Ep83: The toxic side of Hustle Culture and the downside of always being busy

Hey guys, welcome to the clean simple free podcast. I’m your host, Ashley Foxx. Thanks so much for tuning in to yet another episode! This week’s topic is all about hustle culture: what it is, why it’s toxic, and how we can veer away from it before it starts to negatively impact our productivity and our mental health. You don’t want to miss this one, so stick around!

A lot of times when we read articles or listen to podcasts about intentional living, they’re all about optimizing our lives to be better and teaching us to live better and to do more. How can I be more productive? How can I tackle more items on my to-do list? How can I make the most of the 24 hours in my day?

All of these suggestions are positive and helpful ones. Who wouldn’t want to be more productive? However, it can be easy to sometimes feel pressured by societal or even self-imposed standards to make sure that we’re always doing more, that we’re being productive enough, that our weekends are exciting and interesting enough. But it’s also important to recognize when we need to take the time to slow down.

Like many of you would probably agree, I love the feeling of accomplishment I get by having an ultra-productive day. It feels so good when I can sit down at the very end of a day and think, “Wow, I worked hard, my house is spotless, I knocked all these projects and errands off my to-do list, I was so productive today!”

Sometimes though, I place a lot of pressure on myself to not only do just as much the next day, but I try and top it. So if I checked ten things off my task list, I think, “Well, I’d love to tick off 11 things tomorrow.” It’s almost like I try to outdo myself. And while I think striving to make every day productive is a positive thing, keeping up this kind of pace every single day without balance is a quick path to burnout. 

If you have an extremely productive day followed by either a day to rest and recharge, or even just a normal, moderately accomplished day, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed or that you’re losing steam. And I think that we can place too much importance on the amount of tasks we can cram into a day.

There’s a quote by David Allen that says, “You can do anything, but not everything.” David Allen is a productivity consultant, author, and the creator of the “Getting Things Done” time management method. This quote has come up a lot in my life recently. It’s one that I posted to my Instagram and then it was brought up again a few weeks later in Episode 80 when I was interviewing Angie Ringler, and because it’s been mentioned a few times recently, I’ve been thinking about that quote a lot in the context of hustle culture and the whole “respect the grind” mentality. 

In case you missed it, hustle culture —also known as grind culture or burnout culture— refers to prioritizing working longer and longer hours and giving up more and more free time in pursuit of professional goals.

It’s a mentality where you sacrifice your hobbies, personal relationships, and free time in order to get ahead in your career. This is a mindset that isn’t just limited to career goals, but that can be applied to our personal lives as well. So this can apply to taking on too much in terms of weekend plans, social activities, and things like that.

There’s a website called Headversity that focuses on mental health as it relates to the workplace. They do a good job of highlighting what hustle culture looks like in this paragraph:

“Your alarm rings and you wake up. First thing? Check your phone. You go to the bathroom, then recheck your phone. Then, you eat breakfast while bolting out the door and simultaneously scrolling through emails. When you finally make it to work, you scarf down meals in between meetings. When you finally ‘finish’ work, it still follows you home. You continue to check and respond to emails while watching Netflix and talking to your family. Finally, fall asleep, despite all the blue light—the next day: repeat.

Does this sound familiar? It sounds pretty exhausting to me… This toxic cycle is called hustle culture: the societal standard that you must exert yourself at 110% capacity to succeed. Hustle culture … works day in and day out, pushing to maximize all 1440 minutes in every day.

You don’t stop when you’re tired; you stop when you’re done. And throughout all of this, you must embrace the façade that you absolutely LOVE what you do, no matter the pain it may cause.”

When I worked retail, I had a boss who encapsulated this mindset perfectly. I remember watching her bustle around the store and talk about how she never had time for a break, and brag about how she had been at the store for over 12 hours that day. She was often the first one to open things up in the morning, and the last one to leave. Her husband and kids would frequently stop by and try to pick her up and take her out to dinner, and she’d say, “Oh I can’t leave, I have way too much to do here.”

At first glance, it might sound like my former boss was simply overworked. But the truth is, many days the assistant managers on staff would be telling her, “Hey, go take your break, we’ve got this.” Or “Go home, everything’s taken care of. We’re fully staffed, go enjoy dinner with your family.” They would try to tell her that they had everything under control. But she would regularly brush them off as if the business really couldn’t carry on without her.

And it seemed like she enjoyed feeling like she had to keep working long shifts and skipping breaks and missing out on time with her family in order to be applauded as a good worker. This was back before “hustle culture” was a buzzword. My coworkers and I would talk about how toxic it seemed, and we’d kind of be like, “Who is she doing this for?”

This kind of toxic hustle mentality is not healthy, yet it’s often glamorized. I think we can all think of examples we’ve seen like this, or maybe we’ve even been guilty of participating in this mindset that we just have to keep going and going in order to be perceived as a go-getter. 

There’s a fantastic article on goodhousekeeping.com that discusses the toxicity of hustle culture. There’s a link to the transcript of this episode in the show notes, I would highly recommend reading the full article at your leisure. But I want to read some excerpts to you now:

“’Fundamentally, [hustle culture] is about work dominating your time in such an unnatural way that we have no time to live our lives,’ says Joe Ryle, the Director of the 4 Day Week Campaign. Meaning: It’s a lifestyle where career has become such a priority in your life or the environment that you work in that other aspects of being human — such as hobbies, family time, and self-care — often take a back seat.

… Proponents of hustle culture will tell you that ‘busier always equals better,’ and that constant busyness will always lead to more money, prestige, happiness, and high self-esteem.

In certain workspaces overworking is expected, applauded, and sometimes incentivized with promotions or raises. The pressure can be so intense that experts have even found that many people will say they’ve worked more hours than they actually logged to appear to be ‘the ideal employee’ — which Erin Reid, an associate professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business defines as being ‘fully devoted to and available for the job, with no personal responsibilities or interests that interfere with this commitment to work.‘

While hustle culture glorifies overworking as a badge of honor, it often sets up an environment of fear, guilt, and shame, especially when you don’t feel like running at the same pace as everyone around you, according to Nicole Cammack, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and the CEO of Black Mental Wellness.

‘You become an outsider, so to speak,’ she says. ‘You’re not being a team player, or you’re not caring — like everyone’s doing more, so you should do more.’

And yet, on TV we are constantly being fed celebratory stories of people who sacrifice parts of their lives to do a lot of things, she adds. Take the super mom archetype, for example, who can somehow cook, clean, raise the perfect family, train for the upcoming marathon, and manage a successful business without breaking much of a sweat. (Or so it seems.)

Social media can amplify this aspect of hustle culture since it encourages us to compare our lives to the seeming ‘perfection’ of the lives of others, says Cammack. ‘It can make you [feel] like ‘Maybe this life I’m creating isn’t enough because everyone else has so much going on.’‘

To paraphrase, we don’t have to come home from work feeling exhausted in order to feel like we’ve done a good job that day. We don’t have to sacrifice a work-life balance in order to be considered a good employee. And we don’t have to stretch ourselves thin in order to be valued.

It’s time for a quick break for a word from our sponsors.

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And welcome back to the episode. Let’s talk about hustle culture in terms of our social lives, because this topic isn’t just limited to our careers.

Recently, I was catching up with a friend on the phone and she was telling me about all the new responsibilities that came with a promotion she had received at work. Her boyfriend was also working hard, he was training at a new job, and both of them happened to have coworkers that were out sick, and she was talking about how all they wanted to do that weekend was mostly stay in and maybe take the dogs to the dog park.

And she asked me if I thought that was okay. Basically, she was bouncing the idea off of me of having a quiet weekend in. And I got the sense that she was trying to justify not having more exciting weekend plans. And this was interesting for me because I was struggling with the same exact thing. And I feel like a lot of us also judge ourselves based on what we do with our free time.

I feel that this is an important point to bring up because on this podcast, I do emphasize the importance of intentional living, and making sure that you’re doing the things that you wanna do, but it’s also important to realize it’s okay to slow down.

A few weeks ago, my fiance and I were talking about how stressed we both were. His job has been extremely stressful, we’ve been planning our wedding, we’ve both just generally been really busy. And we felt like we wanted to stay close to home, take care of some errands, and maybe go out for coffee. And there’s nothing wrong with that! That is a perfectly valid weekend.

However, it’s easy to feel that compared to what we could be doing or compared to some of our past weekend adventures, that staying in for a change can be boring.

In general, we love going out on the weekends. I like to keep a running list in my planner of fun events that are going on in our city so we always have the option of doing something fun. This is something I started doing post-lockdown because as I’m sure you guys are all familiar with, we both got so stir crazy with everything being closed up and him working from home that I decided when restrictions loosened, I did not want to take the opportunity to go out on the weekends for granted.

But just because I’m signed up to email blasts and Instagram alerts for art gallery openings and concerts and events, it doesn’t mean I always have to attend every single event. Sometimes, if we’re tired or overworked, it just sounds really good to stay in on a weekend. Or to just grab lunch and walk around at a park.

There doesn’t always have to be some big elaborate event schedule planned, and no one but me is holding myself accountable to do anything on the weekends. It’s not like the followers on my personal social media are going to be like, “Oh wow, Ashley had a lame weekend.” That is not a realistic thought to have!

But I feel that sometimes we can get caught up in the “work hard, play hard, always be grinding” mindset. The compulsion to feel that we are always doing as much as possible, whether personally or professionally, is extremely prevalent, and extremely toxic. So for whoever needs to hear it this week, I am giving you permission to minimize your commitments.

Even with something like decluttering, it’s okay if you’re not done organizing every single space in your home. It’s okay if there are some fix-it projects left unfinished, or if you haven’t started meditating, or journaling, or if you still need to Mari Kondo your closet. Life is so full of lots of different things we need to accomplish and want to spend our time on. The key to combating hustle culture is balance.

There are some great tips on finding a better balance from a website called InHerSight, it’s a platform that focuses primarily on bettering workplaces for women. And this is from an article on why hustle culture is toxic:

“Research shows that ironically, working too much decreases productivity by 68 percent in employees, and entrepreneurs are at a higher risk to receive mental health diagnoses that indicate burnout.

‘Hustle culture requires that you keep going despite prolonged stress and exhaustion, which is then rewarded with praise and props from other ‘hustlers.’ This culture does not openly praise folks who make their self-care a priority, and without the messaging that self-care is key to growth on all levels, the energy-depleting behaviors continue and the fast-paced lifestyle gets further perpetuated,’

… We can’t let go of hustle culture and embrace working in a sustainable way until we’re self-aware of the importance of mental health and self-care in the first place. 

‘So many people have neither had role models nor teachers to educate them on the importance of mental wellness. A quick online search can serve as a simple start to learning more about mental wellness, but the real work begins when someone can check in with themselves about what they need mentally, emotionally, physically, and even spiritually, and take targeted action steps.’

Recognize the hustle and change your mindset. If you feel like you’re overworked and overwhelmed, take some time to shift your mindset to prioritize yourself and your needs over prioritizing work with no rest. You should never feel guilty for taking breaks.

Figure out what’s important to you in life. Writer and brand coach Celinne Da Costa says, ‘In a world that is inundated with distractions, busyness, and addiction to hustling, there is merit in taking a step back and looking at the big picture.’ Ask yourself what your motivations and goals are in your life and career. What does success look like to you outside of a 40-hour-plus work week?

Start setting boundaries. There will always be more work you can do, but everyone needs time away from work in order to recharge. After you’ve figured out what’s important to you, whether it’s being able to eat dinner with family every night or having enough time to read before bed, start setting boundaries with yourself (and your boss) on when you’re available to work after normal hours. 

Consult a life coach, mental health counselor, or therapist. If you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, or burnout from your job, consider talking to a professional. Once you get to the root of the issue, you’ll be able to better move past husting.”

We all want to work hard and feel proud of how much we’ve accomplished. Whether it’s being hard workers at our jobs, having a full and active social life, or succeeding at personal projects, it is good to want to feel that we’re living our lives to the fullest.

But in a culture where never taking a break from the grind becomes a competition that leads to burnout or a poor quality of life or mental health issues, it’s important to recognize when we need to give ourselves a break. I think we can all benefit from focusing on finding balance and minimizing unnecessary expectations that we place on ourselves in order to live up to an arbitrary standard of staying busy for the sake of the grind.

That wraps up this week’s episode, thanks so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to drop a line with comments, questions, or just say hi, you can reach me by email at clean.simple.free@gmail.com or reach me on Instagram. Send me a DM at clean.simple.free. I love hearing from you guys!

Thanks so much for showing your support by tuning in week after week to listen to new episodes. If you’d like to take that support a step further by donating to the podcast you can click the link in the show notes that says “support this podcast,” and sign up for a .99 cent per month donation. It really helps to improve the show over time and it really means a lot to me.

That’s gonna do it! I hope everyone has a peaceful and productive week, 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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Ep81: Spring Cleaning! My favorite tips, tricks and reminders

Hey guys! Welcome to the clean simple free podcast, I’m your host Ashley Foxx. I hope everyone’s been having an awesome week, I cannot believe it’s April already! But that means it’s time to talk about spring cleaning.

But before we dive into that – real quick – I wanted to let you know about an upcoming giveaway! The clean simple free podcast is doing a giveaway, all of the details will be announced on my Instagram one week from today. So if you don’t follow me on Insta, go ahead and follow clean.simple.free and all of those giveaway details will be announced one week from today.

I’ve partnered with a guest that’s coming up two weeks from today, so in the very next episode that will be released, you can hear all of the details there.

This episode is about spring cleaning, digital decluttering, decluttering and cleaning tips, as well as the history and origins of spring cleaning. You don’t wanna miss this one. Let’s get our homes ready for the spring. Stick around!

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Today’s episode is all about spring cleaning. I don’t know about you but I love spring cleaning. I’m always excited for opportunities to get my home in order and make productive changes, so things like New Years’ resolutions and spring cleaning are fun little milestones for me to feel like I’m really on top of taking care of my home. Like I’ve really got this adulting thing nailed down.

Getting our homes situated for spring is also a great opportunity to do some deep cleaning and get rid of overlooked clutter.

I was curious about the origins of spring cleaning so I did a google search and wanted to share a bit about the history of it with you guys. This is from an article on Countryliving.com called “How Spring Cleaning Became an Annual Tradition.”

“During the 1800s, according to the Washington Post, the biggest annual housecleaning took place in the spring because the winter left homes coated with “a layer of soot and grime in every room.” Lamps of the time were lit with whale oil or kerosene, which had to be heated with coal or wood, so you can just imagine that mess. Proper cleaning required opening windows to let the soot out, which, of course, could only be done during warmer weather. 

In Jewish custom, spring cleaning is linked to Passover in March or April, which marks the liberation of Jews from slavery in Egypt. Before the start of the holiday, a general cleaning takes place in order to remove any yeast bread, or chametz, from the home.

In Christian custom, the Catholics clean the church altar the day before Good Friday, also normally in March or April, according to Apartment Therapy. Members of the Greek Orthodox church clean house for a week leading up to Lent.

In Iran, the holiday Nowruz, or Persian New Year, coincides with the first day of spring. The 13-day celebration traditionally involves cleaning (or “shaking the house”), buying new clothes, and spending time with family and friends.”

I so enjoyed reading this! I didn’t even think about the religious holidays that are linked to the time of year that we do spring cleaning, so I hope you learned something new too. I’m going to read you something else from Apartmenttherapy.com:

“During the cold of winter humans produce more melatonin which, while not a bad thing, can lead us to feel less motivated and generally lazier. During this time you might find that you’re much more interested in pulling up a cozy blanket and binge-watching Netflix than being very industrious. But when the days get longer and warmer our bodies react accordingly and the energy we’ve been missing all winter returns leading large numbers of us to start doing things like washing the curtains and digging out the steam cleaner from the attic.

Regardless of how one might feel about tackling some of the odd jobs around the house, spring is usually the time of year we start to notice areas of our homes that need some care and attention. The longer daylight hours highlight how mucky the windows have become and the harsh winter has turned pristine coats of paint into flecks of dilapidated grime.

Whatever our reasons for rolling up the sleeves and attacking sections of our homes with renewed vigor the annual spring clean feels distinctly different from the chores we carry out through the rest of the year – it can often feel a cathartic action rather than grim drudgery.”

I couldn’t agree more. I really do find catharsis in doing my spring cleaning! So now that you know the cultural, historical, and biological reasons why we practice spring cleaning, let’s dive into how to make the most of refreshing our homes for spring.

In past episodes, I’ve given you a checklist-style run-down of how to do your spring or fall cleaning, but every home is different and a list that works perfectly for me may not necessarily be the right checklist for you. So rather than do another episode where I do a step-by-step, I want to discuss some of the areas in our lives where we may neglect cleaning and decluttering.

And I feel like one of those areas that we neglect is digital clutter. That was the first thing that came to mind when I was brainstorming this episode.

Let me ask you a question: on a scale of one to ten, how cluttered is your email inbox right now? Mine is quite cluttered. I get a TON of email pinging on my phone all day long. Because of how search engine optimization works, as a podcast producer, I feel like I’m on this massive spam registry because I get tons of people reaching out offering their business products and services as if I’m a big company. And it’s very difficult for me to keep my inbox at zero.

Because of this, there have even been times that I’ve lost track of important emails, like listeners writing in or legitimate requests for interview guests. Which actually reminds me, as a side note, if you have ever reached out to me and not received a reply, please email me again. I comb through my emails and even my spam folder pretty regularly but it is possible to miss something so feel free to always send a follow-up if you haven’t heard back.

But back to the topic, we are so frequently bombarded with emails on a daily basis that it is hard to keep our inboxes clean. So for spring cleaning this year, you may want to set aside a few hours to unsubscribe to all those digital mailing lists, create folders for sorting important emails, and tackle your inbox clutter.

Another digital clutter item is photos stored on our phones. I don’t know about you guys, but I take tons of pictures. Even before the days of digital cameras I’ve always loved snapping photos to preserve memories. But this means that I can take hundreds of photos a week of pretty scenery, pictures of friends, selfies, pictures of food or my pets, and that makes it really hard to find a specific photo when I’m looking for it.

If you snap a lot of pictures, which I feel like a lot of us do because we’re in such a social media-oriented age, you’ve probably tried sorting your photos into different albums to navigate them better. So you probably have a folder for different categories, like pictures to post to Instagram, or a folder of pictures of your kids, and it just becomes so messy to try and navigate through all those little subcategories.

So this is a huge project, but if this sounds like you, I’m going to suggest that you make it your goal this spring to whittle away at your digital photo collection until you have only images that are important enough for you to keep. Get rid of all the screenshots, keep one good photo of your sleeping cat and get rid of the other 40 that you snapped in the same moment, and narrow it down until your photo collection is manageable.

A really good way to do this is to sort through them by the date and when you get to a stopping point, make a note of the date you left off at so that you can pick it up again and delete photos until everything is downscaled.

I have one more digital clutter suggestion, and that is to go through your contact list in the address book of your phone. This is something I do about once a year but if you’ve never done it, it is crazy how many phone numbers we can accumulate. It doesn’t take that long to sort through and you might be surprised to see what’s cluttering up your contact list.

The last time I did this I deleted so many numbers for businesses in cities I no longer live in. I was like “Oh yeah, I definitely don’t need the number for the pharmacy and vet in those two cities, and now I don’t have to try and remember which vet is the correct one when I’m trying to make an appointment.”

You might even find numbers for exes or old coworkers you no longer speak to. Free up your contact list so that you can find the numbers you need when you need them.

We’re going to talk about more traditional spring cleaning tips, but first a quick break for a word from our sponsors.

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And welcome back to the episode. Let’s talk about more traditional spring cleaning tips.

I tend to get more excited about the clutter clearing aspect of spring cleaning rather than the actual tidying just because I think it’s fun to declutter, and we will get into those kinds of tips towards the end of the episode.

But one thing I love about this time of year is googling spring cleaning checklists to see if there’s an area of my home that I have not been keeping tidy. Some of the checklists are so thorough. They’ll say things like, “Make sure to wipe out your silverware organizer! Make sure to clean the vents on your stove,” and I’ll be like “Oh yeah, I completely forgot about those!”

So if you do a quick search for “ultimate spring cleaning checklist,” you will find a hundred great lists and thorough guides for cleaning everything from your furniture to your window screens. I’ll let you take a look at these lists at your leisure and choose your favorites on your own time. But let me give you my favorite recommendations that always make me feel like my home is refreshed for spring.

The first one is to change your air filter. This is especially important if you have pets or live in a very pollen-heavy climate because we are breathing in all the dander, pollen, and irritants that settle into those filters. The general rule is to change it every 90 days, which makes it easy to remember to do this at the start of each season.

Another thing is to dust off your ceiling fan blades. If you have ceiling fans in your home you’ll probably want to turn those on as the weather begins to warm up a little bit and you don’t want to be breathing in allergens or having your fan kick up dust bunnies all over your house. Those things get dusty! So if you suffer from seasonal allergies like me, these two suggestions will really make a difference for the air quality in your home. It’s funny, the changing of the season is really the only time that I even think about doing those two chores.

I also really like making sure that my windows are nice and clean. Again, with the weather warming up we all want to pull back the curtains or blinds and let the sunshine in, and it’s such a good feeling to look at clean, streak-free windows and screens that are not dusty.

I actually have a little pro-tip for those of you who struggle with cleaning windows and leaving streaks: use a little bit of Dawn dish soap diluted with water. This is a tip I picked up from my dad who owns a big commercial and residential window cleaning company. And as a professional, he swears by using Dawn dish soap diluted with water. This is not a paid advertisement, I’m not affiliated with Dawn, but get your window nice and soapy, use a squeegee, and you’ll have beautiful streak-free windows. It works way better than window cleaning spray. Try it out! Let me know what you think.

Something else that I love is choosing a new scent for my home during the change of the seasons. It’s a little off-topic because this isn’t cleaning per se, but a lot of us use room spray so I’m going to mention it. In the fall and winter, I like using apple or cinnamon-scented air fresheners and candles, and I like choosing floral or fruity fragrances for the spring. It’s just something that I can spray or light up a candle and be like, “Sighhh, it smells like spring in here!”

Jasmine is a really nice fresh scent that I like, or getting a lemon-scented cleanser is a great way to make things smell fresh and clean and I feel like it’s a little subconscious way to signal to our brains that it’s a new season with these fragrances. Totally non-essential but it’s something that I really enjoy.

As far as decluttering goes, sometimes it can feel like I’m repeating myself in this podcast but in my opinion, it is important to be reminded of the basics when we are sorting our items to eliminate clutter. I know that when I’m about to declutter a drawer or look through my cabinets for the first time in a while, I like to read articles that will motivate me to want to get rid of any clutter that’s made its way into my home.

I will literally google “how to get rid of clutter” or something really basic, or jump on the Zen Habits blog and read an article or two to inspire me and get me in the zone. So I’m going to give you some quick refreshers on how to effectively decide what you no longer need.

If something is broken, ask yourself, “Can it be repaired?” If the answer is yes, ask yourself if it’s worth the time it will take to repair it. Last week my fiancé lost a button on his favorite shirt, so to me, that’s worth the 5 minutes it takes to fix it because it is his favorite. Also last week, one of my cats knocked over a figurine and a little piece of the figure was broken off, but it’s not worth it to me to find out what kind of glue I should use on porcelain. It’s better to just get rid of it and be done with it.

Another great question we can ask ourselves is, “Do I like it or even want it anymore?” Our taste can change and something that you liked two years ago may not spark joy anymore or might not fit with your current aesthetic.

A few months ago I gave away a wall sculpture. It was a papier-mâché deer that had a sort of patchwork look to it, and when I purchased it from a local art market I thought it was just so unique and cool and artsy, and it brought me a lot of joy at that time. But the primary color used in this piece was orange.

Well, I don’t have anything orange in my home. So it was hanging on my wall and I just looked at it one day and realized I didn’t like it anymore. It stood out in a bad way, didn’t match the vibe in my home, and it was just time to let go of it. So I ended up giving it away to a friend who wanted it and I haven’t regretted it. So sometimes we simply fall out of love with our possessions.

Next question we can ask ourselves is, “Do I use it often enough?” Obviously, things that we don’t use can be let go of pretty easily, but seeing if we use something regularly is an important distinction to make.

I’d like to share something from Joshua Becker from Becoming Minimalist that has helped me out a lot recently. This was from a Becoming Minimalist email that I received last month. He says:

“Earlier this week I posted a quote on Facebook, without commentary, and the crowd went wild:

‘Just because you use an item doesn’t mean you need to keep it.’

Some people told me I was absolutely crazy. ‘Are you dim?’ ‘That’s illogical.’ ‘Probably the worst decluttering tip ever.’

Others found the idea liberating. ‘This is fantastic.’ ‘This is actually so true.’ ‘I need to do this exact thing!’

Personally, I find the thought so incredibly freeing—especially when someone is actively working to own less—I wanted to repeat it again here.

It seems to me that a lot of people took the quote to mean that I was telling people to get rid of every item they use. ‘This is terrible advice. If I got rid of my comb, I’d have to brush my hair with my fingers.’ ‘Why would I ever get rid of something that I use?’

But I’m not encouraging us to get rid of everything we use just because we use it.

‘Just because you use an item doesn’t mean you need to keep it’ is different from ‘Get rid of every item you use.’

In reality, our homes are filled with a whole bunch of things we think we need just because we occasionally use them. ‘I can’t declutter this item because I use it,’ is a thinking trap we fall into that can keep us stuck and keep us from making progress freeing up space, time, and money.”

End quote.

He goes on in the email to talk about how he downscaled his kitchen utensils from six spatulas to two spatulas because even though he used all six at different times they weren’t all being used frequently enough. He also talks about helping a woman get rid of a platter she used for Christmas cookies once a year because she realized she could use another non-seasonal platter for the same purpose.

This email single-handedly helped me get rid of my food dehydrator. It’s bulky, it’s heavy and while I do use it every couple of months, I don’t use it often enough to justify keeping it. I’ve mentioned before that my kitchen space is pretty limited and I cook from home a lot which requires a lot of dishes, but I don’t need that massive food dehydrator taking up all my space just because I make kale chips and celery salt a couple of times a year!

I have an entire shelf freed up now and I feel so much better having more space in my kitchen. So if you use something, but not often, consider how it would feel to just get rid of it.

Here are a few other questions we can ask ourselves while decluttering that I’ll just list off in a sort of rapid-fire way:

Does it fit? Does it fit my body, my decor, my space?

Does it still work?

Have I used it in the last 6 months?

Will I use it in the next 6 months?

If you’re wondering whether to keep or get rid of something, remember the 20/20 rule: can I replace it in 20 minutes for less than $20? If the answer is yes, you can safely get rid of it.

Am I keeping this item out of obligation? This question works well for gifts you’ve received, heirlooms or keepsakes, or any sentimental objects.

Is it worth it to me to care for this item? Cleaning it, storing it, letting it take up space in your home?

These are questions that I know you’ve probably asked yourself a million times, but that we will always be asking ourselves on our continued minimal journey. It’s good to keep these questions in the back of our mind when tackling any kind of cleaning or clutter clearing projects.

Some of you may have already started your spring cleaning, and if you have, I hope that these tips can still be helpful to you throughout the year. My last little tip for you is to set your intentions for the upcoming season.

If you want to start jogging or start a gratitude practice or spend more time with family, write it down. It doesn’t have to be a full journal page, it can even be a little note in your phone or a sticky note on your mirror that reminds you of your intention.

The changing of the seasons is an awesome opportunity for us to re-center our focus and think about the things that really matter. By keeping our focus on what’s important, it can be easier to see what we’d like to let go of in order to make space for new growth.

That wraps up this week’s episode, good luck with your spring cleaning! Hey, if you want to tag me on Instagram to show me any transformations or decluttering hauls or anything like that, my social media presence has not always been great on Instagram.

But I am making an effort to use it more regularly so help me create a community. Help me out, help me stick to the social media thing. Follow me at clean.simple.free and of course you can always DM to say hi, or let me know any topics that you’d like to hear.

And you can always email me at clean.simple.free@gmail.com

If you would like to support this show, this show really appreciates and depends on listener support so you can click the link that says, “support this podcast” in the show notes starting at just 99 cents per month.

Thanks so much for tuning in and remember, clean spaces make for a more simple way of life. And when life is simplified, your mind will feel free. See you next time!

Ep78: How brands use psychology to trick us into buying

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 I’d like to thank clean simple free’s newest supporter by giving a shout-out to Caylin Holmes.

Thank you for your contributions to sustain and grow this podcast. It truly means everything to me because it ensures the continued production of future episodes.

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 per month.

Today’s episode is about how brands use psychological manipulation to try and get us to buy their products, and how we can avoid that and avoid shopping as a type of wish fulfillment. Stick around!

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I’d like to dive right into this episode by reading you a snippet from a Zen Habits article that does an excellent job of capturing this week’s topic. As you may already know, ZenHabits.com is run by Leo Babauta who is a best-selling author and a major pioneer of the minimalist movement.

“Lately I’ve been buying a lot of things: a nice watch, some cool folding knives, some tools and outdoor gear. It’s fun!

But as I give in to these impulse purchases, I notice that the thrill doesn’t last that long, and it leaves me wanting more. And of course it dawns on me that this is a lesson I’ve learned a thousand times. Buying things rarely gives me any kind of fulfillment.

When we buy something, it gives us a temporary boost — a bit of excitement, anticipation, some hope that it will give us something in our lives that feels missing. Maybe we hope the new purchase will help us to feel cool, sexy, lovable, adventurous, fit, peaceful, connected, or find a sense of belonging.

The lesson I have to remember is that these things aren’t provided by purchases, other people, or anything outside of us. The lesson I often forget is: everything we’re looking for is inside of us.

We think it will be given to us by buying things — I certainly do! — but whatever boost we get from that only lasts for a day or two.”

First, I’d like to point out that it really surprised me to read that Leo Babauta enjoys buying things and finds shopping fun. I don’t know about you, but I definitely feel like I think of some of these popular or well-known minimalists as above impulse purchases. I just don’t picture Leo Babauta shopping online, I don’t imagine Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Millburn shopping in a boutique and I found it almost comforting or a relief to read that Leo Babauta has the same impulses as “regular people.” It made me think of those magazines that say, “Celebrities: they’re just like us!” but like, the minimalist edition.

But the main reason I wanted to share this article with you is that I was out and about shopping for a birthday gift for a friend, and I was in a store and walked past one of the aisles and saw a workout gear display on one of the end caps. They were selling really cute yoga mats and rose gold colored free weights, they had these little mint green fingerless workout gloves that had grips on the palms so that you can grab onto the weights better, and I instantly thought of this article.

I even brought it up to the friend I was shopping with. I was like, “There’s an article by a really prominent minimalist that discusses trying to achieve a certain kind of lifestyle or trying to be the kind of person you want through purchases, and I feel like this super cute fitness section is totally catering to that.”

The reason I even pointed it out was because there was a boxed set that included a yoga mat, a coordinating water bottle, some resistance bands, and a matching headband for your hair. And my first thought was, “This looks like something that I would buy because I’d feel like it would help me work out, but in reality, I wouldn’t use any or all of it.”

And that’s absolutely true. If I had purchased that set, I might head home feeling really optimistic about upgrading my workout routine, and I might use the products. I’d probably get some good use out of the yoga mat and the bands, I may wear the headband for a day or two, but it seemed like the perfect real-life example of that Zen Habits article. Owning special workout gloves is not going to make me stronger or even hit the gym more often and at my current fitness level, I definitely don’t need them. I use like, 15 pound free weights, I don’t think I need that extra grip strength!

I want to add that if having a pretty yoga mat and matching headband makes you feel beautiful and encourages you to work out more, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with making that purchase. If having a yoga ball and resistance bands and free weights in matching colors will motivate you to use them more frequently, then you should do what’s best for you and what inspires you to take care of your health, and I completely support your purchase decision.

But for me personally, I’ve been down that road many times in my life where I purchase some visually appealing or even gimmicky exercise equipment thinking, “This is what’s going to turn me into a gym rat.” And just like the article says, it gives me a temporary boost, but if I want to stick to a vigorous fitness routine I can’t look to the purchase of an item to change my fitness habits. My gym has everything I need. It’s up to me to make sure that I’m going to the gym, workout gloves or not. All the motivation I need is inside myself, not something that I can purchase in a store.

The tricky part is that retailers know that we make purchases based on the feelings we think an item will provide for us, or how we want to be perceived or present ourselves to the world. By using ads in commercials, magazine campaigns, and other marketing tactics, retailers can appeal to different audiences and market their product as something we need in order to belong to a certain group.

Brands market their reputations and turn themselves into something we feel like we need or want to be a part of. Through branding, they send us messages like, “If you want to be seen as sexy and alluring, buy our brand of clothing. If you want to be popular, drink our beverages. If you want to be artsy and elegant, buy our furniture collection.”

It’s a brilliant tactic, and if we’re trying to simplify our lives and go against consumer culture it’s important to be aware of how brands are targeting us. Marketing departments even use psychological tactics to appeal to consumers.

You may be familiar with Maslow‘s Hierarchy of Needs. This is a concept in psychology created by Abraham Maslow in 1943 and it’s typically shown as a pyramid with 5 categories on it. I’m going to read more on this from a marketing blog called Businessadministrationinformation.com:

“Maslow – a psychology professor then teaching at Brooklyn College – developed a five-tier system to illustrate the different levels at which people work to satisfy needs. This ‘hierarchy of needs’ moves from basic ones to eventual self-actualization. The theory often is represented in a pyramid. Here are the needs in order from bottom to top.

Physiological: Food, water, warmth and sleep

Safety: Security, freedom from fear

Belongingness and love: Friends, intimate relationships, becoming part of a group

Esteem: Prestige and feelings of accomplishment

Self-actualization: Creativity, achieving full potential

The theory proposes that as a person meets the needs at one level, they then move on to the next.

Psychologists have used the hierarchy for decades. Before long, marketing people also began to see its value. To this day, it provides a guide for how to appeal to customers depending on where your product or service resides in the hierarchy. Smart marketers know the most direct pathway to selling a product or service is by filling a consumer’s needs. The Maslow Hierarchy provides an easy-to-understand method for determining where a product fits into the progression of human needs.”

This article is a very interesting read and you can find a full transcript of this episode in the show notes including the link to this full article if you’re curious enough to read the whole thing. But it gives examples of how the insurance industry and auto industry appeal to our innate need for safety, saying that, “Many car companies today feature campaigns about safety features and evoke the feeling of comfort and security in having them.”

The article also discusses how luxury brands appeal to our esteem needs. Wearing high-end or designer clothing fulfills the need for prestige, and luxury car brands, “Have made these vehicles sought after by those who have fulfilled needs in the lower parts of the hierarchy.”

Regarding the need for belongingness and love, I’m going to read a few more paragraphs from that businessadministrationinformation.com article:

“This level deserves perhaps the most attention because so much of marketing falls into this area, where a large number of consumers reside. Once people have insurance, a safe car, and a secure home, their attention turns to this area. They are spending disposable income.

Here, marketing moves beyond fear of potential catastrophe and more into the joy of possibilities, especially in relationships. Some of the top modern brands make consumers feel as if purchasing their product makes them part of something special.

Modern examples include campaigns from Apple and motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson. Both give the consumer a feeling of belonging to a special group. Fast-food giant McDonald’s also keyed in on this area of the hierarchy with their ‘You Deserve a Break Today’ campaign, which immediately preceded today’s ‘I’m Loving It’ campaign. The [ad] spots gave customers the feeling that McDonald’s products were something they deserved if they wanted to treat themselves.

Jewelers also focus on this area. Kay Jewelers commands marketing over the holidays, linking their products to the joy of a good relationship in the ‘Every Kiss Begins with Kay’ campaign.”

I’d like to point out that there’s nothing wrong with any of these ad campaigns, and I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with marketers using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to target their customers. I’m sure that you can think of two or three brands that you love and are loyal to, either because you love the product, or because you like the group that you “belong to” so to speak for supporting them.

I have brands that I love and enjoy supporting. If I’m shopping for a certain item, I do typically check my favorite stores first to see if they carry it and then look elsewhere if I can’t find what I need.

It’s normal and it’s okay to support companies that we love, or that share our values or sell products that bring us happiness. But it is good to be made aware that brands are actively targeting our psychological needs and notice when we’re seeking to fulfill those needs through shopping. We cannot gain fulfillment in ourselves through purchases.

Self-actualization is defined by Oxford as, “The realization or fulfillment of one’s talents and potentialities, especially considered as a drive or need present in everyone.” True fulfillment is going to come from developing your talents and acting on your potential, not from the things you buy.

Let’s take a quick break for a word from our sponsors.

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And welcome back to the episode! So we know that companies target us based on our needs, and in Episode 77 I touch on the topic of what’s known in marketing as the hard sell.

To refresh your memory or in case you missed that episode, hard-sell strategies are aggressive sales tactics like repeated phone calls or emails, abrupt language, or unwanted sales pitches with the intent to push a customer into making a purchase. It has a negative connotation even within the marketing industry because it’s seen as rude or obnoxious, and it tends to make customers feel negative about their experience which means a lower level of returning customers. People want to shop at places that make them feel good. So there are negative connotations but some companies still do this.

If you’ve ever walked past a kiosk in a mall and someone has aggressively tried to give you a sample of hand lotion, that’s an example of a hard sell tactic. The mall where I lived as a teenager was famous for having places that did this. I always felt like I had to speed up when passing the kiosks before they could start throwing their sales pitch at me. If you’ve ever signed up for a one-week trial at a gym and had difficulty getting sales associates to stop calling to try and sell you a membership, then you’ve experienced the hard sell.

There is a company that I really like that is a huge fan of the hard sell. I’m not going to name them but I love their clothes. They are more of a fast-fashion company so I try not to support them very often, but I do love their style of clothes, I can’t help it. Every time they have a sale – which is frequent – they send the most persistent emails. Their ad campaign is seriously the most aggressive one I’ve ever seen.

If an item on my wish list is on sale, they send an email saying something like, “Hurry up, your favorite item is going to sell out” to put a time pressure deadline on me. If I place an order with them, they send me an email immediately afterward saying, “Hey, these extra items would look so great with what you just bought.” This type of language is so dangerous especially if you are prone to impulsive purchases. Many companies do this but I feel that this company is especially persistent with their marketing.

There’s an easy solution which is to unsubscribe from the text messages and emails which I’ve already done. I don’t want to spend outside my means or end up with clothes I don’t need. But I saved some of their emails to share this with you and illustrate a point.

Becoming aware of when marketing emails are disruptive or aggressive is important. If I find that I’m randomly clicking on the email and browsing this company‘s website when I don’t need anything, then maybe it’s time to unsubscribe from the emails. Being aware of when a company is catering to our impulsive natures and using language that appeals to our needs is important because it allows us to realize “Hey, this is a marketing tactic. I’m not going to find what I’m looking for by purchasing this item.”

Let’s say that I’m having a day where I don’t feel good about myself or it’s a day where none of the clothes in my closet are making me feel good about myself. If I get an email from this company on that kind of a day saying “Hey, this is the last chance to shop our sale! Just go ahead and make a purchase, you’re so worth it!” Which is very similar to the kind of marketing language they use, I might feel like “Yeah, you know what? I do deserve this. I am worth it. I’m just gonna go for it and purchase something.”

But if I’m aware that this is only a marketing scheme and I think intentionally about my spending habits, I can use resist the urge to impulsively make a purchase that might make me feel better in the moment but that ultimately adds clutter, costs money, and won’t give me the type of fulfillment I want.

That’s why I feel it’s so important to become aware of the kinds of tactics marketers use so that we can practice self-control and resist the urge to chase after a false sense of belonging through buying.

Like Leo Babauta said, the lesson we have to remember is that fulfillment isn’t provided by purchases, by other people, or by anything outside of us. Everything we’re looking for is inside of us already. It’s up to us to cultivate the type of people we want to be by developing our talents and potential, not by purchasing things that will make us appear to be a certain way.

That concludes this week’s episode! I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for tuning in and if you’re a supporter of the show, thank you for your support. If you’d like to become a supporter just click the link in the show notes.

If you wanna tell me what you thought of the episode, suggest some topics for the future, or just say hi, you can reach out on Instagram at clean.simple.free or by email at clean.simple.free at gmail.com

You can also send in a voice message by clicking the link in the show notes if you just feel like sharing your voice with me so we can have a two-way conversation!

That’s gonna do it, I’ll see you next time, and remember, clean spaces make for a more simple way of life. And when life is simplified your mind will feel free. See you again soon!

Ep77: Scarcity mentality versus abundance mindset

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.

I’d also like to remind you to check out Ana Luisa jewelry using the link in the description and using the code CSFPODCAST for 10% off sustainable jewelry.

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!