Conscious Leaders Have an Attitude of Having Enough | Committments of Conscious Leadership #12
“The first step toward discarding a scarcity mentality involves giving thanks for everything that you have.” – Wayne Dyer
Conscious leaders commit to focusing on experiencing that they have enough of everything rather than the scarcity mentality of unconscious leaders. The mentality of having enough means a mindset of having enough time, energy, space, money, love, and resources. Yet this commitment to abundance rather than scarcity seems to be the most challenging. Though it encompasses everything from time to money and more, rather than trying to focus on each specific area, you should concentrate on the overall experience of enough rather than lack.
A scarcity mentality will tend to influence leaders to expend their energy on getting “their share” as they fear not having enough. They feel that they never have enough time and can’t balance it all. They believe they never have enough money so they need to keep working hard, but at the expense of their natural rhythm or balance. Leaders leading from a scarcity mentality often feel they don’t get enough from their relationships or they may feel they don’t give enough to their relationships – they just don’t have enough energy. Scarcity mentality often creeps into small parts of daily life – not enough time to get your walk in before the rain hits, not enough sleep, not enough help in the office, etc. John Maxwell shares an excellent reminder: “You must manage your thought life daily and then you can manage your life.” Managing your thoughts takes a great deal of focus and work. But you should constantly remind yourself that an abundance mentality attracts abundance, whereas a scarcity mentality attracts scarcity.
A scarcity mentality tends to focus on there never being enough, more is better, and feeling an inability to make changes – the view that it’s unfair but it is what it is. What a sad and depressing view! It also requires some sort of comparison – whether to other people, other design firms, etc. This view leads to competition. Competition can be a positive, but when a leader is viewing everything as competition it can stunt your personal and professional growth. You begin to view your time as too valuable to have others waste it. Or your energy is too important to spend it working with others. Or you believe there are not enough clients to go around. If and/or when you find that these habits describe you, it’s time to step back and commit to living from the belief that you have enough of everything.
Scarcity belief begins to disappear when you use a different reference point. Rather than thinking in terms of an amount, or in comparison, instead view sufficiency as an experience, a way of thinking – an abundance mentality. Conscious leaders recognize the toxicity of a scarcity mentality and actively challenge those beliefs. Changing your mindset is not always easy but meditation can be a great help to check in with the abundance of each moment. Starting each day with breathing exercises and meditation can be helpful to the flow of your day in general, but particularly when you need to change your mindset. Rather than scarcity and comparison to others, focus instead on gratitude. Gratitude can overcome fear and instead attract abundance.
When you commit to conscious leadership and believe in abundance, you will experience a major shift in your relationships with others both in your personal and professional life as well as in how you view time, money, and more. You will shift to a belief that there is enough – for yourself but also for everyone. When you believe that there is enough for everyone and celebrate the successes of others you will find that opportunities expand.
Make a commitment to experiencing that you have enough of everything. Focus any energy you might have used in a scarcity mentality and redirect it towards a grateful mentality and a belief in abundance. In the words of Norman Vincent Peale: “Change your thoughts and you change your world.”
Previous Iterations of Commitments of Conscious Leadership
Commit to Being the Source of Your Approval, Control, and Security
Are You Committed to Curiosity?
Sustaining Leadership Success Through Emotional Intelligence
Management Skills vs Leadership Skills
Candid Communication Leads to Successful Teams
Are You Really Practicing Integrity?
Learning to Give and Accept Appreciation
