The term ‘abundance mindset’ is one that is cropping up more and more in the lifestyle/coaching world. It’s become a very ‘on trend’ phrase and is vaguely thrown about in lots of articles and social media posts, often without a full explanation of what it actually means. If you’ve not yet come across the phrase, don’t panic, you’re not the only one. In this month’s blog, I’m shining a light on what it really means to have an abundance mindset and how it can help you in your business.
What is an abundance mindset?
In its simplest terms, an abundance mindset is one of optimism and plenty. Someone with an abundance mindset views the business world as one in which there is enough room for everyone. You’re appreciative of what you have, but you also know that you can have more. The opposite of this is a scarcity mindset. Someone who views the world in this way shifts the focus to what they don’t have and thinks that they’re not enough. In a business setting, a scarcity mindset will lean towards thinking: ‘there’s not enough out there for me to have a piece of the pie’. Throughout our lives (and not just in business) we are conditioned to think with a scarcity mindset. Most of us view situations in life with a win–lose mentality, rather than thinking that we can all win. For lots of us this is our ‘default’ setting and we don’t even realise that we’re thinking this way. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to stay stuck in this negative mindset and awareness is the first step to making a change. Switching your mindset to one of abundance is something that you can choose to do.
Focus on what you have
It sounds simple, but this is the first step to building an abundance mindset. Focus on what you have, not what you don’t have. I’m not talking in a materialistic way here, I’m talking about your goals, ambitions and other achievements. Think about what you’ve already achieved in your life, not what you haven’t achieved. What are you proud of? What have you accomplished already in your business? Sit down and make a list of everything you’ve achieved to date and celebrate those successes. I bet when you look at things in this way, you’ll find you already have so much to be proud of. Give yourself some credit for those wins and look at just how far you’ve come on your business journey.
Surround yourself with people who have an abundance mindset
Look closely at the people you are surrounding yourself with. Do they have a positive attitude? Are they helping to inspire and motivate you? Or is their negativity bringing you down too? Are they looking at life with their glass half empty or half full? Surrounding yourself with people who also have an abundance mindset can be really powerful. Their positive outlook on life will rub off on you and impact your own mindset in a positive way. I’m not saying that you should be cutting people out of your life, but it’s important to have some awareness of people who are having a negative impact on your own mood and mindset.
Learn to create win-win situations
If you view life with a scarcity mindset, you believe that if one person wins the other loses. This simply isn’t true. People with an abundance mindset will think about how both sides can succeed. It’s not a case of viewing situations as: ‘if she wins, I lose,’ it’s about shifting your mindset and thinking: ‘how can we both achieve a positive outcome?’. If you’re viewing life with an abundance mindset, you learn to create situations that allow both parties to succeed.
Networking provides a great real–life example here. Many networking groups are created with lockouts, so if the group already has a representative from a certain industry, for example a coach, that prevents any other coaches from joining in the future. In my view, this really is a case of approaching business with a scarcity mindset: ‘if any other coaches join the group, there won’t be enough work for both of us/they’ll be competition and I’ll lose business’. But what if we viewed this scenario with an abundance mindset? What if we flipped our thinking on its head and said: ‘great, another coach is joining the group, perhaps we can collaborate?’ or ‘they work with corporate clients, I focus on creatives, there’ll be enough work for both of us.’ Same situation, completely different viewpoint. I know which way I’d prefer to look at the world.
The impact of social media
Social media can help to encourage a scarcity mindset. We’re a performance-based culture and it’s easy for us to obsess over things like who has the most likes and follows. A scarcity mindset gets us thinking that there’s not enough likes and follows out there for everyone and we start comparing ourselves to others in a negative way. Who has more followers? Why have they got more likes than me? That can often send us on a downward spiral, so it’s important we try and reframe this negative way of thinking and switch to an abundance mindset in which there’s enough likes and follows out there for everyone. If we view social media with an abundance mindset, we can switch our focus to attracting the hundreds of followers out there who haven’t even found us yet, rather than fixating on the number of likes and followers our competitors are getting.
Don’t just focus on the positive, focus on the possible
A scarcity mindset would have you believe that things are always impossible or just out of your reach. Reframing your thoughts to an abundance mindset will allow you to see that there’s always a solution, you’ll always be able to find a way, whatever the problem. Having an abundance mindset enables you to open your mind up to what is possible, what other opportunities there might be out there for you, and that’s such a valuable way to look at your business. Think about what maintaining a scarcity mindset might be costing you. New clients? Launching a new course or product range? An opportunity to learn or collaborate?
Take some time today to notice where your own mindset is at. What’s your default setting? A scarcity mindset or one of abundance? Perhaps reading this has given you more awareness of how a scarcity mindset is holding you back in your business? If so, let’s chat and we can tackle reframing your thinking in a more positive way. Drop me an email today, or book in for a free discovery call, I’d love to hear from you!