Abundance or Scarcity - What is Your Default Mindset?

Are you guided by abundance or scarcity, fear or courage? And if it's fear, how can we change it?

Do you have an abundance or scarcity mindset? Is your default mode for reaction or response based on a fear of what you perceive yourself, or your life, to be lacking? Or is it based upon appreciating & acknowledging everything that you do really have in your life &, therefore, behaving courageously?

When we experience life through the lens of scarcity we are laser focused on everything that’s missing, all the little things we don’t have, every seemingly insurmountable obstacle that’s been placed in our path. Our approach to everything is based upon not having enough … not enough money, not enough knowledge, not enough experience, not enough support, not enough time, not enough, not enough, not enough.  

And this frame of mind pervades every action we take & every decision we make. If we believe we don’t have enough money, we won’t invest in that course we’d love to do, because we “can’t afford it”. If we believe we don’t have enough knowledge, we won’t take that leap into starting our own business, because "we don’t know enough yet”. If we believe we don’t have enough experience, we won’t apply for that amazing job, because “we aren’t good enough to get it”. If we believe we don’t have enough support, we won’t take action to improve our health by losing weight, because "everybody will just tell us that we’ll fail again, like we have every other time we’ve tried”. If we believe we don’t have enough time, we won’t go to the gym or that new yoga class that sounds really fabulous, because “we are just too busy”.

A scarcity mindset consistently places roadblocks & obstacles in our path, it consistently blinds

us to all the possibilities that surround us & makes it difficult to see the bigger picture. Instead of being able to objectively & rationally assess a situation or scenario, we approach it from a place of fear, from a place of not having enough. 

When our focus is so sharply attuned to what we don’t have … we view every thought, idea, situation, event & even every person, through a filter of scarcity. Every belief we have about ourselves, & our life, is filtered through that lens. Every one of our reactions & responses percolates & trickles through that filter. 

This scarcity mindset is all-pervasive & it stops us from seeing opportunities & possibilities that are right there in front of us. Because we are laser focused on our belief that we don’t have enough … & that’s all we can see. We can’t see the bigger picture, we can’t see the periphery, we can only see the epicentre. And that epicentre is scarcity! 

So, what about an abundance mindset? How different is life when we experience it through the broad-ranging lens of abundance? Well, instead of seeing roadblocks or obstacles, we see a clear path with all the gates open. We see all the possibilities & opportunities available to us. Our approach to life is based upon the premise that there is enough, for us & everyone else too. We don’t limit ourselves, our ideas, our dreams, our behaviours, our interactions with others, our potential … because we believe there is enough. We believe we have enough money, knowledge, experience, support, time … enough, enough, enough. And we believe that the only limitations are those we place on ourselves! We approach everything from a place of courage & confidence, from a place of having enough.

With an abundance mindset we will invest in that incredible course, because we know we will reap the reward financially, intellectually & even socially. We will jump whole-heartedly into that new business venture, because we know that we have enough knowledge to start & that we will simply continue to build upon it. We will apply for that amazing job because we have just as much experience as everyone else & even if we don’t get it, we will develop our application & interviewing skills in the process. We will prioritise our health by focusing on losing weight, because we know that people who truly care about us will support us & that previous failures don’t prevent future successes, they simply provide valuable knowledge & data that will contribute to our triumph. We will make the time to attend that fabulous new yoga class or go to the gym, because we know that making time for healthy habits now, actually prevents us from wasting time on bad physical & mental health later.

The abundance mindset is also pervasive & it allows us to not only accept opportunities & possibilities presented to us, it also allows us to create them. Because we have that broader view of our world, because we can see the big picture & the kaleidoscopic array of options available to us, we don’t limit our focus. We allow ourselves to be open to everything, we see life in a much broader perspective, we see life through eyes of abundance … & that allows us to live much more confidently & courageously.   

As I mentioned earlier, we do have our default mode or mindset, but we can work toward changing it. Our abundance or scarcity responses/reactions are formed instantaneously within our subconscious mind, but we can make some simple conscious changes within our lives that can help move us toward filtering our experiences through a lens of abundance instead of scarcity. So, what are they?

Focus on what you do have - by acknowledging & appreciating what we do have, we are focusing on something positive rather than something negative &, thereby, reframing our way of thinking. The Law of Concentrated Attention tells us that what we concentrate on becomes more powerful, more magnified & is more likely to be realised. By focusing on the positive aspects of our lives, & expressing gratitude for them, we are magnifying their dominance & increasing the probability of attracting even more.

Start a Gratitude Journal - practicing gratitude has a multitude of positive benefits for our mental & physical health & can help us focus on the abundance in our lives. Get yourself a beautiful journal & take a few moments at the beginning or end of every day to write down 5 things you are grateful for. You can be grateful for things like your dream home, having a healthy child, getting the opportunity to study something you’ve always dreamed about, having a supportive partner, your health that’s improving day by day or even being grateful for a sunny, relaxing day. The more we consciously focus on the positive things we are grateful for, the more we will also subconsciously focus on positive things that we can be grateful for in the future. And the Law of Repeated Effect, which is a foundation of creating habits, says that sufficient repetition will cause your subconscious mind to believe something is true. So, if you just allow yourself to focus on things you are grateful for on a daily basis & you write them in your Gratitude Journal, your subconscious mind will begin to realise that you are grateful & will start to bring more positive things into your orbit.

Celebrate your successes - just sit back & assess all the successes you’ve had in life, both big & small. Write them down. Create a highlight reel of your greatest achievements, both personally & professionally. I guarantee that you will be amazed at how many there really are! And as you are writing them down, just allow yourself to remember the feelings you experienced when you had those ‘wins’. This seemingly simple act reminds you of how much you are actually capable of & how much you have already achieved, despite that old scarcity mindset that you used to have. And just imagine what you can do with the confidence & courage that an attitude of abundance brings with it!

Surround yourself with people with abundant mindsets - you are the average of the five

people you spend the most time with, so choose your peer group carefully. Attitudes are contagious, so if you surround yourself with people who are constantly negative & pessimistic, who live a fear-based life & have a scarcity mindset, there’s every chance that you may be infected! Instead, seek out people who are optimistic, dynamic, courageous & who view the world through the lens of abundance & allow yourself to be infected by that instead.

Change your visual perspective - now this may sound a little weird, but just by taking a
moment each day to change your visual perspective you can alert your mind that there’s always a broader perspective. If you’re sitting in your kitchen eating breakfast, instead of focusing on your plate of food or your phone screen, just allow yourself to broaden your vision peripherally & take in everything that’s surrounding you. Notice, the other rooms you can see, the different furniture, perhaps notice the view from a window or door, maybe any pictures on the wall or even other people. And just notice how this feels, to broaden your view from just your plate of food, or your phone, to include this additional environmental feedback. It’s a simple reminder that there is always a different perspective, there is always a bigger picture & there is always additional feedback that’s worth acknowledging.

For many of us, there’s at least one area of our lives in which we experience a default mode of scarcity … & for me it’s about money. Which is actually what prompted me to write this blog. I was raised with an abundance of love, support & encouragement but definitely a scarcity of money for most of my childhood. And this has pervaded my attitude toward money my entire life.

To put it into context … I was raised on 10 acres just outside a small town & my childhood & teen years were in the 1970s & 80s. My Father & Grandfather built the fibro-clad house we lived in from timber they felled on our land. For a while we had dirt floors & the ‘kitchen’ was a wood-burning stove outdoors. It was a real treat when Mum finally got an indoor ‘kitchen’ & no longer had to cook using a headlamp! For the first eight or nine years of my life we had no electricity & used kerosene lamps & appliances. We had an outdoor toilet where sawdust concealed the contents & odour (well, sort of!). And we had to dig a hole on the property to bury the contents when the toilet ‘bucket’ was full. Our ‘bathroom’ consisted of a small 1m x 1m area partitioned off from the ‘kitchen’. It was just a small suspended drum with a shower nozzle attached to it. Showers had to be quick because we were on tank water, so we needed to conserve it. And if we had a ‘bath’ (in a small round metal drum) we all used the same water. Four of us lived there in two bedrooms & there were no internal doors. 

We lived in that house, which we called “The Temporary” because it was only supposed to be our temporary house, for almost ten years until my parents bought an old Queenslander-style home that they relocated onto our land & renovated. And you know what I was the most excited about? Having an inside toilet that actually flushed … & finally being able to have school friends over to visit. As a kid I thought it was great fun living like that (except, of course, for the outside toilet!) & family used to love visiting us there, because it was like an escape from reality for them. But my Mum was always worried that kids from school would tease me about the way we lived, so I was eight or nine before I was allowed to have my best friend come over for a visit. And I think my Mother was fearful the entire time.

Needless to say, this fear of judgement for having less than others & the regularity of not being able to afford to do things that other families did without even a second thought, instilled in me both a respect for the value of money & a default scarcity mindset. And it deeply embedded the statement that I still loathe more than any other … “I can’t afford that”.

I have achieved financial success on my own, & with my husband, but occasionally that damn scarcity mindset still raises its ugly head & bares its teeth. When I practice what I preach about perspective, gratitude & focus, I can bring myself out of it & objectively see the abundance I am fortunate enough to have in my life. Or, when my husband gives me a not-so-gentle nudge back away from the precipice of doom & gloom! 

I have definitely upgraded my default mode away from scarcity & toward abundance in general, but occasionally something emotionally powerful will happen that just makes it slip back again. And the reason that I share this is to remind you that we are all human, we all have little stumbles, we all have moments where we don’t behave logically or objectively & we all experience an emotional overload at times. 

The most important thing is that we don’t allow ourselves to get stuck back in that old, unresourceful default mode of scarcity! Or get stuck back in those old, unresourceful default habits & behaviours! There is always something to be grateful for, even if we need to look under a microscope to find it. There are always successes in our past that we can draw upon for encouragement & as a resource. There is always a different perspective. There is always someone willing to help & support us. We just need to allow ourselves to see these things & focus on them!

None of us can change from a mindset of scarcity to abundance over night. But if we make incremental changes regularly, then an attitude of abundance will just become our habit, our default. I don’t know whether it will happen in a week, a month, or even three months … because we are all different … but we can all change … & we will all change throughout our lifetimes. 

So, I wonder when it will happen for you? I wonder when your mindset will shift?

Kim Harrison

mindmakeover.com.au