The Scarcity Mindset

The Scarcity Mindset is the mindset of this rodent. Seth Godin would call this the Lizard Brain. They are the same thing. The rodent hoards as much food as it can. It will fight to feed itself. It won’t cooperate. It’s got a one track mind. There is no chance that this rodent will evolve from a creature that worries constantly about feeding itself.

Now picture this. You’re 60 years old (or some age much older than you are now). As you walk around, you limp because your knees and hips are degrading. You have a hunched back and your eyesight is bad. You’re taking a slew of pills to try and ‘fix’ your physical problems. To make matters worse, you don’t have much money to you name, and as such, you’re struggling at an old age just to get by.

The Scarcity Mindset is the belief that one must fight for every penny, every possession, and hoard as many material things as possible for the fear of one day not having enough and dying. That’s it. The fear of death is the root cause of it. Money is the focal point. The mindset is that without money, one cannot live, cannot eat, cannot live comfortably. The Scarcity Mindset says that one must try to be comfortable at all times so as to avoid any discomfort and possibly death. This leads to behavior that is often counter-productive, irrational, and physically destructive.

Financial distribution

There’s an article of a person facing financial difficulty in their 60′s. This is a good start for realizing the fear many people have. “What if all my business ideas fail? What if I never make enough money?” While young, I believe many questions like these plague the minds of individuals and cloud their judgment. They cloud their judgment in the sense that they focus on hoarding, acquiring ‘things’, and being as comfortable as possible. Because what happens if you lose all your money? Lots of pain and discomfort! Better to hoard now while you can.

Here’s an interesting fact about the United States income distribution: The highest American earners gained almost three quarters of total income growth during the economic expansion from 2002-2006. The remaining 99% of workers split the final 25% amongst themselves.

Now a lot of statistics are shown about income distribution. But the general idea is that a small percentage of people control the majority of the wealth in the United States (and throughout the world). This is the financial reality of the Scarcity Mindset.

Where your income is

If you are reading this, I’m going to go out on a limb and say you are in the bottom distribution of income in the United States. If you are not, I salute to you as you are in a minority! But if you are, it isn’t your fault. I don’t think there is one person who says, “I want to have less income than the rich.” In terms of income, you are earning what you know how to earn, just as I, right now, am earning what I know how to earn. At any given moment, we are ‘capped’ on what we can earn due to our mindset, skills, and whatever ‘job’ we are doing.

This is the destructive pattern of the Scarcitiy Mindset. Families which are low income remain low income. The children in these families pass on the low income to their children. Rarely does one step out of this cycle and enter the top income bracket. It happens, but it is all too rare. Think about it. We’d see the income distribution ratio change were more people breaking out of the lower income brackets. Perhaps I am being naive, but I don’t think so.

Here’s a quote from me: “Most people think about providing for one and only one person. The individual – them. Some have moved this to providing for their families. But those who break out of the Scarcity Mindset have realized that true wealth comes from providing for the needs of many.” The first problem to solve has been identified now. How does one change from just being able to provide for themself or their family?

Tackling the first problem

Providing for yourself is actually pretty easy. You just need to find enough food, clothing, and shelter to live reasonably well. Sure there may be challenges, but it’s still pretty easy. You can get a job at McDonalds, live with several room-mates, and survive for most of your life. All this is done just by thinking of yourself alone. That’s a big reason why there is an income disparity. Most people think “Me Me Me”. Those who think abundance – that is abundance for them AND a large group of people – these people have conquered the Scarcity Mindset.

It’s not even money at the point of overcoming the Scarcity Mindset. It’s simply a mindset. A belief. A quest! A quest to contribute to the world in a way that benefits many people. A challenge to this is simply that there is no simple roadmap to do this. Quite honestly, it’s one of those things you have to try at and fail at many times before success is found. How many times have you tried something for a short time, not seen results, and then simply quit or stopped doing it regularly?

For those of you doing websites, the Scarcity Mindset might be trying to rear its ugly head at you. For me, it says, “You better install the Alexa Toolbar in many different locations and visit your website to keep your ranking high. Otherwise, your website will die.” Ouch, I can’t believe such thoughts enter my head, but they do. Will they ever go away permanently? I hope so – but even if they don’t, I can still choose what I focus on.

This is a challenge. If there is no visible incentive for doing more than you are, why do more than you are? Why should someone seek to add benefit to a large group of people? Why should someone increase their skills to better aid in the progress of the human race? These are tough questions. These aren’t questions for those who are simply looking to make it to the weekend away from their day jobs. These are life change questions. Sovling the first problem starts by asking the tough questions and doing a thorough examination or audit of your life.

Other people will solve the problem

With the Scarcity Mindset, there is no desire to learn and fix problems. The idea is that someone else will take care of it. For those of you working in corporate America, have you seen someone do this? A complex problem comes up that nobody wants to handle. There is a perpetual hope that someone will figure it out and solve it. The Scarcity Mindset focuses on staying comfortable and not stressing out about complex issues.

One thing to think about this is does taking the time and effort to solve a problem really cause stress? Does it do something bad to you that is so awful that it should be avoided? Yet this is the perception those in the Scarcity Mindset take. And this is precisely one of the main reasons why the economic disparity is so great. The wealthy are taking the time to solve and understand complex issues. The poor would rather be comfortable.

There’s some key characteristics that one must use and possess in order to push past just being comfortable. One must first have at least a little bit of faith. I encountered an interesting problem at my job today as a web developer. Some buttons on one of our pages were dissapearing ONLY in Internet Explorer version 7. I had a few ideas, but was not sure why this was happening. Having no idea of how to solve the problem, I took a leap of faith and began investigating.

The result of this investigation was a fascinating turn of events. I began to discover a key thing: Clues. I found clues that led me to search specific areas. I am already an expert in web development so my ability to search was accelerated. Eventually I discovered the problem and was able to put in a solution that solved it completely. It started with faith and then finding clues while I investigated.

Don’t do anything out of the ordinary

Imagine being on an airplane flying through the sky. Also imagine that there is an alarm system on the plane. Every time even an ounce of turbulance occurs, the plane begins to sound the alarm. It’s as loud and more annoying than the Red Alert sound from Star Trek. This happens every few minutes when the plane jumps a little. It’s especially bad when there is heavy turbulance. The plane sounds the alarm constantly and loudly.

Would you want to fly on an airplane like this? I sure wouldn’t. The noise for every movement out of the ordinary would drive me insane. Yet this is exactly how one with the Scarcity Mindset lives their life. Anyone or anything out of the ordinary raises the person’s blood pressure. They begin to sweat. Or they get angry, annoyed, or frustrated. There is a set of narrow rules that this type of person lives by and any violation of such sounds out an alarm.

Think about when you were in grade school (for most of you). There is a certain ‘adherence’ to policy that is enforced. You must sit in your chair. You must hold your pencil correctly. You must not be tardy. You must not talk to your neighbor. You must, must, must. Then when you got home, it was the same thing with your parents…

Don’t jump on the bed. Don’t talk with your mouth full. Don’t run in the house. Don’t spill the drink. Don’t stay out too late. Make your bed. Clean your room. On and on it goes. It is a challenge to overcome what has been passed down through generations as ‘normal’. I believe human-kind needs to break through this monotonous mindset in order to make the technological and evolutionary leaps we are capable of.

It’s someone else’s fault

At the time of writing this, President Obama is talking about a massive oil spill in the Atlantic Ocean. Apparently there is a lot of finger pointing as to whose fault it is. This reminds me of the game hot potato. If you throw the hot potato away from you, you don’t get burned and win the game. This translates into human behavior. Someone else is to blame for problems because if it is their fault, then I don’t get scolded and feel pain or ashamed.

This primitive mindset is going to hold back the progression of the human race as a whole. Would it be so bad if people shifted from blaming others to asking, “How can I help make this situation better?” Would it be so bad to have collaboration go on and fix the problem and at the same time taking the steps to civily talk about the problem and prevent if from occuring again? Yet the easy thing to do is immediately tap into the Scarcity Mindset and begin blaming others. It is kind of ironic – this mindset looks to others to solve problems, yet at the same time blames them when things go wrong…

What’s in it for you for taking charge to solve a problem? How about learning to overcome challenges so that people as a whole can make progress? How about increasing your worth to your company or the market place in general. Seth Godin talks about doing more than the status quo in his book, ‘Linchpin’. It’s a pretty good book and will help you see your day job in a new light.

Where do you fit in

So now the tough question for you is, “Where do you fit in?” Are you easily disturbed, constantly seeking comfort, and avoiding learning and facing problems and fears? Or are you striving to learn, work with others, solve problems, better your life, and add unique value to the world? You need only look to the situations you face in life and how you react. Does a child jumping on a couch totally stress you out? Are you easily frustrated by people at work? Are you constantly blaming others for your problems? These are clues to the mindset you have.

My challenge to you (if you haven’t already) is to move away from the Scarcity Mindset. By not taking responsibility for yourself, you are sealing your fate. Remember the very beginning of this article? The old person, in serious pain, in financial trouble? Is that the life you want for yourself? The Scarcity Mindset is a sure way to get there. Why not focus on calming down, getting rid of all your ‘rules’ for people, and enjoying life while adding your own unique contribution which you refine and share with the world?

The worst that could happen is you make some profound connections with others and increase in your ability to provide for yourself and others. Is this such a bad thing?

Okay big shot, what are you doing?

Good question, but do you really want me to bore you with it? Still, if you want to know, I’ll answer it. I’m creating websites, writing books, focusing highly on personal development, reading books, collaborating with like minded individuals, investing in stocks, planning to invest in real-estate, looking for ways to add more value to my company where I work full-time, looking to better lead my family, and leaving the world a better place than I found it.

My Friends: What are your biggest fears? Who do you know that is living in the Scarcity Mindset.

image by wdavidmckenzie