[Editor's Note: This is a republished post from Passive Income MD and is all about how changing from a scarcity mindset to a mindset of abundance can offer each of us new levels of wealth, opportunity, and happiness. Enjoy! ]
Have you ever noticed how two people can go through a similar journey (like residency) but have radically different attitudes and experiences by the end of it?
As the saying goes, you may not be able to control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond to it. In a way, you’re responsible for how things in your life affect you internally.
I’ve learned that mindset is everything in life. It can truly change the way you handle stressful situations, how you learn and create success, and even how you find happiness.
Many years ago, Stephen Covey wrote about this concept in his classic work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey says that most people have one of two mindsets; they see life through the lens of either scarcity or abundance.
I read Covey’s book years ago, and since that time, I’ve come to realize how spot on he really was.
So, let’s dig a little deeper into these mindsets, and how they truly can impact our lives.
The Scarcity Mindset
The scarcity mindset is what Covey calls the “zero-sum paradigm of life.” Basically, life is like a pie, and there’s only so much to go around. Some get bigger slices, which leaves less for others.
This type of thinking manifests itself in various ways. People with the scarcity mindset often have the following thoughts:
- Since there is only so much to go around, they try to hoard resources.
- Competition is more important than collaboration.
- Any sharing of knowledge will only help their competition beat them.
- Others should be helped, but only if they receive something of equal or greater value in return.
- They’re worried that people are always after them, seeking to tear down their accomplishments.
- Fear of risk often paralyzes them from making big moves and decisions.
- They truly fear change.
- They may feel deep anxiety about budgeting and saving, taking frugality to the level of deprivation.
Needless to say, this mindset is, at its core, all about serving one’s own interests. It’s all about getting a bigger slice of the pie, no matter the cost to one’s peace of mind.
The Abundance Mindset
In stark contrast, Covey says that those who see life through an “abundance” mindset feel that there is not only enough of the pie to go around, everyone can have seconds or even thirds.
This type of thinking manifests in the following ways:
- They’re generous with their time, knowledge, and support.
- They freely give more of their finances to worthy causes.
- They gain the trust of others and develop valuable relationships.
- Risk is seen as a necessary part of growth as well as change.
- They are adaptable and optimistic.
People with this mindset are generally happier. Helping others is seen as the way to get ahead, not only for themselves but for their peers as well.
Physicians and Their Mindset
Well, I believe that we weren’t really trained to go through life with an abundance mentality. Whether or not you agree, it’s clear that it took a lot of competition to get where we are.
If your school was graded on a curve like mine, you know there were only so many “A” grades to be given out. There were then only so many spots in medical school, in residency, and there were only so many jobs. It’s a cutthroat world, and we knew we had to be the best to beat out everyone else.
My own college had the reputation of being an extremely cutthroat school, and at times, I definitely felt that people were trying to put you down to lift themselves up.
So when it comes to financial freedom, I can understand why physicians might feel the same way. The journey to financial independence must be similar to the one that brought us to be physicians, and we think we have to outthink and compete against everyone else.
However, I believe that nothing could be further from the truth.
The Abundance Mindset and Financial Freedom
I believe all physicians have the opportunity to reach financial freedom. Sure, some of our paths might be a little bit more difficult, as some have higher student loan debt, lower paying specialty, or live in higher cost of living areas. But with smart investments and by creating businesses, I think we can reach it regardless of these obstacles.
However, that does involve taking on some level of risk. It takes venturing beyond what’s safe and thinking that there’s hope out there. Most importantly, when it comes to risk, you have to be willing to take it.
Reaching financial freedom also takes learning from people and collaborating. It takes being vulnerable and asking people for help. (These are some of the reasons I created the group, Passive Income Docs!) These are pillars of the abundance mindset, and those who have it are always willing to share how they reached their own levels of success–not because there’s always some immediate gain for themselves, but because they know that what goes around comes around.
Collaboration is the key. In this game of financial freedom, “the rising tide lifts all boats” as they say. People can help each other by sharing knowledge and resources and in the end, everyone wins.
Again, this concept is foreign to a lot of physicians. Despite the competitive nature of our profession, it’s important to realize that the more we can share information, support one another, and educate one another, the faster we can all get where we want to be.
The road to becoming a physician isn’t easy, but it is fairly clear-cut. But there is no one path to financial freedom. There are twists and turns, and adaptability and resourcefulness are key attributes of successful people. Having that abundance mindset helps you stay open to opportunities, and you’re better able to spot them when you come across them.
How Do You Change Your Mindset from Scarcity to Abundance?
If you find yourself adopting the scarcity mindset, or wondering if it applies to you, the initial step to progress is to recognize the signs. Take a look at that list of manifestations a few paragraphs up. Do you fall more in the scarcity or abundance mindset?
If it’s the scarcity mindset, realize that change is necessary, and, most crucially, make a determination to change. Here are some practical steps to make it happen.
First, practice gratitude and generosity. This can be in the form of money, time, and/or knowledge. Try to give to others and you’ll realize you have more than enough and are quite fortunate in life. That’s a huge step in finding the abundance mindset. This method has worked wonders for me.
Second, share your experiences and create a community with like-minded people that share that mindset and can offer support. Be active members of Facebook groups (like our group, Passive Income Docs or one of the ones I recommend), or go to meetups with colleagues and friends. Talk with people who are also trying to better themselves and others.
Third, push yourself to try new experiences and educate yourself on other methods of building the life that you want. Broaden your horizons, and you’ll see how much there is to go around.
Fourth and finally, focus on the end goal and realize that failure will only help you achieve your goals. As Edison put it while trying to perfect the light bulb, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Realize that there is hope and there are great possibilities. Look to others for inspiration, learn from your mistakes, and move on.
As physicians trying to achieve financial freedom, having a mindset of abundance makes all the difference. it’s very important to realize that it will not only help you reach your goals, but it will help you enjoy life far more when you do get there.
Do you have a scarcity or abundance mindset?
Great post with actionable tips!
Excellent article. Completely agree that there is enough to go around and especially to make the world a better place through charitable giving. One other area where physicians can really increase their revenues is through tax reduction strategies. It’s unbelievable how little we take advantage of the tax code as physicians and how worried we are about audit when the code was made for us. That’s one of the little secrets: the tax code is full of deductions and legal means to reduce your taxes. Physicians can often save six figures on their taxes just through proper structuring and advanced tax strategy. Renting your home to your Business for up to 14 days, employing your children, home-office deductions, equipment… The risk of being entrepreneur is high enough that the government has given us incredible tax breaks to spur on business risk. As physicians, we are value creators of the world, we create jobs and move the GDP forward in our own little way. I recommend all physicians to become structured and find their own solutions. Best of luck to everyone! Their is truly an abundance of opportunity out there.
The way we think influences what we do. What we do influences how people treat us. When we look for opportunities and are optimistic they will come, they seem to appear.
Some people are not “big-picture” thinkers and see concepts like this and the writing of Robert Kiyosaki just meaningless fluff. I get it. We are all different in our thinking styles. For me, it is brilliant and important wisdom.
I had to learn this lesson on my own. I grew up in poverty with a pervasive scarcity mentality. I was always told what can’t be done, what I can’t do, what won’t be affordable, etc. You aren’t bright enough to go to college. You can’t and won’t go to college. Only rich people become doctors. Maybe you could become a welder if you work hard.
With a lot of reading (e.g. As a Man Thinketh, Think and Grow Rich, Power of Positive Thinking, Psychocybernetics, Jim Rohn, Zig Zigler) and thinking and help from others I grew my abundance mindset. It made a world of difference for me.
As Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad) says, don’t say “We can’t afford that.” Say, “How could we afford that?” Then brainstorm ways to increase your assets and cash flow to make it affordable.
There are trillions of dollars circling the globe every day. Tap into the abundance!
Great post. One exercise I found really interesting in trying to shift from a mentality of scarcity to one of abundance is to write down 25 things I want–these can be anything: material things, financial goals, travel, career aspirations, anything. After doing that, do it again but the second time, make sure 15 of the 25 things are things you already have. It’s really eye opening to see how usually the first time you make the list, all 25 things are things you don’t yet have, furthering the experience of scarcity. Once you include things in your list that you already have, you not only get to practice gratitude, but you start to realize how abundant your life really is.
It gets more fun when you compare your “after” lists over time–you may find that more and more “wants” move from the “don’t have yet” to the “have now” portions of your list. It’s easy to forget all the things we’ve achieved or attained when all we focus on are the things we have not yet attained. Increasing my awareness of what I already have that I really want has certainly increased my feelings of abundance and gratitude.
I truly believe that people with the abundance mindset really do lead happier lives. Competition is good because it brings out the best in people but it can be taken to an extreme which occurs when you try to pull somebody down in order to bring yourself up.
You are correct that physician’s have often been exposed to the scarcity mindset because everything we had to go through to get where we were was indeed scarce.
It is hard to reframe your mindset after 20+ yrs of being exposed to one way of thinking. The truly happy doctors are the ones that were successful in that transition.
A rising tide lifts all boats is how I feel about the physician blogging community I am a part of. It has been a very collaborative community to be a part of and I try to help others and I know a lot of people have helped me.
My pre med and medical training definitely fostered a scarcity mindset but I have discovered an abundance or growth mindset through exposure to sources outside of medicine. Tom Bilyeu’s Impact Theory introduced me to Carol Dweck and the entire concept of growth versus fixed mindset. I joined a mastermind group of real estate millionaires called Gobundance which pushed my comfort but also exploded my learning about real estate and taking risk. Both of those choices have helped me seek other podcasts, books, and groups to stretch the limited box I had placed myself in as a doctor and surgeon which froze me doing more of the same. Now my routine involves listening to a podcast, reading a blog and thinking about working ON my life and business rather than more of the same IN it every day. For all these reasons, I have become better at taking risk, delegating and my life is much fuller and happier. Ironically, these things have also made me a more compassionate doctor who enjoys my time with patients better.
This has always been such a fascinating aspect of psychology since it influences real-life behavior so strongly.
However, I don’t agree with thinking of it as a continuum roughly where everyone should universally move from scarcity (bad!) to abundance (good!). Both viewpoints have value depending on the circumstances (e.g. being graded on a curve demands a scarcity perspective to achieve other goals).
I’ve always viewed it more like yin and yang where there’s an element of each philosophy mixed into its opposite. One can’t exist without the other. Something as simple as charitable giving illustrates the idea. Say someone generously commits 15% of their income to charity. That’s an abundance mindset, right? Dial it up to 95% and most people – if not everyone – would quickly move into a scarcity mindset when they have trouble putting food on their own table.
You can even hold both perspectives simultaneously about the same thing. Health care is a rationed resource which requires a scarcity mindset on a day to day basis. But that doesn’t mean someone can’t be thinking about ways to expand the pie at the same time. Less expensive procedures, better procedures, more effective procedures, etc.
Having a good balance is more valuable than spending life exclusively in one tent or the other.