
Before the pandemic, a scarcity mindset was already prevalent, especially in the corporate culture of comparison and competition to succeed. The pandemic has permitted a scarcity mindset of anxiety and fear to escalate into everyday life with selfishness and hoarding.
So this week I am shining a spotlight on the Abundance Mindset vs Scarcity Mindset and why it benefits us all to adopt an Abundance Mindset... Not just in pandemic times, but as a principle-centred way to live for your well-being and that of others.
Abundance Mindset vs a Scarcity Mindset
One of the most impactful books I have read is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen R. Covey. This is where I first learned the concept of Abundance Mentality.
Dr. Covey describes the Abundance Mindset as:
"A deep inner sense of personal worth and security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits and decision making. It opens up possibilities, options, alternatives and creativity... It recognizes the unlimited possibilities for positive interactive growth and development, creating new third alternatives."
Dr. Covey's view on Abundance Mindset is a valuable lesson in how we are all interconnected and interdependent as human beings. If I succeed and if you succeed, we all succeed. We can grow and reap the benefits together.
The challenge is that we are raised in a culture of competitiveness and self-preservation. From a young age, we are taught to compete for the best grades, to get into the best schools, to assert ourselves to compete for the best jobs and win promotions. As adults, we are often set in our ways to compare ourselves and strive for success with a scarcity mindset.
Here is how Dr. Covey describes the difference between abundance and scarcity mindsets.
"People with a scarcity mentality tend to see everything in terms of win-lose. There is only so much; and if someone else has it, that means there will be less for me. The more principle-centred we become, the more we develop an abundance mentality, the more we are genuinely happy for the successes, well-being, achievements, recognition, and good fortune of other people. We believe their success adds to...rather than detracts from...our lives."
Examples of Abundance thinking vs Scarcity thinking:
ABUNDANCE MINDSET | SCARCITY MINDSET |
There is more than enough for everyone. | There is not enough for everyone. |
Openness and Trust | Rigid and Untrusting |
Win-Win Thinking - If I succeed and you succeed, then we all succeed. | Win-Lose Thinking - If you succeed there is less for me, so I need to make sure I succeed. |
Open to collaboration and sharing what is needed for success. | Reluctant to collaborate and share information, resources and time. |
Promotes others and their achievements and supports others' successes. | Promotes only self and his/her own accomplishments. |
Willing to learn from others. | Thinks they have all the answers. |
At the beginning of my corporate career, I was caught up in the competition for success, recognition and rewards. The constant comparing of my success to my peers was exhausting and at times would make my successes feel diminished. I learned from Dr. Covey's books and went on to learn from Dr. Covey himself through his courses.
Once I started seeing through the paradigm of abundance vs. scarcity, my successes grew because I became invested in helping others to succeed.
Three Reasons Why an Abundance Mindset is Good for Your Well-Being
Reason 1: Find More Fulfillment and Contentment in Your Life
Part of an abundance mindset is having gratitude and appreciation for what you have in life.
When you begin to value the little things in your life, your accomplishments and successes, you will feel fulfilment and contentment. There is a natural sense of strength, security and self-confidence from knowing your abilities and recognizing your achievements.
When you recognize and appreciate your own value, the ripple effect is that you won't feel the need to envy others or compare yourself to others. Instead of competing against others, you compete with others to grow bigger successes together.
You may even discover that fulfillment comes from other elements of your life and define your own unique success.
Reason 2: Builds and Strengthens Connections and Relationships with Others
Gratitude for what you have in life also includes the people and relationships in your life.
When you begin to value the people in your life and appreciate who they are, your interactions and relationships become stronger. Your interactions become more intentional and sincere.
When people sense your genuine appreciation and respect, they will reciprocate accordingly. This will naturally improve and grow personal relationships and make work connections more collaborative instead of competitive.
The biggest gain is the quality of the relationships with people you care about in your life.
Reason 3: Builds Generosity and Compassion
With an abundance mindset, you feel genuine happiness for other people's success and will want to help them succeed.
When you see through the paradigm of abundance, you know you have enough and that there is more than enough for everyone. You see how we are all interconnected and how we can benefit each other's success and well-being.
When you act with generosity and compassion, the world benefits.
To learn more about the benefits of an Abundance Mindset, see the articles below.
5 Ways To Go From A Scarcity To Abundance Mindset - Online Article - forbes.com
An Abundance Mindset Moves Us From Surviving to Thriving
If you have trouble keeping a positive mindset and stopping yourself from thinking of worst-case scenarios, don't worry, it's natural. A prehistoric part of our brains was built to help protect us from natural dangers and threats by giving us worst-case scenarios so that we can prepare and act accordingly.
In prehistoric times, the threats were physical like starvation, exposure to the elements and being eaten by predators. The brain was hard-wired for survival with a scarcity mindset to create fear so that the "hunter-gatherer" humans could survive.
In today's world, that same primal part of our brain that used to protect us may now prevent us from thriving with unwarranted worries and fears. Using an abundance mindset helps us to reframe the scarcity fears so that we can see past them.
While an abundance mindset will not take away our problems, it can help us to put them in different perspectives so that we can find opportunities, alternative solutions and hope.
After two and a half years of hyper scarcity mentality in pandemic times, we could all use more generosity and compassion toward our fellow mankind. It's time to strengthen our connections and relationships with people as we move away from the virtual WFH mode. It's time to count our blessings and find fulfillment and contentment with all that we already have in our lives.
Recommended Reading for how to live a principle-centred life:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change - Stephen R. Covey
7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Personal Workbook - Stephen R. Covey
To help you put your learnings into actionable behaviour, check out my Ideas to Action: Self-development Ideation Journal, and the Ideas to Action Mini Notebook, available now on Amazon.com
I would love to hear your comments!
Do you see the world through an abundance mindset?
When was the last time you counted your blessings for what you have in life?
How can you adopt an abundance mindset in your daily life?
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