Below is a full transcript of the episode including all links referenced:
Welcome to the clean simple free podcast! I’m your host, Ashley Foxx. This podcast relies on listener support in order to keep going. So if you’re a listener who would like to keep hearing new episodes, click the link in the show notes to support this podcast starting at just 99 cents per month.
Today’s episode is about a scarcity mentality and an abundance mindset. What are they, what’s the difference between the two, and how can we learn to have abundant minimalism? Stick around!
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Today’s topic is about a scarcity versus an abundance mindset. Now, what is a scarcity mindset? In the simplest terms, this means that you are totally focused on what you don’t have. Whether that’s time, money, or not enough space, when you have a scarcity mindset you are so focused on what you’re living without that you sometimes can’t see what you actually have. You get tunnel vision and all you can think about is what you’re lacking.
There’s an article on this topic on psychologytoday.com. The article has this to say:
“What happens to our minds when we feel we have too little? How does the context of scarcity shape our choices and behaviors? Scarcity is not just a physical limitation, it affects our thinking and feeling. Scarcity orients the mind automatically and powerfully toward unfulfilled needs. For example, food grabs the focus of the hungry. For a lonely person, scarcity may come in poverty of social isolation or lack of companionship.
On the positive side, scarcity prioritizes our choices and can make us more effective. Scarcity creates a powerful goal for dealing with pressing needs and ignoring other goals. For example, the time pressure of a deadline focuses our attention on using what we have most effectively. Distractions are less tempting, when we have little time left we try to get more out of every moment. For example, we are more frugal with the toothpaste as the tube starts to run empty.
But the context of scarcity makes you myopic (exhibiting bias toward the here and now.) The mind is focused on present scarcity. We overvalue immediate benefits at the expense of future ones, for example, procrastinating important things such as medical checkups or exercising. We only attend to urgent things and fail to make small investments even when future benefits can be substantial. To attend to the future requires cognitive resources, which scarcity depletes. We need cognitive resources to plan and to resist present temptations.”
So scarcity mindset can be useful when facing a deadline or trying to make your face cream last longer before you have to buy more, and of course, if we’re talking about actual poverty or someone needing food, a scarcity mindset can’t really be helped. But in the context of minimalism, if you are focused on everything that you’re avoiding buying, or thinking about the sales that you’re “missing out on,” or if you feel paralyzed that you won’t have enough stuff when you get rid of excess that you don’t use, that means that thinking in scarcity is affecting you negatively.
I’m going to talk about how to have an abundance mindset which is the opposite, and abundant minimalism may sound counterproductive but it’s not about abundance of possessions but rather finding abundance in the experiences we have, the people we love, and being grateful for the things we own.
If you’ve ever received a marketing email or text message from a store that you signed up for either knowingly or unknowingly, a lot of them will use what’s called “the hard sell.” According to investopedia.com, “The hard sell is a term that was first used in the 1950s in the United States to describe sales and advertising practices that are aggressive in nature.” It goes on to say, “Hard sell tactics put immediate pressure on a prospective client and can include abrupt language, cold calls, or unwanted pitches. These are intended to keep pushing a client to buy even if the client has said no.”
So, marketing emails love to do this. They’ll use lines like “Don’t miss out on this sale! These items are going fast! Don’t wait, shop now, while supplies last!” They write to induce this sense of FOMO, this fear of missing out on whatever deal or sale they’re promoting so that they can prey on people who are susceptible to purchasing items impulsively or who are afraid of feeling left out if they don’t get whatever is being advertised. It’s pretty insidious. And when we have a scarcity mindset, it literally becomes more difficult for us to resist these kinds of temptations.
I’m going to read you something from Web MD:
“A scarcity mindset is when you are so obsessed with the lack of something, usually time or money, that you can’t seem to focus on anything else no matter how hard you try. For example, when you’re on a diet all you can think about is the food you can’t eat anymore. Focusing on something you don’t have can take a toll on your mental health. You can get tunnel vision when all you think about is the unmet need. Scarcity mentality also has other impacts on your brain and can even cause it to work differently.
Having a scarcity mentality can lower your IQ by as many as 14 points and limits your brain function. It affects your ability to solve problems, hold information, and reason logically. It also affects your brain’s decision-making process. A scarcity mindset limits your ability to plan, focus, and start a project. Your brain is too busy thinking about something you don’t have.
It makes impulse control harder. The decision-making part of your brain also controls impulses. When tunnel vision reduces your brain function, you’re more likely to give into impulses you usually wouldn’t. When we spend our energy obsessing over one thing, the other areas of the brain start to lapse.”
So from this article, we can see that when we are focused on the things we don’t have, it becomes much harder to resist impulsive purchases and harder to think clearly to decide if we want to make a purchase. Now would be a good time to ask yourself honestly how you’re approaching a simpler life or a minimal life. Are you viewing it with openness because you want to get rid of everything that’s cluttering your space? Or are you thinking “Well, I told myself that 2022 would be the year that I try the minimalist thing, so I guess I can’t buy this, I guess I can’t have that.”
Instead of thinking of minimalism as doing without things that you want, think about the fact that you are choosing to only keep certain things in your home. Things that you have the room for and things that make you happy. You’re choosing to let go of clutter that you don’t need and that fills up your mental and physical space. This will make it much easier to let go of things that you don’t want or use or need if you’ve been approaching minimalism with this scarcity or “I have to do without this certain thing” mindset.
This next excerpt is from a self-help website called soulsalt.com. It’s from an article called “Stop fearing scarcity.”
“Stuck in scarcity mode, instead of embracing an abundance mindset, it’s hard to go after what you really want in life. Patterns of negative self-talk like ‘I’m not good enough or I can’t do that’ hold you back from achievement.
People with a scarcity mindset have a zero-sum view of the world: whatever is gained by one side is lost by the other. When you think in terms of scarcity you put yourself in a box. You live within four walls of resentment, entitlement, stagnancy, and victimhood. You see another person’s success as your loss. This is a cycle of negativity that not only pushes people away but also holds them back from achieving goals.
When you step outside of a scarcity mindset, you step into a world of endless possibilities. You realize your own strengths and develop them with confidence. You value yourself and celebrate the value in others. An abundance mindset means to see the limitless potential in life.”
This type of scarcity mentality is so damaging in many different ways. Of course, I always try and tie my topics back into organization and decluttering so of course I’m applying that here, but this is also an intentional living podcast. I like to introduce topics that relate to bettering ourselves and living the best life we can have.
When we think in terms of scarcity, we become competitive and even destructive. We can be destructive to our relationships if we’re viewing someone else’s win as our loss and we feel bitter about it, we can be destructive to our wallets if we don’t want to miss out on some type of sale or we purchase and buy something on credit that we can’t afford, and we limit ourselves by thinking we’re not good enough or using a comparison mindset that makes us feel like we aren’t deserving of what we want out of life.
I’m going to talk about shifting our focus to an abundance mindset, but first let’s take a quick break for a word from our sponsors.
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And welcome back to the episode! What exactly is an abundance mindset? The term was first used in 1989 by Stephen Covey in his best-selling book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” He described the term as “A concept in which a person believes there are enough resources and successes to share with others.” This is the opposite of a scarcity mentality where you’re thinking competitively or that just because other people “win” in a situation, that means you lose.
The self-care website chopra.com has this to say:
“Fostering an abundance mindset has become widely recognized as a beneficial endeavor in personal and spiritual development. The prevailing belief is that creating an abundance mindset allows you to:
Live an unlimited, full, and satisfying life. Exude happiness despite circumstance. Give and receive affections and items of high value with ease. Feel plentiful, creative, and inspired. Take full advantage of and enjoy new opportunities that come your way. Create memorable and meaningful life experiences. Feel secure and confident in your life endeavors and create successful outcomes.”
Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful way to live? I mean, seriously, doesn’t this sum up what we’re looking for by pursuing a life with less? I know that I want a rich, satisfying life that feels plentiful, happy, and meaningful. We don’t need things filling our space in order to have a full life. A reoccurring topic in my episodes is that once we remove the clutter and clean out our homes we can make room for the more meaningful things in life. And I feel like that excerpt really sums up the vibe that I want to create by pursuing minimalism.
The less time we spend sifting through our clutter and taking care of our items, the more time we have to pursue creative passions, develop relationships with our family and friends, or focus on self-betterment. And an abundance mindset helps us to obtain the kind of lives we want.
There’s a really helpful graph that’s on the Chopra website I just read from that I’ll post to my Instagram once this episode is live. So check out my Instagram account after listening if you’d like to check and see whether you typically have a scarcity or abundance mindset.
So how can we have a mindset of abundance? The first step is practicing gratitude. For the season three finale in episode 73, the topic was how to develop a gratitude practice. So go back and listen to that one for more detailed ideas. But for a few quick reminders, the quickest and easiest way to practice gratitude is to just list off things that you’re grateful for. You can write it down on a physical list if you’re a visual person, or if you catch yourself having a scarcity mindset moment or just feeling sort of ungrateful, name off 3 or 4 things that you’re grateful for.
Sitting right here recording, I can tell you that I’m grateful for a microphone that works well, an audience that tunes into my podcast week after week, the sparkling water I’m drinking, and I’m grateful for my pets and the fact that they’re behaving right now so I can record this episode for you! There is always so much to express gratitude for, so it’s hard to feel like we’re lacking in any aspect when we think of all the little blessings in our lives.
Another way is to check in with your thoughts regularly. If you notice that you’re having negative self-talk and you hear that inner monologue saying negative things like, “I wish I had nicer things. I can never have a good day. Everyone else is doing so much better than me. This is just my bad luck.” Those types of thoughts [are] a pretty good indicator that your thoughts are based in fear and scarcity. Recognize it, and change your thought patterns.
A good way to do this is replacing a negative thought with a positive one. So if you’re thinking negatively about your appearance, name off things you do like about your appearance or personality traits you’re proud of. Just start listing things that you like about yourself. If you’re feeling down about your job, list off anything you like about your job. Whether that’s a nice commute or fun coworkers, it doesn’t even have to be your job description. Just substitute your bad thoughts for good ones. The more you do this, the more quickly you’ll be able to recognize when you’re thinking negatively.
This leads me to my next point which is to think optimistically. Our thoughts really do have power over us, so shifting into an optimistic way of thinking helps us to react more positively to our circumstances. I want to make it clear that this is different from the power of positive thinking. I’m not saying that you can manifest a pair of sold-out concert tickets if you just think about it hard enough. That’s not what I’m talking about. When we have a negative mindset we view things more negatively.
For example, if you are really down on yourself about something and someone gives you a genuine compliment, you might view that compliment with suspicion because you’re thinking so negatively about yourself that you think the positive thing that someone is saying about you cannot possibly be true.
I could do a whole other episode about negative versus positive thinking. It really is a powerful thing. But expecting the bad in any given situation is going to make you much more likely to notice bad things that happen to you or little inconveniences you run into, rather than focusing on the positive experiences you have throughout your day.
You could also create a mantra or affirmation that you use throughout your day or during meditations. It can be as simple as saying the word “Abundance,” or visualizing an overflowing cornucopia, I mean it can really be as simple as you wanna make it. But repeating a word or phrase or utilizing visualization techniques that remind us to have an abundance mindset puts it in the forefront of our mind, and we subconsciously carry those affirmations with us.
Mindbodygreen.com recommends some more strategies to change scarcity-based thinking into an abundance mentality. I’m going to read a few of those:
“Try journaling: If your thoughts are a bit chaotic in your head, writing them down can help you recognize which ones are coming from a place of scarcity and which are coming from a place of abundance. In this way, journaling daily can illuminate where you might be self-sabotaging.
Practice mindfulness: Simply getting into the habit of slowing down, noticing things more deeply, and appreciating little things can help you to keep better track of your negative versus positive thoughts.
Identify your barriers: There are lots of barriers to us feeling abundant. They might include unsupportive friends, financial fears, or low self-esteem. Making a list of all the reasons you might not achieve what you want to—although it might seem like a quite negative thing to do—makes them become less subconscious and more conscious.
Celebrate your wins: Try making a list of your accomplishments as a way to force the brain to recognize the abundance in your life. It makes you think, ‘I did that, so what else can I do?’
Avoid unnecessary distractions as best you can: Achieving an abundance mindset takes a clear and present mind. But in a world of distraction and hardship, staying focused can be a challenge. Whenever you’re faced with an opportunity to simplify your life, take it.”
I love all of these suggestions. And especially that last one, with the simplifying your life! Learning effective strategies to fight off fear and scarcity-based thoughts is important so that we can shift our thinking to a mindset of abundance. When we are thinking abundantly, we’re living more fulfilling lives that are beneficial to us and the people we love. By having an abundance mentality, we can learn to be grateful for everything that we have and we can celebrate our own victories as well as the victories of those around us.
That wraps up this week’s episode! Thank you so much, as always, for tuning in. If you got something out of this podcast and you’d like to support, click the link in the episode description to support this podcast starting at just .99 cents per month. It really means a lot to me!
If you wanna share your thoughts on this episode or just say “Hi,” I’d love to hear from you. Reach out on Instagram @clean.simple.free or by email at clean.simple.free@gmail.com.
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Thank you for being a listener, and remember, clean spaces make for a more simple way of life. And when life is simplified, your mind will feel free. I’ll see you next time!
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