Abundance Mindset

“The secret to having it all is believing you already do.”

John Assaraf

Abundance Mindset

In life, our mindset determines which road we will travel.

One road is paved in scarcity, and the other road is filled with abundance at every turn. The irony is that at any moment, we can choose to change which road we travel.  And, as business leaders and entrepreneurs, we have plenty of opportunities to choose between an abundance mindset and a scarcity mindset.

Benefits of an Abundance Mindset

It is certainly no secret that mindset can radically affect the course of your life. Overwhelming research on mindset shows that fostering an abundance mindset is widely recognized as a beneficial endeavor in personal and spiritual development.

Creating an abundance mindset allows you to:

• Live an unlimited, full, and satisfying life.
• Exude happiness despite circumstances.
• 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.

How to Develop an Abundance Mindset

Here are several ways you can create an abundance mindset in your life today:

1. Become Aware of Your Thoughts

Cultivating mindfulness can help decipher when your thoughts are creating a mindset of scarcity or abundance. By taking the time to notice what type of thoughts are circulating in your head, you can begin to make a conscious effort to shift your thoughts towards abundance.

2. Recognize Unlimited Possibilities

The enemy of abundance is a contracted awareness. One fun Harvard study found that when people focus intently on one particular thing, other possibilities right in front of them go completely unnoticed. It is vital to loosen the mind’s focus and create an expanded awareness that fosters an abundance mentality.

3. Watch What You Say

The language you use, as well as what you tell yourself and others, shapes your reality. Are you telling stories of scarcity or stories of abundance?

4. Think Like a Beginner

An abundance mentality craves learning and growth, requiring an underlying knowledge that you don’t know everything, even about topics you may have mastered. The beginner’s mindset is about having the ability to maintain an attitude of openness and enthusiasm, along with the willingness to override existing preconceptions (just as a true beginner would) no matter how learned or experienced you may be.

5. Focus on What Is Going Right

Humans tend to notice what’s bad more easily than what’s good. It’s not your fault. Your brain is actually wired that way. Our ancestors, who were quick to see threats, were more likely to survive and pass along their DNA than those who weren’t. Optimists who rely on an abundance mindset lead better, longer lives.

The Bible

In Matthew 14:13-21, the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, the disciples view life through the lens of scarcity.

In this story, after Jesus finished teaching a large crowd about the Kingdom of Heaven, His disciples urged Him to send them home.

But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”  They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”  And he said, “Bring them here to me.”  Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

Jesus’s disciples were operating with a scarcity mentality.  In their thinking, they did not have enough food to feed the large crowd.

Jesus thinks with an abundance mentality.  Although He has the advantage of not being constrained by the physical world, Jesus is still teaching that we need to think with an abundance mentality.

We need to think big, think extravagant, and think beyond our comprehension.

Thinking with an abundance mindset moves us beyond our normal limited thinking and allows us to do great things.  With an abundance mindset and placing our trust in Jesus, we will produce things greater than we could ever imagine.