Abundance: it’s the emotion of sufficiency

Entrepreneurs are often taught to operate within an abundance mindset (a frame of mind where we think that there are enough resources for everyone to share).

But having it all isn’t easy. Adopting a sufficiency mindset (explained below) will help you to appreciate what you have and remind you that nothing is missing.

The trap of manifesting abundance

There’s hardly a self-help book or spiritual guru out there that doesn’t preach about seeking abundance. We’re encouraged to imagine it, design it, live by it and manifest it. But is abundance really something that we should be striving for in 2022? Abundance literally means having “a very large quantity of something”.

Do we really need anything in vast quantities? 

The other problem with abundance is that if we don’t have it, we are bound to feel that we are lacking- that we don’t have enough of what we need or want.

The opposite of abundance – however – is scarcity, in a situation in which there is a shortage or absence of something.

Like all binary oppositions, we can’t have one without the other.

The rise of the abundance mindset 

Making change doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Pick one small change you can imagine you achieve,

Stephen Covey, author of the world-famous The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, came up with the notion of the abundance mindset.

By his definition, an abundance mindset is a belief a person holds “that there are enough resources and successes to share with others.” A person with an abundance mindset believes there are enough opportunities and rewards for everyone. Put simply, we can all be winners.

By contrast, a scarcity mindset is based on the idea that is another person wins, achieves something or is successful, then there must also be a loser. People with a scarcity mindset may feel restricted and disempowered to achieve their goals.

The problem with an abundance mindset

At first thought, it doesn’t seem like there is anything wrong with abundance. It’s easy to imagine Oprah Winfrey during one of her famous give-aways. “You can have a new car!” and “You can have a new car!” “You get a new car”. No one misses out.

The thing is not everyone in the audience that day may have needed a new car. The abundance is an extreme. It means having a lot of something.

And if you find yourself hoping to be in a position of abundance, the chances are you will most not likely ever be able to achieve it. Because having it all is by no means easy.

What happens when we want too much?

Scarcity is also extreme. As humans, we have the ability to see the middle ground – to make ourselves comfortable somewhere in between the extremes. Living in an extreme situation is just not sustainable. 

We all need money to enable us to have our basic needs met. A place to live, food on our table. There is nothing wrong with money. But it is essential to be clear about what matters and what doesn’t. 

We tend to think that wanting something and having too much of it tends to only make you want something else – the next thing, the something else that you don’t have right at this minute

Striving for sufficiency

Though it might be totally counter to what you have been taught as an entrepreneur, we’re suggesting you forget abundance and focus on sufficiency.

Sufficiency means to have “an adequate amount of something, especially of something essential.”

This idea that our goal should be abundance stems from our fear of not having enough. When we are afraid that we don’t have enough, we try to grab more than we need. 

Sufficiency means less fear

The last two years have only increased our fears about not having enough. Remember that footage of people hoarding toilet paper? The reports that KFC was running out of chicken? That there wasn’t enough petrol to get our truck drivers around the nation? Not enough masks, not enough vaccines, not enough sanitiser?

There has been a global preoccupation with scarcity. Through all of this we have been forced to rethink our lifestyles, travel, and businesses. Scarcity creates a deep fear of lack within us, a deeply unsettling sensation that ripples through our relationships and communities.

How to shift to sufficiency thinking

If you’re trapped oscillating between scarcity and abundance, the first thing to do is to address the fear. If you feel like you haven’t got enough, and you should have more, that you’re trapped in cycle of running after your goals, then it’s time to face your fear. If you’ve exhausted yourself in the eternal quest, then turn your attention to the fear.

Examine it – explore what you could do to eradicate it. It’s essential to let go of fear, and allow the idea of having enough to replace your need to have it all.

Take a break

As we work to achieve, obtain, do better, be successful, and have more, we have forgotten how important it is to have some downtime, some time out.

In Sabbath, author Wayne Muller reminds us of how important it is to take a break from trying to have it all. When we acknowledge that we have enough, we give ourselves permission to take some time out from the eternal hunt for abundance.

Taking a rest from the rat race, we can restore our creativity and create space for renewal. 

Refine your vision

As an entrepreneur, you are sure to have done some work creating a vision. It can be helpful to review your vision and mission through the lens of sufficiency.

Do some planning or journaling about what having enough might look like, and if what you see is seems in stark contrast to what your vision is, then maybe it’s time to incorporate this new perspective

There are usually actually multiple ways that you can realize your ultimate dream. 

Get to know the real you

It’s fair enough to have grandiose ideas about the person you will be come. We all want to hope that our future selves are better, richer, smarter and have more. We might want them to be thinner and funnier too. While there’s nothing wrong with having something you want to achieve, the truth is that adult human beings are unlikely to change much. We’re already who we are. 

Filling up on hopes of being a different person and undergoing a total transformation is likely to end in failure. Instead, know your strength, know your weaknesses. Determine your higher purpose and what it is that really makes you tic. Know yourself well enough to know that were you are right now is exactly where you need to be.

Once you stop wasting time doing better and changing yourself, you will have time to learn, grow, and practice gratitude. 

Be grateful 

When we practice gratitude, we are fully aware of and focus on what we have. Grateful people have more energy and enthusiasm and often perform better than others at study and work. It’s impossible to experience gratitude when you think about what’s lacking.

It’s hard to adopt an abundance mindset when things aren’t going well, and there is a tendency to slip straight back into that uncomfortable scarcity. Focus on what you do have, not what you don’t and try to accept things as they really are. 

Focus your attention

Experiencing sufficiency can help you hone in on your target. When you adopt a sufficiently mindset, you might need to focus your energy much more. You need to hone in on your target.

Rather than getting frazzled doing all the things and tackling all the projects, there is something very restorative about cutting loose the excess and directing your attention and energy to what will help you confidently reach a position of sufficiency.

When we focus our attention on a particular idea or vision, the other stuff tends to fall away. Our brains are very good at getting rid of data or beliefs that are on the outer of our field of view.

Applying the sufficiency mindset to your business

Adopting a sufficiency mindset is good for you. It can help you experience less fear, less judgment, clearer thinking and a higher state of rest and wellbeing.

But what does a sufficiency mindset mean for your business?

We have all been brought up in a society that values prosperity over people and economic gain over our environment. When you are you work towards sufficiency in your business, you will be enabling your business to perform in a way that works for you but doesn’t put you in competition with everyone else.

Sufficiency enables you to focus on the experience rather than the output. You are more likely to feel satisfied with your when you are basing what you do on the process and productivity, rather than the payoff at the end.

Choose sufficiency

“You can’t always get what you want,” sang Mick Jagger, “but if you try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need.”

It seems it really is time to question the abundance mindset. In a world where there is injustice, illness, unemployment, poverty and a fragile environment, living and working by the idea that there is enough for everyone and we can all get what we want doesn’t seem quite right anymore.

Select sufficiency for a braver, calmer and happier you.