Abundance Mentality as opposed to a Scarcity Mentality

For most of us we live in a society where we always want more and believe that what we have is not enough to get us to where we want to be in our finances, career and generally life. There is nothing wrong in wanting more; in any case it is a good thing to want more in life. It acts as a driving force to get us to the next step.

What hinders us is the mentality that what we have is not enough to get us to next step. We tell ourselves when I get a salary increment or a bigger job I will buy myself a house or I will go back to school.

Guess what when we get the salary increment which we do every year we have no idea what happens to the money and we set the goals for the following year and the cycle goes on. And of course nothing changes in our lives. (‘Rat race’ Concept as explained by Robert Kiyosaki in his book RICH DAD POOR DAD)

The reason for the lack of growth is that we tend to have a scarcity mentality as opposed to an abundance mentality when it comes to life and especially money and we believe that what we have is not enough or good enough for our dreams and financial purposes.

You know Rome was not built in one day and the same applies to wealth creation. We need to build it over a period of time.

In his book the “The 7 habits of highly effective people” Steve Covey coined the idea of abundance mentality or abundance mindset, a concept in which a person believes there are enough resources and success for themselves and to share with others.

He contrasts it with the scarcity mindset (i.e., destructive and unnecessary competition), which is founded on the idea that, if someone else wins or is successful in a situation, that means you lose; not considering the possibility of all parties winning (in some way or another) in a given situation.

Abundance Mentality	Scarcity Mentality
Peace, Comfort	Fear, anxiety, desperation
There are always new chances and opportunities	You have only got one shot
Positivity, Growth	Utter failure just because you stumbled once

With a scarcity mentality you keep waiting for that opportunity of unspecified amount at an undefined time to come your way. Some people wait all their lives. As opposed to an abundance mentality which allows you to plan, invest and see every opportunity as a means to achieving your financial goal.

How to get rid of a scarcity mentality

1. Focus on what you have and not what you lack. Your thoughts form your words which form your actions which result in your habits, behaviour, culture and we all know how the cycle goes. Whatever you focus on is what you will see in your world.
2. Appreciate what you have
3. Get organized financially
4. Hang out with people who have an abundance mentality. Look for like minded positive people
5. Get rid of the sources of negative vibe in your life. This may mean avoiding some people who always have negative vibe
6. Create win-win situations and collaborate with others especially when it comes to investments
7. Learn from your investment mistakes and move on

When it comes to money there are several healthy habits that can be adopted that can help change ones view of money

1.     Budget what you have and live within your means

2.     Track all your expenses on a daily basis including the Kes 20 you gave the guy on the street.

This seems like a very tedious process but let us look at what it costs not to do it. Assuming you cannot account for Kes 100 in a day, in a 30 day month that adds up to Kes 3000 that you cannot account for, in a year it is Kes 36000. Now imagine what you can do with that Kes 36000……… I hope now you understand why you need to track every penny.

3.     Where possible do bulk shopping as opposed to buying an item when it is over. When you buy in bulk you can save upto Kes 100 per item. (One day do window shopping of the items that you buy monthly and see)

4.     Avoid buying things from the local kiosk. Most of the time we run to the kiosk to do emergency shopping. Guess what Kiosk prices are 20-50 bob more than supermarket.

5.     Get rid of unnecessary expenses

6.     In your budget include rewards. You work hard every month allocate a portion of your salary to spend on yourself on anything that you want. If you allocate the funds you will not feel guilty spending the money. After all why work hard if you cant enjoy yourself. It can be as little as Kes 500.

7.     For those who believe in God. As a way of saying thank you to him for seeing you through the month give tithe, help someone in the society. Anything as an act of worship.

In the end if you work with what you have you will be surprised how much you have and how much you can produce from it.

TAKE A STEP BACK AND CELEBRATE YOURSELF TODAY