Scarcity vs Abundance Mindset

Recently, I realized most of my life decisions and choices have been subconsciously driven by a fear. The fear of making wrong decisions and the fear of regret.

Have you been there too?

For example, I have been writing for nearly eight years, but it wasn’t until last year that I started posting publicly on Medium. I wondered if my content was ready to be out in the open and whether anyone would be interested in reading what I had to say.

So, I kept refining, polishing, waiting – and rarely publishing.

Then later in life, when I was looking for a change in my career the same indecision crept up. I was actively applying and interviewing when I received a job offer. It looked attractive on paper but deep down I was again skeptical.

I was facing the classic dilemma that almost everyone experiences – wondering if there were better opportunities out there and if I was settling for less. So, I kept analyzing the proposition for weeks.

However, my perspective on decision making and life, in general, began to change when I came across the concept of the Scarcity vs Abundance mindset.

All this time, while I believed I was being rational and cautious, my actions were actually driven by the Scarcity mindset.

During my job-hunting phase, I kept wondering if I was making the right choice by accepting the offer.

Subconsciously, I believed opportunities in this universe are limited. Accepting one felt like rejecting all others.

I postponed publishing my blogs for a similar reason. Somewhere deep down, I felt the blogging world is saturated. The space is cramped with successful bloggers and creators that has now left little space for newer voices like mine to shine and create an audience.

Eventually, I realized I was viewing life through a scarcity lens.

While it is true that early creators had an advantage, what is also true is that the audience demand has exploded – probably more than the creator supply.

People today consume FAR more podcast hours, blog posts, and entertainment than ten years ago. The pie has gotten bigger.

This is the abundance mindset.

Not everyone loves pineapple on a pizza – not everyone needs to love pineapple on a pizza. There will be a segment of audience that will appreciate your style and your unique perspective. That’s your audience – the one that loves pineapple on a pizza.

Accepting one opportunity doesn’t mean rejecting others – it means creating momentum. And in real world, momentum matters more than perfection. Because momentum creates opportunities.

Likewise, one creator’s downfall isn’t required for another’s success. All creators can be successful and co-exist at the same time.

This is the crux of the abundance mindset – it helps you understand that no experience, no misfortune, no hardship is ever wasted. Every experience adds some kind of depth and direction to your character, and every hardship contributes to a new perspective or clarity.

Essentially, every step is taking you one step forward towards abundance because meaning can be created from everything, not just success.

This, in fact, is also a Latin phrase – Amor Fati

Life is not a zero-sum game. There is enough in the world for you to thrive while others win.

It changed the way I looked at life and made decisions.

It made me lighter

It made me free.