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Financial freedom or well-being is fundamentally tied to positive expectations of the future. It ultimately depends on casting aside the scarcity mentality that believes everything is limited and rather embraces an abundance mindset that believes there’s plenty for everyone. When you’re optimistic about the future, you often think things will work out even if there are bumps along the way. So you make decisions based on the big picture rather than a single snapshot in time.
The scarcity mentality person often make fear-based decisions, such is often concerned with what might go wrong than with what could go right. It helps in every way to practice a win-win approach to life. By focusing on your goals, striving for constant self-improvement and looking for ways to constantly improve your own situation while also helping those around you. Making this effort is a great way to move from scarcity mentality to abundance mentality, thereby creating a better life for yourself and the people around you.
In The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey writes: “The abundance mentality…is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. This abundance mindset comes from understanding there’s plenty in the world both for you and for others. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity”.
Scarcity mindset destroys the chances you have for future financial success. Most times, fear is often at the heart of this scarcity mindset: fear of failure, fear of the future, fear of missing out. Those with a scarcity mindset cling to the notion that there’s a limited amount of everything, and they’re afraid they won’t get their share.
Personal finance is very hard with the scarcity mindset. The scarcity mindset always focuses on the extreme short term of every decision and as well ignores the long term of every choice, too. Whereas, personal finance is much easier if you have an abundance mindset. It involves a deep understanding that just because you don’t get to have something now does not mean you won’t be able to have it later. The abundance mentality focuses on the long term. An abundance mindset is always looking for gratitude. It’s about choosing to see the positive and focus on what you already have.
When you focus on the things you’re grateful for, you naturally pull yourself out of the scarcity mindset. Gratitude is all about having appreciation for the good things in your life including the lessons you learned along the way, which helps you develop or cultivate an abundance mindset. To maintain this abundance mindset, you must learn to always recognize the possibilities around you and consciously surround yourself with people that have an abundance mindset.
Lastly, by shifting your thoughts to believe that you are inherently worthy will help you develop an abundance mindset. Know that you are worthy by virtue of being human here on earth. Also, believe that everyone is worthy. Everyone is deserving of every good thing in the world simply because they exist. So there is more than enough to go around. Maintaining an abundance mindset creates more opportunities, more creativity, and more possibilities for you to make an impact and do good in the world with what you have.
