This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.
Due to the competitive, capitalistic enterprise in our world, we are often naturally drawn towards a mindset of scarcity and competition. A scarcity mindset can lead to fear, competition, and a sense of lack. This limits our thinking and can be detrimental to our growth; health, wealth, relationships, and more. In this blog post, I’ll define more clearly what an abundance mindset is, why it’s important that you at least consider adopting an abundance mindset, and how acquiring this perspective can lead to a more fulfilling and prosperous life.
Table of Contents
What is an Abundance Mindset?
I first heard about an abundance mindset from reading Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In the book, he defined an abundance mindset as, “…the paradigm that there is plenty out there for everybody.”
In effect this means:
- being genuinely happy when others have success in there life because there is an abundance of opportunities for everyone
- entering contracts and deals with the intent of creating win/win scenarios (and goodwill in the process)
- appreciating what you have and knowing that you are enough and will have enough
Why Choose an Abundance Mindset over a Scarcity Mindset?
In a nutshell, an abundance mindset leads to healthier and more favorable outcomes.
A scarcity mindset can create:
- fear and insecurity due to zero-sum game thinking
- a limited view of mental development (i.e. intelligence and talent are inherited and can’t be developed)
- envy and jealousy of others
- small thinking
- safe thinking and actions
while an abundance mindset fosters:
- generosity
- collaboration
- gratitude
- a belief in limitless possibilities
- big thinking and actions
- growth, change, and improvement
An abundance mindset leads to a healthier body and mind (less stress, more growth and improvement) as well as healthier relationships with everyone in your life (friends, family, colleagues, etc.). in addition, people can tell when you have a scarcity mindset and this effects the opportunities that come your way. Would you want to include someone in an opportunity (job, business, team, etc.) if they appeared to only be in it for themselves?
How to Acquire an Abundance Mindset
Gratitude – The Gateway to Abundant Thinking
“Genuine gratitude is one of the most powerful ways to invite more goodness into our lives. It’s as if you’re saying to the universe, please bring me more of this.”
Deepak Chopra
By being grateful for what we have, we can better appreciate the positive things in our lives. Be they good health, the love of family, friends or a significant other, or possessions (house, car, money, etc.), gratitude helps put things in perspective. It also helps us to remove ourselves from the constant comparison that our capitalistic society encourages. As Theodore Roosevelt is often attributed saying:
“Comparison is the thief of joy”
Theodore Roosevelt
How to Incorporate Gratitude in your Daily Life
Some simple ways you can incorporate a practice of gratitude in your daily life include:
- Keep a gratitude journal – create a journal where you write down the things you are most grateful each day.
- Share your gratitude with others – make an effort each day to praise or show your appreciation for something someone has done for you. This could be as simple as taking the time to call you.
- Create reminders to practice gratitude – put an alarm in your phone, schedule some time on your calendar, setup a visual reminder in your bathroom or bedroom, anything to remind you to take a little time to slow down and smell the roses appreciate your life
- Slow downs and appreciate the world through your senses – as the saying goes, stop and smell the roses. Take some time to appreciate the gift of life by paying attention to the things you touch, see, smell, listen, and taste.
- Stop complaining – whenever you get the urge to complain, stop yourself and think of something you are grateful for instead. Complaining is an unhealthy way of acknowledging circumstances that don’t meet our expectations. Just because they don’t meet our expectations, doesn’t mean that they are necessarily bad. This will help to rewire your thinking from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset
- Practice grateful speaking and body language – by making an effort to smile and use more positive and grateful language like thank you, I appreciate it, blessed, fortunate, abundance, etc., you’ll trigger the emotion of gratitude more often
The Power of Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations are statements that reflect a desired state of being or some goal we hope to achieve. They’re often repeated as a sort of mantra in an attempt to overcome negative thoughts and attitudes. Over a longer period of a time they can help reframe your mindset, help you recognize your strengths and even boost your confidence.
The Impact of Positive Affirmations in Shaping an Abundance Mindset
Using a positive affirmation associated with abundance can help replace the scarcity thoughts and attitudes. It may sound hokey, but our minds are malleable and susceptible to influence, even our own machinations. Since we’re often introduced to a scarcity mindset in our social interactions, it helps to intentionally counteract them by reinforcing thoughts of abundance.
Abundance Mindset Affirmations you can Start Today
A positive affirmation is more of a personal phrase or statement, but some basic examples include:
- I’m deserving of abundance and success
- I’m effortlessly attracting prosperity and opportunities
- I’m enough and have enough to be happy
Embracing Change and Growth
People with an abundant mindset embrace change and growth as they believe there is no end to their development and what they’re capable of achieving. Change is exciting because it just represents more opportunities for growth.
Not all change is easy to embrace, but even the worst changes such as the loss of a loved one can be reframed to something positive as we can be grateful of the time we got to spend with them, the opportunity to see loved ones we haven’t seen in a while, and the opportunity to celebrate their lives.
Abundance in Relationships
Having an abundant mindset can help improve your relationships because you are more willing to celebrate others’ success, help others, appreciate the things they do for you, and, often, empathize with them and their situations. Most people want to be around other people that have these unselfish traits.
In a family/friend situation, it helps you be a better mother, father, sister, brother, friend, etc. as others will understand that you appreciate them and genuinely care about them. When you feel heard and cared about, you’re generally more happy with the relationship.
In a business setting, having the ability to connect with people better and more deeply will lead to an easier ability to collaborate, support, and create win-win situations with colleagues. In a healthy work environment, this will lead to more opportunities for advancement.
Taking Risks and Seizing Opportunities
Folks with a scarcity mindset can have a hard time with risks as they overemphasize the challenges versus the opportunities. They see the challenges as a daunting and scary proposition, while the folks with an abundant mindset focus on the opportunities while accepting the risks. People with an abundant mindset are more confident in their abilities, more creative, and more willing to collaborate to achieve their goals.
As I’ve mentioned in other blog posts, being an engineer in a highly regulated industry (energy), I’m forced to focus on the challenges day in and day out, so it takes great effort to reframe my thinking to a more abundant mindset. For anyone that has a project or goal they’re putting off due to fear of the risks, I would encourage you to focus on the opportunities and objectively evaluate the risks. While the risks are scary, there may be ways to remove, mitigate, or even live with the consequences of the risks. You only get one life, and while the world is abundant with resources, time is a limited commodity for all of us.
Abundance in Daily Practices
As I mentioned earlier, there are daily gratitude practices you can perform to start altering your mindset. In addition to that, I would encourage you to start practicing the following:
- Collaborate with others – seek out opportunities to work with others on projects, partnerships, businesses, etc. By combining resources and skills you can better take advantage of the opportunities available to you.
- Focus on opportunities – as I mentioned earlier, instead of focusing on the things you lack or the risks associated with opportunities, focus on the opportunities and objectively evaluate the risk.
- Take calculated risks – Don’t let fear hold you back; if you perform the analysis and the opportunity outweighs the risks, it may be something you decide to pursue.
The Ripple Effect
An abundance mindset has the ability to completely change your life for the better. Something as simple as pursuing an opportunity you had previously been scared to pursue can lead to exceptional. In my own life, I’ve seen the effects of living with an abundant mindset. When I started working in 2009, I was making ~$40,000/year and had no retirement savings. Over the years, I’ve taken advantage of opportunities to move up and eventually moved to another company to pursue not only better financial rewards, but better working conditions. There were obvious risks, but the opportunity was worth it. In addition, to changing careers, I’ve recently started stock investing (2020) as opposed to just index fund investing to pursue higher returns. Now I make over six figures and my wife and I have a significant nest egg for retirement.
In addition to my normal working life, it’s led me to pursue opportunities to improve and learn new skills, obtain an MBA, and start this blog with the goal of helping other people be the best they can be and achieve their own fortune with intentional effort.
Conclusion
Cultivating an abundance mindset is a continuous journey that involves reshaping thought patterns and embracing a positive outlook on life. By incorporating gratitude, positive affirmations, and a willingness to embrace change, individuals can embrace an life filled with abundant opportunities and prosperity.
Would you say you have an abundant mindset? If not, do you plan to cultivate one? Do you have a story how an abundant mindset has led to good outcomes?