I can’t deal with people that have a scarcity mindset.
I know I’m unfairly judging people, but I can’t help it. When someone shows that they have chosen scarcity over abundance, I politely tune out.
You’re either riding for abundance & prosperity, or scarcity & crabs in a bucket. There’s rarely in between, and both ways of thinking are self-fulfilling.
How is The Abundance Mindset Different Than Scarcity?
A person who believes in scarcity thinks there is a limited amount of resources.
They don’t want to see you get ahead, because that means there’s one less chance available for them.
On the other hand, those who view life through the lens of abundance see you winning as proof that it’s possible.
Your prosperity makes their life better, because now they know for a fact what’s possible for someone like them to achieve.
I believe your win is my blueprint to success.
Money Is Proof of Abundance
How often have you heard someone talk about a wealthy person as though they should be ashamed of having so much while others have so little?
The irony there is that the richest people I know are also the most generous people in my life.
They attract money because they don’t need it.
They give freely, not because they have so much, but because they know there’s always more where that came from.
If you think about it, there is actually nothing scarce about money.
In most developed countries everybody has money. Without a dime to your name, you can sign up for a credit card and create money out of thin air.
People on street corners panhandling have money regularly. Maybe not a lot of it… but you get my point.
Most people in the world don’t hold on to their money, or multiply it, but every day they get and spend more of it.
Beyond that, money is a man made concept. If there isn’t enough to go around, we print more.
Bow Down To The Customer
I’m sure some of our clients will read this, but oh well… we’re B2B so it applies to them and their clients too.
As businesses, we often find ourselves bending over backwards, scared to death of clients taking their money elsewhere.
Of course you should do your best to deliver, but it’s important to realize that money doesn’t give you power. EVERY potential client has money.
It’s not money, but delivering on what you promise that makes you a hot commodity.
Companies that get results are much more scarce than clients with money.
Business is Not a Zero Sum Game
When a game is zero-sum that means all possible outcomes must add up to zero. So if I gain 5, you have -5.
Life and money don’t work that way… business either.
Let’s say I have 5 apples, and you have none.
That’s only sad until you realize that the seed that I spit out contains an unlimited number of apples, if you’re willing to put in the work to get them.
Those who think of business as a zero-sum game have a scarcity mindset. They are trying to ‘have it all’.
It’s Not Possible to Have It All
If history is any indication, if you believe you have monopolized a market you might be on top for a while… But soon enough someone else will come along, think differently and take it from you.
The guy who had a monopoly on horse and buggies was livin’ large until Henry Ford came around.
MySpace thought it was untouchable until Facebook ate its lunch.
You already know how Yellow Cab feels about Uber… about the same way Blockbuster feels about Netflix.
You might see these as examples of scarcity. The newcomer came in and took what once belonged to the fallen giant. But pull back the curtain, and you’ll see the abundance. In every case the market for services is bigger than it ever was. And there are several players in the new market.
Not Everybody is Your Customer
There are some amazing people that just aren’t your customer, employee, fan, love interest etc.
If they’re not a good fit for you, figure that out fast and move on. That person or company is the right fit for someone else.
The fit for you is out there, but you’re wasting something that IS a scarce resource trying to hold on to something that isn’t…
Time is a scarce resource.
You have much too little of it to deal with people that see life through a lens of scarcity.
You Can’t Have It Both Ways
People are either happy for you moving up, or feeling they have to pull you down. Can’t be both.
Do yourself a favor and embrace abundance. You don’t have time to worry about what somebody else has.
Have you ever had to cut someone out of your life because you made a decision to embrace abundance over scarcity?