On today’s episode, Rachel Gainer dives into abundance vs. scarcity mindsets and how to transition your scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset.
IE 277: Having an Abundance vs. Scarcity Mindset in Business with Rachel Gainer
Our guest’s name today is Rachel Gainer. Rachel is an executive life coach, meaning that she helps other women build their businesses, both emerging and established entrepreneurs.
She generally helps solo entrepreneurs but also women that work in the corporate world.
Rachel primarily works with women on the emotional aspects of building a business, anything that can hold them back.
What does it mean to have a scarcity mindset?
Scarcity mindset has three elements. The first is a focus on what you lack, which is basically a fixation on not having enough of something like time or followers.
We think of scarcity often with money but it shows up in so many other areas of our lives, so kind of listening for that key phrase when you’re saying “not enough” that’s one of the primary things.
The second thing is a belief that resources are limited or are only available to a really small, elite group of people.
One of the ways that only an elite group of people can be really beautiful but we all have beauty in our lives but we can get this really narrow scarcity mindset around things like that.
That can make us feel really competitive and have this sense of urgency like “oh I’ve gotta get mine”.
There’s only so much of the pie, there’s only so much money out there, there’s only so many opportunities out there and I’ve got to get mine or I’ll miss out.
Then the third element is a little more subtle and it’s basically this belief that more is always better but without really understanding why more is desired or more is even necessary.
It’s this pervasive chasing more and kind of living in this consumerism and we’re kind of conditioned to feel like more is always better and that you always need more.
What is an abundance mindset?
Abundance is about appreciating what we have and learning to make it work for us based on our priorities.
So it’s really starting with what you have and believing that what you have is enough to get started and that you are enough to get started.
That has totally shifted my perspective on what it means to be abundant, it’s really about sufficiency and believing that what you have is sufficient.
And that’s very surprising to a lot of people this idea that what you have is already enough to begin.
How do you change scarcity mindset to abundance?
It’s a process. First we have to recognize where we’re feeling that sense of scarcity since scarcity is so deeply tied to fear based mindsets that come up.
A lot of times in the areas that we’re feeling scarce, for example time, we may not tie that time to a sense of productivity which we’re tying to a sense of self-worth.
Sometimes what happens is in our mind, the inner critic and fear in our hearts comes up and says “You don’t have enough time” which means you can’t be productive enough and which means you won’t be successful.
It’s kind of this tumbling feeling of the scarcity mindset and so the very first step is to recognize when the inner critic is showing up.
One of the inner critic’s favorite phrases is “not enough”, anytime that you hear or say that phrase, that is just a time that you can pause and recognize “okay I’m feeling a scarcity mindset right now”.
When we are able to acknowledge it, recognize it, and kind of stop that tumbling feeling it makes a huge difference.
Our first step is to recognize it.
The second step we want to do is practice being really compassionate with ourselves. We recognize it, we pause, and then we offer compassion.
Because sometimes scarcity is a mindset of fear and fear is very normal especially when you’re building a business.
And when you are building business you are doing things that you have never done before and you’re in a space of growth.
You’re trying to expand your business and expand your knowledge and expand your capacity and so we’re going to be living right at the edge of our abilities.
When we’re living right at the edge of our abilities, we’re going to feel a little nervous, and that’s normal, and just recognizing yourself like “This is so normal”.
It is 100% normal for you to feel this sense of fear, you have to acknowledge that fear and give yourself love and compassion, letting yourself know that it is okay that you feel this way and that what you are doing is scary.
The next step is to invite yourself into that abundance mindset, which is to say “okay, I have enough, I have enough time to do this one task, I have enough money to invest this amount into my business”.
It’s about creating the habit of believing that what we have is sufficient to get started, and then we just practice that over and over again.
As you practice those 3 steps, identifying, offering compassion, and then inviting into abundance, what we’re doing is we’re building a new neural-pathway.
When we’re in scarcity we’re in a habit, the habit is to go to scarcity of not enough and what we’re trying to do is create a new habit of abundance and you just do that over and over again.
Why is abundance a choice?
Abundance is a choice, at first it might not seem like a choice, that feeling of those thoughts, they’re habitual, and we’re aware of physical habits like brushing your teeth every morning and buckling up in the car, these are habits that we form.
We also create emotional habits, thought habits, at first we don’t think it’s a choice and it’s just how our brain works, but actually when we create that awareness, then we have options.
Option A is to do what you’ve always done, think the way you’ve always thought.
But option B is to lean into that abundance mindset and create it and it goes back to that idea of creating a new neural-pathway.
So it’s a choice because even though it feels natural to think one way, we actually can reframe and design our thoughts if we do it consciously.
How does an abundance mindset vs a scarcity mindset impact businesses?
This goes back a little bit to me saying the way that we show up first of all, but when we show up with some of those behaviors as scarcity, like hoarding, we don’t collaborate, we overthink, etc.
It slows down our progress in business, so we want one specific opportunity that doesn’t feel available to us right now, so we miss all the opportunities that are already available.
Scarcity mindset keeps us fixated on what we don’t have. An abundance mindset allows us to start focusing on what we do have, what is available to us and what you are capable of.
It keeps us from spinning our wheels, so when it comes to business the scarcity mindset keeps you stuck, and the goal of the abundance mindset is to make a little bit of progress everyday.
Where are the best places to connect with you?
The best place to connect with Rachel is one her website RachelRebuilt.com and her Instagram Rachel_Rebuilt.
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