Spending a lifetime learning about scarcity from every single teacher, from your math teacher to your social studies teacher, it’s hard to rid your mind of that lesson to overcome the blocks this can put in your way.
Scarcity involves the idea that there is a shortage of something. It could be anything from food to water to money. It involves the idea that when it comes to some things, some people will get a lot and some people will get less or nothing. You were taught it throughout your education that some things were finite, and that list included gold, diamonds, money, food, water, and land. All these things can easily be seen as limited, especially land, which helps further the myth of scarcity.
First, the truth is, for the most part, scarcity isn’t true. It may be true that there are fresh, clean drinking water shortages in places, but most of the time there is still a solution to that water shortage if only we have the will to find the solution and to implement it – such as how they use sea water in Israel to fight drought conditions.
So, when you think about how one of the things you know for sure, water shortage, isn’t even true, how does that make you feel? It should excite you. Because scarcity is truly just a solution that hasn’t been discovered yet. That’s exciting when you think about all the things you thought were limited. Like money.
Deep down, a person with a scarcity mindset thinks that the more money they have the less money someone else has. Like what happens in the game of Monopoly. For some people, this makes earning money too hard for them, so they push it away. They feel guilty when they have and someone else doesn’t have. But what if you learn and believe that it’s not a game of who can get the most by taking from others. There is enough money that everyone can have more than enough.
It may take you some time to retrain your brain to look at abundance and scarcity differently. Remember, scarcity is just a problem that needs to be solved. When you come to a problem with that idea in mind, it’s easier to realize it’s true. You can always make more money. When you really start believing that and acting in that belief, you’re going to see phenomenal growth in your business.
But it may take some baby steps. Notice that you’re having (for example) the fear or making excuses about something to do with money. Analyze the situation. Study the numbers. Understand the data. Try out some solutions and ideas to find out if they work for you. Tip your toe in and just give it a try. As you experience success, your confidence will build, and your belief will grow. As your belief in abundance grows and your skepticism about scarcity grows, you start to tune into a whole new paradigm. The only way you can experience it is by moving forward with the idea of it – even if you’re not sure – to test out the concept.
