Think and grow rich
Breaking down an abundance vs. scarcity mindset
You may have heard about what it means to have an abundance versus scarcity mindset.
But do you actually understand what these dual, opposing concepts mean, where you stand, and why?
In Morgan Housel’s book, The Psychology of Money, he says your personal experiences with money make up only 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world, but impact 80% of how you think the world works.
In short, it’s really hard to understand how the world works without leaving the coop, mentally and physically.
When you were little, did your parents constantly make you feel like, either through their actions or what they said out loud, like there was never enough?
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Did they comment non-stop about how much things cost, or were too expensive, or how your family didn’t make enough and could never afford anything?
Did they constantly gossip about what other people were doing (in hebrew this is called lashon hora) and how they were living, and pit your family against others, or put people with more money and things on a pedestal?
This might not have seemed significant in the moment, but drilled into a child’s ears repeatedly over the years, and these same fears and toxic behaviors ultimately imprinted and were projected onto their children.
So much so that as these children became adults, they feared money and assigned an irrational power to it, when in fact nothing could be further from the truth.
Money holds no power, except what you give to it.
It comes and goes.
To me, money is a tool for freedom and independence. Money is energy.
Instead of fearing it, we should all learn to respect and master it.
Some people never get there, and what a shame, because it’s the scarcity mindset that holds them back.
What a scarcity mindset looks like
If you, or others have a scarcity mindset, they often:
Believe there is never enough success, money, or opportunities
Feel threatened or jealous by others’ success
Avoid risks and stay in a comfort zone
Focus on problems and limitations
Hold tightly onto, instead of sharing knowledge, resources, and ideas
Stop at once when encountering a setback or failure
Constantly worry about things outside of their control, or that things will run out
They also often act in ways that reflect fear, competition, and limitation, usually acting in these ways:
Avoid going to the doctor or investing in their health because they believe the price associated with routine checkups, gyms, health services, and personal trainers are unnecessary, too expensive, or not worth it
Hoarding money or things out of an irrational fear of losing it all
Refusing to share knowledge because they believe others will take from their success
Being overly competitive and not collaborative, because everyone else is a threat
Procrastinating on opportunities because they make excuses or fear they will fail
Blaming circumstances like external factors rather than taking ownership over situations
Settling for less because they assume better opportunities won’t come, so they accept situations that don’t serve them
Want the cheapest option because they focus on short-term savings instead of long-term value
Hold grudges because they are fixated on past wrongs and struggle to move on
Scarcity mindsets also manifest into other areas of a child’s psyche, where they believe they will never achieve a nebulous idea of “success” or lifestyle.
And yes, I’m reflecting on my upbringing.
I noticed the maddening ways my parents were pennywise and pound foolish, when they attempted to save a little bit of money and instead lost out on a lot.
We weren’t “poor” but there was constant fear about spending.
“Saving money” was the constant rhetoric, but it was never discussed what we were saving for (big goals) nor creative ways to make money work for us (investing).
For example, at the restaurant, our family business, for a long time they only accepted American Express as a card payment.
At the time, Visa processing fees were slightly higher, so they refused to pay those higher fees, despite the fact that the majority of people wanted to pay with Visa. If they didn’t have cash or AmEx, they were turned away.
What about strategically raising prices slight to offset those costs?
But I can’t fault them and hindsight advice is not useful.
Later on, when I worked in financial services, my pay was 100% commission-based. I had no annual base salary.
While that might scare the living bejesus out of some people, luckily for me, I was a killer saleswoman and was rewarded well, with no caps to my income.
When I got my first paychecks, I put all of my after-tax and 401(k) take-home pay into basic savings at basic APYs.
I hadn’t yet learned about investing, and even though I was making a six-figure income, I was so afraid of spending and losing my money, I as almost shellshocked.
I didn’t know what to do with it, so I was hoarding cash instead of using it wisely and putting it into higher interest-yielding opportunities at the time like mutual funds, bonds, real estate (this was before crypto and the rise of ETFs and no-fee brokerages).
What an abundance mindset looks like
At some point, my brain made the switch.
It took working in the real world, living, reading, and experience to finally open me up to an abundance mindset.
I chose to be around people who were smarter than me, to listen to and observe how they behaved, what they were reading, recommending, and how they talked (and didn’t talk) about money.
I’m not angry or mad about what my parents taught me.
They did the best they could and gave me every educational opportunity I needed/wanted.
I just realized later in life that some of their values weren’t aligned with how I chose to live my life, spend, and invest my own money.
In general, people with an abundance mindset:
Believe there is plenty of success, money, and opportunities for everyone
Feel happy when others succeed
Take risks and try new things
Focus on possibilities and solutions
Share knowledge, resources, and ideas freely.
See failure as a learning opportunity
Are confident that good things will keep coming
People with an abundance mindset also often behave with confidence and out of generosity, and focus on growth by:
Celebrating others' success: Instead of feeling jealous, they are inspired by, and see success as being for everyone
Sharing knowledge and resources: By helping others, they create more opportunities for everyone, including themselves
Taking risks, embracing opportunities: Trusting that if something doesn’t work out, they’ll still learn and grow
Investing in themselves: Spending time and money on personal growth, education, and skill-building
Looking for win-win situations: Collaborating over competing and believing there’s enough for everyone
Practicing gratitude: Focusing on what they have rather than what they lack
Seeing failure as a lesson: Not giving up, but adjusting and trying again
Taking action instead of waiting for the "perfect" moment: Creating their own success
Giving generously: Whether it’s money, time, or advice, they trust that giving only leads to more abundance
Focusing on long-term value: Prioritizing investments, relationships, and decisions that pay off over time rather than just short-term savings or gains.
An abundance mindset leads to growth, confidence, and success.
A scarcity mindset leads to fear, stress, and missed opportunities.
Which would you rather have?
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Until next time,
Shindy
On Instagram + TikTok
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This is one of my favorite posts you’ve written. I learned so much from you!!!!! STELLAR!!!!