Scarcity: Where Is It Showing Up In Your Life?

I often read about scarcity mindset. People frequently associate this with money. When I give presentations, I notice that it’s a surprise to some that scarcity can be impacting many aspects of life – not just financial. Where is it showing up in your life?

Money Scarcity

This is the first thing people think of – the belief that they don’t or won’t have enough money. The fear that they could run out can be so severe that some people feel panic thinking about paying bills or buying things. It can be so pervasive that all decisions and actions are based on this fear. And when it’s a subconscious belief, no amount will make this fear go away. Regardless of the amount of money that’s available, it’s never enough. There’s a constant worry that it won’t last or that something will happen to take it all away. It’s never comfortable deciding to buy something – especially if it’s not necessary. It can even be hard to enjoy what you do buy, because there’s the constant worry about what it costs.

In my lifetime, I’ve known people who were children in the Great Depression. It was hard for them to spend money. And most of them were obsessed with finding the absolute best price when they had to buy anything. They would scour newspapers for sales and coupons, and then go to five different grocery stores to get the deals. I often wondered if they saved more than they spent on gas getting to all those places. But I’ve also seen plenty of younger people struggling with the same issues. Regardless of the source of the belief, the impact is the same – you’re never confident there there’s enough money to be able to stop worrying about it.

Time Scarcity

Another belief is that there is not enough time. This is when the “to do” list is never done. No matter how long or late people work, there’s never enough time to finish things up. People work crazy hours, give up doing things that are also important to them – all because they believe that there’s not enough time. If it’s a subconscious belief, the various time management systems they try are not likely to help, because it’s the belief that’s keeping them stuck in this pattern.

People struggling with this scarcity tend to either put unreasonable amounts of tasks on their list, spend more time on the tasks than they require, or get distracted during the day doing things that weren’t on the list. But this behavior happens in order to validate the belief. Humans need to find or create evidence to prove that our beliefs are correct. So for these people, there will never be enough time.

Other scarcities

It’s not just money and time that can feel scarce to someone. You could believe that any resource that you feel is important is limited. Are you in sales? You could believe that there aren’t enough buyers out there. Looking for a soulmate? I’ve seen people with the belief that there aren’t any people out there that are available and match their criteria. Want to create a series of interviews to help people understand your business, but don’t think you know enough people to be able to do this in an ongoing manner? In each of these cases, you won’t find them if you don’t think they are there.

Where is it showing up in your life?

It’s exhausting to live in constant dread of running out or never having something. It’s sad to make so many choices based on fear instead of what you want. I encourage you to start imagining what it would be like to actually have enough of any of these things. Often people don’t even know what that looks like – they just have the image of “not enough” in their minds.

Take the time to define what “enough” looks like. In detail. Fill that picture in with as many details as possible – how it looks, how it sounds, what your emotions are. You have a better chance of getting there if you know what it is. And if you still need help, book a session with me. We can change those beliefs.