Creating Wealth Part 3 – Shifting From A Scarcity To An Abundance Mindset

I want to share with you about a breakthrough I once had with my wealth paradigm. It was inspired by one of my mentors, Dr R. Buckminster Filler.

Bucky, as he was affectionately known by many of his students was known to have “one of the greatest minds of our times.” He was truly a Renaissance Man – a well-balanced person who has distinguished himself as a visionary, philosopher, inventor, engineer, architect, poet, and more.

In 1983, shortly before he passed away, Bucky was awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the USA.

Bucky’s life was far from being a success story at the beginning. What endeared him to many of us was he recovered from many major failures and made something good out of his life.

Up till the age of four, Bucky was literally lost while moving around. It was then his family realized he was suffering from short sightedness. While he was in school, he struggled with geometry even though much later he became an accomplished mathematician.

Bucky was expelled from Harvard University – not once but twice. The first time, he was asked to leave for splurging his money on ladies of the night.

Subsequently, he was expelled again for his “irresponsibility and lack of interest.” Bucky called himself a “non-conforming misfit” when he was pursuing his formal education.

At 27, Bucky’s daughter, Alexandra passed away while he was partying and having a good time. He felt guilty for her death and it almost drove him to become an alcoholic.

By the time he was 32, he had worked in many jobs, including being a labourer, soldier, and failed entrepreneur. He became not only jobless, he was living in a public low-income house – as a bankrupt.

Bucky decided to put an end to his “throwaway life.” Legend has it that, just before drowning himself, he heard a voice saying, “Your life does not belong to you. You belong to the Universe.”

Bucky committed himself to “an experiment to find out what a single individual (could) contribute to changing the world and benefitting all humanity.” He proved once again that one person can make a positive difference to the world.

One of Bucky’s pet projects was the development of what he called the “Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science”. He was concerned about human survival and sustainability under the current socio-economic system.

Bucky concluded from his research that “It is now highly feasible to take care of everybody on Earth at a higher standard of living than any have ever known.” We can respond to all our challenges by providing “more and more life support for everybody, with less and less resources.”

Bucky believed there are more than enough resources for all of us to be wealthy. In fact, we are ‘unknowing billionaires’.

Bucky devoted his life to advancing humanity, including promoting the virtues of having an abundance mindset. This ran contrary to having a scarcity mindset which was consciously or unconsciously practiced by many people.

A Scarcity Mindset

The scarcity mindset is based on a ‘There-is-not-enough-and-therefore-I-must-win’ and ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality.

To people with a scarcity mindset, life is a zero-sum game. There is a degree of fear if they win less, others will win more-and by the same token, they will lose more.

This win-lose or lose-lose attitude drives them to live a me-centered rather than a people-centered life. They are focused on meeting their own needs rather than the needs of others.

They want as much things as possible – and may even hoard things they don’t need – and are less willing to work for and share with others.

Very often, they fight not only for their survival but also to be the winner without due consideration for people and the environment.

With a scarcity mindset, they unconsciously limit themselves to what they can create in their mind, do with their lives, and achieve for themselves and for others.

Their inward-focus attitude becomes one of the roadblocks to creating wealth. On a bigger scale, it is one of the root causes for poverty, conflicts and wars.

Truth to be told, I am just as guilty as many others for falling into a scarcity mindset trap in the past. It has sabotaged me from becoming the best I can be and achieving true wealth.

I have learned if I want to be successful, I must help others to be successful. When I help them to become wealthy, they will help me to be wealthy too.

An Abundance Mindset

Beyond having an abundance mindset, I should also have an abundance heartset. I need to appreciate and be grateful for the abundance around me.

There are so much beauty and wonder – if only I attune myself to being conscious of and enjoying them. I should be happy and have lots of fun.

There is an abundance of resources to also help me achieve my dream in life. In short, I can be wealthy.

Because our Creator has provided me a world of abundance, I can reach out to share with and bless other lives. I do not see people as competitors but as partners to develop win-win relationships and results.

This win-win principle is based on the Golden Rule: Do to others what you want others to do to you – even before they do it.

To have an abundance mindset means they must win before I can win. I should focus on the quality of my contribution and not on the quantity of compensation and consumption.

I must be mindful I will not despise, be jealous of, or talk negatively about people who are successful and wealthy. When I do that, I will indirectly reject success and wealth and repel myself from achieving the best results.

In fact, I should find out more about great people, especially those who contribute generously to society. There is no end to how much I can learn from and model after them.

I must live a life of infinite possibilities because that’s what our Creator has given to me to achieve great wealth. To prevent myself from any self-imposed limitation, I must continue to pursue better ideas, innovations and actions to live at a higher plane of life.

Last but not least, I should set out to promote the value of having an abundance mindset. The more I do that, the healthier my mindset will become.

I will attract an abundance of wealth and all the good virtues of life so that I can use them to bless other. The cycle will then continue.

 

 

 

 

Definition

Wealth                                 Wealth refers to the condition of well-being. It includes my physical, emotional, social and environmental well-being

Wealthy                               Having the resources to help others and myself live a meaningful, exciting and fulfilling life in a healthy environment

Asset                                     Anything that grows wealth

Liability                                 Anything that decreases wealth

Rich                                        Having the money and material possessions to achieve the same aspiration for being wealthy

Money                                 Money is the instrument to facilitate transaction of products and services. It is a measurement of the results of a Wealth Plan

Wealth Plan                        An effective and an ever-improving blueprint to create wealth