Dfating a Scarcity Mindst From an arly ag, you ar bombardd with mssags concrning what to think about mony. Many of thm ar wrong. For instanc, w r taught that to b rich, you hav to mak a lot of mony. But, how much you arn has littl baring on whthr or not you can and will build walth. Making consistnt smart, disciplind dcisions about your mony has much mor impact on your succss or failur. Building walth also dosn t rquir incrdibl willpowr. Som of th walthist popl hav takn th asy way out, automating thir financs so that thir savings and invstmnt accounts ar paid first bfor thy vn s thir paychck. If thy can t s it, if th mony nvr vn touchs thir hands, thy can t spnd it. Th dcision to add to thir walth is alrady mad for thm. Scarcity vs. Abundanc Whil most popl would say that ar gnrally a positiv prson, it s important to rmmbr that w liv in th ag of information ovrload. And much of this information is ngativ. Thrfor, it s asy to dvlop a ngativ mindst without vn ralizing it. It s why th most common mindst in our socity concrning mony is a scarcity mindst. It s also a common dnominator among thos who nvr rach thir full financial potntial. This mindst limits your financial succss bcaus it givs you th illusion that you nvr hav nough. It lads you to bliv that som popl will hav plnty, but you will always lack. And sinc you don t bliv that you can achiv mor, thr is no why pushing you to try. Simply put, you bliv your chancs of succss ar far too difficult, so you nvr try. It maks you think that you can t afford to continu good habits bcaus thr isn t nough to go around. It maks you think I can t do that. ion id nc ity nf ct co fa ss tis ss pin p unha passion ambitious sc anx str sa far mpowrmnt An abundanc mindst is just th opposit it will mak you think How can I do that? This is th pivotal phas that can chang your ntir mindst. t s ity mind ab t und s anc mind arc
An abundanc mindst allows you to viw ach situation you ncountr as an opportunity for succss. It hlps you undrstand that if you continu to hon good habits and nvr quit doing thm, that you will vntually succd. This how you brak through th glass ciling btwn survival and succss. In lif, you can ithr fail, surviv or succd. You can surviv with a scarcity mindst, but fluctuations btwn failur and survival will b common. With an abundanc mindst, you can do mor than just surviv you can succd. You can rach your full financial potntial. Ngativ blifs about mony go a long way in trapping you in a scarcity mindst. This is bcaus onc you crat a blif, you tnd to subconsciously mak dcisions basd on that blif for th rst of your lif, vn whn it may not b appropriat. Part of cultivating an abundanc mindst is idntifying th mony strssors that trap you. Only thn can you implmnt rlivrs to ovrcom thm. Rlivrs ar thoughts that ar rootd in an abundanc mindst. For xampl, rtirmnt may b a strssor for you. Bliving that you can t sav nough mony for rtirmnt, and thrfor not taking productiv action to furthr your chancs of succss, chos a scarcity mindst. An abundanc mindst would prompt you to think of how you can sav mor mony for rtirmnt. You could start by saving $50 mor a month toward your futur. Sur, it s not much, but small actions can add up to larg victoris. Build on this good habit, continu it vry month, until vntually you r saving mor. Mayb aftr six months of saving, it hlps you raliz you can actually sav $75 mor a month. This is your rlivr how you can mak vry situation you ncountr an opportunity for succss. Rlivrs can hlp you crat nw blifs that drown out th strssors, rathr than ltting th strssors trap you in a scarcity mindst. Mony Mssags Many of your blifs about mony wrn t dvlopd on thir own. You initially larnd thm, from your cultur, family, frinds and thn adaptd thm to your lif as you got oldr. Blow, list 10 mssags about mony that you larnd from socity (i.. books, nwspaprs, talk shows, tlvision/radio commrcials). W v includd on to gt your startd. Chck off th top fiv that you still idntify with today. Socital Mssags About Mony Mony dosn t grow on trs.
Now, list 10 mssags about mony you larnd from your parnts. Idntify th ons that, today, you hav ithr accptd or rjctd, by placing an A or an R nxt to thm. Mssags from your parnts About Mony Think about your first xprincs with mony, such as opning your first bank account, your first job, buying your first car or your first hom. Writ a fw sntncs about how ths xprincs mad you fl: Go back ovr th mssags, blifs and flings that you idntifid in th activitis abov. Mark all of th positivs (rlivrs) with a star. Mark all of th ngativs (strssors) with an X. Bonus: How do you viw financially succssful popl? Complt th following sntnc with your initial gut raction, don t stop and think about it: Walthy popl got whr thy ar bcaus. This offrs an intrsting insight into why you can t brak out of your scarcity mindst. For xampl, if you finishd this sntnc with thy ar lucky, thn you probably don t viw yourslf as bing lucky. Hnc, your mindst supports th blif that you will nvr rach your full financial potntial bcaus you arn t lucky. Idntifying Your Mony Strssors Rfrnc th mssags abov that you notd as ngativ, and form statmnts about thm. Ths statmnts ar your mony strssors. For xampl, our frbi Mony dosn t grow on trs should v bn markd with an X. Hr is a statmnt you could form about that mssag, basd on our prvious xampl: I can t sav nough mony for rtirmnt. Thus, on of your mony strssors would b rtirmnt.
Using th chart blow, clarly stat and idntify your thr biggst mony strssors. Ths ar th first strssors that you will focus on ovrcoming. Also, stat th sacrifics that you mak for thm (i.. inability to fl gratful, rducd halth/wll-bing) and th motional gratification associatd with thm (i.. control, justification, blamlss). W v filld in an xampl for you. Mony strssors Rtirmnt. Sacrifics: Rgular strss ovr inability to mt goals. Dcidd to stop annual family vacation to sav th mony instad. Gratifications: Blaming othrs. My boss controls my paychck, so it s not my fault that I can t sav mor mony for rtirmnt. It s not my fault I had to cancl our annual family vacation. Sacrifics: Gratifications: Sacrifics: Gratifications:
Ovrcoming Your Mony Strssors: Cultivating an Abundanc Mindst Your actions dictat your succss, both in lif and in financ. This is why succssful popl both in gnral and in financ tnd to hon th good habits that ar found in an abundanc mindst. An abundanc mindst is th critical foundation to raching your full financial potntial. Albrt Einstin notd that th dfinition of insanity is doing th sam thing ovr and ovr, and xpcting diffrnt rsults. If you nvr chang your blifs, your bhaviors will continu to support a scarcity mindst, prvnting you from raching your full financial potntial. You hav to chang som of your blifs about mony in ordr to act in ways that support an abundanc mindst, ssntially unlashing your full financial potntial. You r now rady to ovrcom your mony strssors. Crat a rlivr for ach of th thr strssors that you idntifid in th prvious xrcis. To hlp you gt startd, w ll rfr back to our strssor w providd, rtirmnt, and provid an xampl of a rlivr to gt you startd. strssor rlif rlivr for Strssor #1: I m lucky that I hav th ability to arn an incom. Evn though it s out of my control, I can control what I spnd and what I sav. I can control how ffctivly I distribut my incom. rlivr for Strssor #1: rlivr for Strssor #1: Now, idntify what actions you can tak to implmnt your rlivrs. W v providd an xampl to gt you startd, basd on our xampl from th prvious xrcis. sav 1% mor of your incom this yar. strssor rlif action for rlivr #1: Sav 1% mor of my incom this yar. action for rlivr #2: action for rlivr #3: You ar now rady to cultivat an abundanc mindst, and tak your first stps to dfating a scarcity mindst!