17. Abundance Mindset

Hi everyone, this is Reza Mehman, and you’re listening to episode 17 of the Project Mindset podcast. I was recently walking along the Neckar meadow here in Heidelberg with a friend, and after a while, he rather sheepishly and shyly told me that he’d finally landed his long-awaited PhD position at Harvard, one of the most prestigious universities in the world, you could say. I was incredibly happy for him, and I said, “Hey, why are you just mentioning this in passing instead of shouting it from the rooftops? It’s something to be really proud of, and I’m really proud of you too.”

He then told me that he’d also shared this with other people in his close circle, and that apparently there were a few among them who were a bit envious of him and obviously couldn’t stand the fact that he could now do something so cool. And apparently, there was even someone who turned away from him after hearing this news. I find it pretty shocking that people just can’t stand to see you achieve things like that, and that’s how today’s topic came about: Abundance Mindset. I first heard about it from an author named Stephen Covey, who said that abundance means there are enough resources and successes for everyone in the world.

Distinguishing between abundance and scarcity thinking

Abundance can best be roughly translated as surplus or abundance, and in my view, this means there’s absolutely no need to be envious when someone else gets a raise, a PhD position, buys a cool car, or whatever, because there’s enough, or rather, an abundance of resources is already there. The opposite of abundance would be a scarcity mindset, a kind of scarcity mindset. You think, or you feel, that there’s simply not enough of everything.

If someone else gets something, then there’s less for me. So you tend to see limitations rather than opportunities. And interestingly, in my friend’s case, this abundance mindset immediately came to mind. Personally, I can say I’m incredibly proud that I know someone, or can call someone a friend, who’s doing their PhD at Harvard. And honestly, I’ll probably even brag about it to other friends here and there, saying, “Hey, I know someone who’s doing their PhD at Harvard.”

Of course, I’m joking, but it makes me incredibly proud. And that’s the complete opposite of a scarcity mindset, in my opinion, and I’ll come back to the fact that I, too, unfortunately suffer from scarcity from time to time, to be honest. But I always try to cultivate this abundance mindset for myself, everywhere I go. In my friend’s case, my second thought was something else that also leans a bit towards abundance, though perhaps even a touch more selfish.

See the successes of others as new opportunities

But I just thought, wow, if my kids ever get the idea, and they have the grades and achievements, to study in the US, and especially at Harvard, then I know someone we can just ask, hey, how do you actually apply to Harvard? What’s the best way to get there? Are there any tips, tricks, and so on? Abundance is exactly that. You tend to see the positive things. You see something that has happened from a perspective that makes you happy, that makes you think about how you might even be able to use it for yourself, and that makes you grateful that you even found out about it happening at all.

But let’s get back to scarcity, to the scarcity mindset issue. I think everyone experiences envy from time to time. I’ll be honest, it happens to me too. And I think that’s perfectly normal for people. I think it has something to do with the fact that we’ve all basically been through a time of scarcity where everything was scarce. Everything was, let’s say, you had to hoard to have enough to live on, and so on. And that probably persisted over the centuries and millennia.

Perceiving one’s own feelings of envy

That’s probably why you still feel a little bit of envy or scarcity here and there. But I think in this day and age, you can really say there’s an abundance of everything. Nevertheless, I’ve been thinking about how I can avoid it altogether. I mean, it’s not about situations like with my friend, where I was extremely happy, but rather how can I prevent myself from feeling even the last vestiges of envy and scarcity? Several things came to mind that I’d like to talk about a bit more today.

And the first thing, which I just touched on a bit, is that I’m always aware of it. I always remind myself that there’s enough of everything in the world. There are simply enough resources. There’s enough information. There are enough people. There are enough opportunities. There’s always enough of everything. You really have to be aware of that. And the second thing, where I think, okay, I don’t need an envy mindset or a scarcity mindset at all. I’ve reminded myself that there are things in life that, when shared, actually multiply.

What becomes more through sharing

You know the best examples. It’s joy, love, or knowledge. When you share these things, they don’t become scarcer; on the contrary, there will be more of them. One of the reasons I started the podcast was precisely this point, something I wanted to make or achieve for myself. The things I observe, I share with other people, and perhaps they will help others. And if all else fails, you know my plan B: my son and daughter have to listen to everything I say here.

But I find it extremely important to share knowledge, share love, share joy, because then there’s more of it in the world. Another thing that came to mind about how to avoid falling into a scarcity mindset is, of course, as always, and I’ve already talked about this a few times, to really become aware of these emotions, that you’re currently experiencing them. You might have an emotion that says, “I’m envious.” Because then you know there was a trigger, and you can react to it to avoid digging yourself deeper into these emotions and never getting out of them.

Start with a change of perspective

Once you’ve recognized this trigger, once you understand, “Okay, I’m feeling a kind of envy right now,” then you can completely try to change your perspective. The perspective could be, for example, like I said to my friend, “He got a cool PhD position.” My perspective is, “Wow, cool! I have a friend in my circle of friends I can proudly tell that he’s doing his PhD. If my kids want to study there someday, I can make direct contact and we can start talking right away.”

So, changing your perspective is, I believe, the best thing you can do in such a situation if you feel envy. Because if you feel envy and begrudge the other person their success, then you don’t actually consider whether you could benefit from it in some way. I’m not saying you could benefit financially or anything like that, but you limit yourself if you simply dwell on these thoughts of envy. I think there’s a very nice quote about this: “Abundance is not something that we acquire, it ‘s something we tune into.” The quote is by Wayne Dyer.

Develop an attitude of generosity

And I believe that’s actually something; an abundance mindset, I think, isn’t something that develops naturally or that you don’t have from the beginning. I think children are a good example of how they always want everything immediately and want to hoard things for themselves, and so on. I think that’s quite natural behavior. But with today’s mindset, with today’s knowledge, we should all try to adopt this mentality. There are enough resources from everyone, and it’s better to share resources because potentially more can simply be created that way.

Okay guys, that was a really short story I just had to share with you. I think the topic of abundance mindset is extremely important, and I can absolutely recommend Stephen Covey on the subject. He’s written a lot of great books. Definitely check them out. I hope you enjoyed the episode. I hope you were able to take something away from it. If so, as always, leave a quick like or a review, and tell your friends about it. I would really appreciate it. See you next time!

It was really fun, and don’t forget, mindset is everything.