Abundance Mindset vs. Scarcity Mindset

Scarcity mindset [means] really things more from like negative emotions, fear. When I think about a business which I really want to grow, then I want to think more in [about] the emotions of what can I do? What are the options? What are the different income sources? What are [is]the mindset of, let’s say, opening up instead of closing down and what I mentioned at the beginning, this whole sabotage moment?

So if I start my own business and I’m acting out of a situation out of fear, I will never grow the business because all I would do is only baby steps because I’m afraid, right? So I will not think big, I will not actually put out products out there because I’m afraid, maybe people might not like it, etcetera.

What I did at the beginning was really writing down what are my thoughts about family, friends when it comes to money and then use positive psychology every day, write down what is a cool thing I did to be more aware of my personal worth about the things I’ve done great today, and to step up the game to rethink even more broadly in which direction can I grow my business and what are the skills I need, what’s the network I need.

So, this also, again, is something we see when it comes to confidence with women. They often think they’re not competent for certain subjects. And so they feel also less confident. Now you can grow your competence with learning, learning, learning, but at some point, you really want to think about your confidence and what’s worth the learning. And women feel like I need to know everything about investing before I start. And that’s what I mean, you will never get to the point where you know everything about a subject. So maybe sometimes starting small and then growing in the process and going out of your comfort zone to actually grow. And that’s for me than the opposite of the scarcity mindset.

The abundance mindset is a mindset where I think all good stuff will come to me. It’s a bit like karma, right? So if I think I’m worth it, I’m this awesome chief entrepreneur and good stuff will come to me, I force my body I can really feel it right now that I’m talking, I feel that it gets pumped up, it gets all this like positive hormones within me to do this stuff.

And I think an abundance mindset is really feeling – and not thinking – really feeling internally [internal] that I can do this. I want to do this. I want to go out there and run my business. And then with each interaction you have, maybe with your network, with the people you need to grow your business, you transport that feeling and people like to work with people who are positive, who bring like good stuff to them. And I think this is then the cycle you want to get into, It’s really about believing in yourself and feeling and not thinking about it, but really feeling this internal push about: yes, I’m in here to win it really.

As a definition, emotional spending is really what type of emotion started me when I spent money. So for example, if I go shopping, I go shopping to reward myself. But if I feel bad, I also use shopping to feel better. And then if I’m bored, I also use shopping to feel better, right? So you have all these internal emotions, that bring you to the situation of shopping.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t shop, not at all, I think everybody should do it. I think the main keys is really being aware of from which emotion I’m doing this. And there’s a really cool book, which is called “Emotional Currency”, which talks about exactly that, which talks about why we spend money. And for me, this was really an eye-opener because at the end of the day, the psychologist who wrote this book, identified in her normal sessions that a lot of times the money spending externalizes how I feel, right? And unless I solve my internal issues, I will not be able to change my shopping behaviour if I want to.

So it’s not only about just changing your behaviour because I think about, it is really about going a step further and say, why am I actually doing this? And can I work on these issues? I’m not actually saying, okay, I need to stop shopping. It’s a bit like sports, right? You say, okay, I need to do sports, but that alone doesn’t change your behaviour. You really need to go a little bit deeper: what prevents you from doing it? How can I solve that? How can I make my life easier so I actually don’t do the things I don’t want to do?

I still believe that for example drinking a nice cup of coffee or buying this amazing dress for a very specific occasion, things like that, it’s more about enjoying the moment a lot. And what we know from psychology is that actually happiness is driven from experience, the social interactions we have and not actually from physical things. If you buy something, you’re really happy for a short period and then it drops. And if you use your money to do a certain travel with your friends and so forth, you live from that happiness a lot longer. So actually, in this case, money can buy you happiness, if you use it for the right things.