Is your mindset creating scarcity or abundance in your business?
The definition of the word scarcity is “the state of being in short supply”
Stephen Covey most likely springs to everyone’s mind when “scarcity vs abundance mindset” is mentioned. He covers it extensively in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. This is what he says about scarcity;
“Most people are deeply scripted in what I call the Scarcity Mentality. They see life as having only so much, as though there were only one pie out there. And if someone were to get a big piece of the pie, it would mean less for everybody else.
The Scarcity Mentality is the zero-sum paradigm of life. People with a Scarcity Mentality have a very difficult time sharing recognition and credit, power or profit – even with those who help in the production. They also have a very hard time being genuinely happy for the success of other people.”
The scarcity mindset revolves around the idea that there simply isn’t enough to go around. There can be only one raise or promotion at work, and if one person gets it, everyone else can’t have it. A competitor has opened a spa in my neighborhood, now there aren’t going to be enough clients calling on my spa.
Scarcity is when you are constantly thinking that times are getting tougher and its harder to make money in our industry. It’s avoiding risk and fearing change. It’s constantly focused on the bank balance. Thus, scarcity mindset always focuses on the extreme short term of every decision and ignores the long term of every choice too. It creates sadness and jealousy.
The definition of the word abundance is “a very large quantity of something”
Let’s look at what Stephen Covey says about abundance;
“The Abundance Mentality, on the other hand, flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity.”
Abundance is welcoming competition and in fact levering off the competition as inspiration. Abundance believes the best is yet to come and that the pie is growing. Abundance shares knowledge and freely offers to help others. It focuses on the long term and it tends to create positive feelings towards others.
Your state of mind does not need to match what is actually happening in your current circumstances. So, you might very well be in the middle of a massive cash flow crunch and having staff challenges, which is not to be taken lightly or ignored. If you continue to make decisions based on “not having enough money”, well, then you will never correct the situation because you are continuously focused on the same thoughts of “watching cash flow” and “not having enough money.” Sound familiar?How do you change this?
Simple, shift your focus!
I am not suggesting lie to yourself and pretend it’s not happening, however, you can change your state of mind. Your thoughts have the ability to keep you focused on the possibilities.
So, if you believe the best is yet to come and focus your energies on opportunities rather than threats, well, then you will most likely make it through your cash flow crunch. Make a list of what you will be doing with the money that is going to come into the business.
A big part of having an abundance mindset is the ability to focus on what you already have and being grateful for it.
Gratitude is about having appreciation for all the good things in your business, your life and the lessons that you have learned along the way. Focusing on gratitude will help you feel more abundant because that is where your focus will flow. What a brilliant spin off!
Accept that creating more abundance starts with a deep sense of worth, believe that you deserve it. When you believe that you deserve to have a lot more and that there is more than enough to go around, then this abundance mindset creates more opportunities, opens up creativity and more possibilities!
Trent Hamm, founder of The Simple Dollar offers eight tactics for switching to abundance and cultivating it.
- Have appreciative conversations. Instead of talking about the struggles in your business, share the positives with staff, friends and clients. Expose yourself and everyone around you to the riches you already have in place.
- Organize your life. The simple process of getting your possessions, your time, and your information better organized does a lot to cultivate an abundance mindset. By doing this, you begin to see how many things and how much time you actually already have in your life.
- Reduce your media consumption. Media in every form cultivates a desire for things you don’t have. Take the time you would have spent on unnecessary media and improve yourself in some way.
- Share what you have with others. By sharing what you have with others, you often feel good about what you’ve shared, you’ve improved the other person’s life. Second, you’ll find you don’t really miss what you’ve shared. Third, when you share regularly, people are very willing to share right back with you. It doesn’t have to be monetary. It could be time, knowledge and connections.
- Try to create win-win situations. Scarcity dictates that for every winner there must be a loser. To combat that idea, create situations where everyone wins.
- Look for positives in every loss. When life deals a bad hand scarcity will be there whispering how unfair it is and how others are luckier than you. Guess what, those “lucky” people have seen some losses too and every bad deal life hands us has some valuable things hidden. Stop and think about the positives that are coming out of the change.
- Stop comparing yourself to others. In the scarcity mindset, all that matters is how you compare to others. In the abundance mindset, what matters most is how you compare to yourself – how you live out your own ideals in your day-to-day life.
- Keep a gratitude journal. pend a bit of time each day noting the things that are going well in your life that you’re grateful for. Every day gives us moments that fill us with joy and show us how much life has on offer for us. Keep note of it.
You are invited to join us at Spa Professionals Guild on a 28 Day Abundance Challenge. This simply means that for 28 days you are going to focus on what you have and be grateful for it. You will shift your focus when you find yourself having thoughts of scarcity. Are you in for the challenge?
Till next week!
Marisa
Ready to take your business to the next level? Join the ranks of members who have improved processes in their business for greater customer loyalty, staff satisfaction and ultimately INCREASED PROFITS! Find out whether our Complete Business Management course is right for you by scheduling a complimentary 30-minute business review call. Click HERE!