The real key to being successful, being rich, improving your finances and making it big in life, unlike to what most of us think, are not at all related to tips and tricks of choosing the right stocks or mutual funds to invest in. Rather, it is all about having the right mindset about finance. Yes, the right financial mindset and its conscious cultivation is all that one needs to be successful in life.
The Scarcity Mindset:
It is said that individuals have either of the two different kinds of mindsets in life – the scarcity mindset and the abundance mindset. Most of the human race, globally, has the scarcity mindset internalized deep within. This means that most people think that everything in life is scarce and one person getting something automatically reduces the portion of the same thing for another. Hence, people having the scarcity mentality have a tough time sharing anything in their lives, be it success, recognition, power, profit, fame, etc even when the others have had a role to play in his/her attainment of it. This is simply because, these individuals feel that anybody else getting a bigger share of the pie automatically means a lesser share of himself, since the pie is scarce and there simply isn’t enough for everybody. So, for example, some common thought patterns for people having this mindset includes – there can only be one pay hike at work and if one person gets a bigger pay hike then nobody else can have it, my salary is a certain scarce amount of money and if I don’t use it now it will ‘go away’ for something else, if I don’t travel now when I’m young, I will never be able to travel later, and so on and so forth. This mindset is not only of a financial nature, it is a life mindset and impacts each and every thought or action that we think of or act upon. The main characteristics of scarcity mindset individuals include:
- Focus on extreme short term since individuals think if something is not done/got right now, it will never be done/got in future since the resource is scarce and someone else will get it
- Ignorance of long term choices since excessive focus on doing everything for short term hardly keeps any choices for the future
- Jealousy, stress and sadness resulting from the continuous tension regarding other people getting more and myself losing out.
- Bad Personal Finance Situation since individuals almost always exhaust their paycheck as soon as they receive it (before something else takes it away). They are bad at investing and usually always end up blaming the system for their bad personal finance decisions.
The Abundance Mindset:
Exactly opposite to the scarcity mindset in nature, thoughts, behaviour, action and of course end results, abundance mindset is all about believing that there is enough for everyone to share from. Hence, individuals possessing this mentality possess a deeper sense of security and self-worth and are ready to share power, prestige, credit, profits without haste. The three characteristics of such individuals include:
Focus on long term since not having something right now does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that you will not have it ever in life. E.g someone getting a better raise doesn’t mean you will never get it. Missing a party doesn’t mean you will never have fun in your life ever, etc.
Positive Feeling towards others since individuals have the deeper understanding that there is plenty for everyone to share and enjoy. Thus, stress is less, people are happier and elements like jealousy, power games, ego clashes, etc are minimal.
Good personal finances since one doesn’t end up spending money as soon as they earn it.
So the important question now is, how does one convert his/her scarcity mindset into an Abundance mindset?
5 Techniques to cultivate Abundance Mindset:
- Positive Conversations:
Consciously convert your conversations with family, friends and colleagues from cribbing about what you ‘don’t’ have to what you ‘do’ have. Engage in such conversations as a habit. Stop talking to your friends or colleagues about their problems in life and instead ask them about what went well the previous week. Focus on the big things instead of the smaller ones. Projects being worked on, academics someone is pursuing, etc…personal experiences and achievements. Of course one cannot shift to this mode in a day, but a gradual and conscious shift will create wonders in your life and finances!
- Organize Your Home:
Sounds irrelevant but you will be amazed to see how organizing your home can make you feel how many stuff you already have! Organizing home and feeling this vibe goes on to help one organize his/her life as well in instilling the abundance mindset.
- Be aware of Media Impact:
In today’s world, media and advertisements essentially feeds on our insecurities and reinforces the scarcity mindsets we possess. Each and every advertisements basically tells you that you do not possess something and subconsciously develops the ‘need’ for it leading to the desire to purchase. One of the crucial techniques in developing an abundance mindset is to be aware of your own media consumption and reduce it as much as possible.
- The Win-Win Scenario Game:
Scarcity mindset believes that there is always a winner and thus a loser. Abundance mindset on the contrary believes in win-win situations where both parties win. Make this a game that you play privately with yourself. For every situation that you come across in life, think about how you can solve it where both the parties are in a win-win situation. In no time, this will create wonders in your professional life. You will share together, grow together, win together and achieve way more both individually as well as together.
- Stop comparing yourself to others:
One of the most important points. Scarcity mindset is about always comparing yourself to others, who got the bigger piece of the pie. Abundance mindset on the other hand is only about comparing yourself to yourself and no one else- your own goals, your own journey, how you are living up to them, your own growth and your own life.
To conclude it can be safely said that the above mentioned techniques are all that one needs to firmly place himself/herself in the path towards attaining the abundance mindset. And once that is deeply ingrained in one’s day to day life in terms of the individual’s thoughts, behaviour, action and attitude…work, achievements, power, prestige, success, money….everything comes…in abundance.
