Scarcity mindset

“We don’t experience life. We experience the life we focus on”

Are we experiencing a world of lack?

Scarcity mindset, is a way of experiencing the world which is entangled with the belief of not having enough resources or losing them. In other words, (hyper) focusing on the lack of whatever you are attached to (e.g., money, relationships, a certain lifestyle).

The ‘mindset of scarcity’ is expressed into cognitive and behavioral patterns that are passed down on us from previous generations through our DNA and /or social networks. Scarcity finds expression in multiple ways in our lives and influences, significantly, our decisions and actions.

Feeling unsafe

The underlying feeling of scarcity is fear, driven by the natural instinct of survival.

Our modern, materialistic societies feel and are experienced as ‘unsafe’ for the majority of us, - if not for everyone-. They keep us in a loop, in a constant aimless rut race, to gain, achieve, accomplish, purchase more and more while at the same time we are scared to lose what we have. We’ve essentially evolved into a society of gollums* holding on to our possessions -”my precious!”- , physical or other, regardless of whether something is helpful or useful to us.

This way of living reinforces the scarcity mindset.

Even when we are happy and content with how our life is at this moment, there is always this little voice or belief that keeps us feeling unsafe and fearful by thinking “Yes, now I may have what I need and want, but will I have it also in the future? What if I don’t?“

We are used to operate so much out of the premise of lack or greed** that we cannot enjoy and appreciate what we actually have right now. This leads us in a never ending cycle. We focus on what we don’t have (yet), so we strive to achieve this. Then we go after the next, and the next, and the next. “Is this a life worth living?”…I wonder.

The deeper reason…

In our societies, achievement and success (financial, social, etc.) have become a synonymous for personal value. We’ve accepted and agreed that living (experiencing life) is not enough! We need to prove our right to live and exist within a society. We need to produce and create value. But not human values, like caring for yourself and others, love, respect, freedom of choice! No, no no! Human values are not enough for the modern world. These are “good to have” but NOT essential!
Instead, in modern societies we have set different standards for success and monitor ourselves against (less human) measurable criteria and thresholds: What is the level of our academic knowledge, how much money, what house, what car, what clothes, what lifestyle we can afford? These are the collectively accepted and valued measures of success (i.e. of personal value) in our today’s society. The less ‘boxes’ we tick from the societal criteria of success the less valuable we experience our lives to be.

No wonder then that we are in a constant competition with ourselves and others. We try to gather as much external validation as possible so that we can feel important, valued and valuable! That gives our lives meaning and purpose! We’re in a constant ‘chasing’ of proving our own value to someone out there, and even worse…to ourselves!

And this, last sentence, is the deeper issue…! We’ve disconnected from what it means to be (human)! We run our lives on distorted and un-natural values and belief systems. We’ve created an unsafe world. Scarcity is simply a natural symptom of that…But how can we ever feel safe and free ourselves from the scarcity mindset when we let someone or something outside of us determine our life’s value?

Is there a way out?

I believe that the way to free ourselves from a scarcity mindset is to return to and prioritize our human values. We need to rethink the whole basis of our society essentially…!

Somewhat of a challenge, I know, but I am definitely up for it! Are you? If you are, you already know it…!

*Character from the Lord of The Rings

**Lack and greed are essentially the two sides of the same coin. They both stem from the belief that what I have is not enough!