What is the difference between poverty and prosperity? What separates those that feel rich in their lives and those that feel poor? The answer is your mindset ― more specifically, whether you adopt a Scarcity Mindset or an Abundance Mindset.
What Is A Scarcity Mindset?
A Scarcity Mindset refers to the belief that there’s never enough of something to go around. Adopting a Scarcity Mindset:
- Forces you to see limitations.
- Disempowers you.
- Contracts your awareness.
- Encourages competition.
- Means if one person wins, one person loses.
What Is An Abundance Mindset?
An Abundance Mindset refers to the belief that there’s always enough of something to go around. Adopting an Abundance Mindset:
- Allows you to see opportunities.
- Empowers you.
- Expands your awareness.
- Encourages collaboration.
- Means everybody wins.
Scarcity Mindset Versus Abundance Mindset
Here is a summary of characteristics of both a Scarcity Mindset and an Abundance Mindset.
| Scarcity Mindset | Abundance Mindset |
| Sees Limitations | Sees Opportunities |
| Thinks Small | Thinks Big |
| Avoids Risk | Embraces Risk |
| Short-term Focus | Long-term Focus |
| Withholds Knowledge | Shares Knowledge |
| Competitive | Collaborative |
| Disempowering | Empowering |
| Contracts Awareness | Expands Awareness |
The Power Of Having An Abundance Mindset
When we shift from a Scarcity Mindset to an Abundance Mindset, we shift our perspective and the lens through which we see life. Instead of seeing everything that’s wrong in our lives, we see everything that is right. Instead of seeing what we don’t have or don’t want, we see what we do have or do want.
While a Scarcity Mindset contracts our view of the world, an Abundance Mindset expands it, allowing us to turn so called “problems” into opportunities and seemingly negative experiences into positive experiences.
We know from The Law Of Attraction that whatever we focus on, we will attract. Therefore, if we adopt an Abundance Mindset, by law, we will attract more abundance into our lives.
“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” ― Oprah Winfrey
The Science
There’s a part of your brain called the Reticular Activating System that determines what you notice and what you ignore based on what you focus on. Consequently, when you adopt a Scarcity Mindset, your brain will filter everything ― in both your internal and your external world ― that validates this belief. Similarly, when you adopt an Abundance Mindset, your brain will provide you with evidence that supports this belief.
Why We Developed A Scarcity Mindset
For most of human history, we lived in an uncertain and scarce world. As a result, the human brain evolved to encourage selfish behaviours as a way to make us survive. Consequently, when we adopt a Scarcity Mindset, we activate the primal part of our brain that is only interested in survival and thus we will do whatever is necessary to ensure we have enough of whatever it is we feel we lack.
How To Shift From A Scarcity Mindset To An Abundance Mindset
Both a Scarcity Mindset and an Abundance Mindset profoundly impact our thoughts, decisions, feelings, actions and ultimately our destiny.
A Scarcity Mindset is a matter of belief. Therefore, we can shift from a Scarcity Mindset to an Abundance Mindset by adopting new beliefs that empower and support us in achieving our goals and the life we desire.
Here are 6 ways you can cultivate an Abundance Mindset:
- Change Your Belief ― Create a new compelling belief that you can be, do and have more by adopting an Abundance Mindset.
- Cultivate An Attitude Of Gratitude ― Focus on what you do have instead of what you don’t have.
- Create Win-Win Situations ― Look for ways to create situations where everyone benefits.
- Shift Your Focus ― Train your mind to look for possibilities instead of limitations.
- Service ― When we give to others, we send a signal to our brain that we have more than enough, thus priming it for abundance.
- Environment ― Surround yourself with people who already embody an Abundance Mindset and you’ll model them.
Summary
Adopting either a Scarcity Mindset or an Abundance Mindset significantly impacts our lives by shaping our thoughts, decisions, feelings and actions. These two mindsets are what separate unhappy people from happy people and unsuccessful people from successful people.
By shifting from a Scarcity Mindset to an Abundance Mindset, we transform how we perceive and interact with the world around us which in doing so, ultimately empowers us to be, do and have more.
