505 | The Psychology of a Scarcity-Mentality

Chris LoCurto 0:00
On today's episode, discovering the truth about limiting mindsets, especially where your time and pocketbook are concerned, that is coming up next.

Welcome to the Chris LoCurto show where we discuss leadership and life and discover that business is what you do, not who you are. Welcome to the show, folks, I hope you're having a fabulous day, wherever you are, hey, we've all had that friend who's too busy, they they can't meet, they can't go out they can't afford to. I know our listeners are rarely in that position. But we probably all got someone close to us who who is or who tends to be in that position, there's just never enough time, there's never enough money, they're always under the gun. And they're stressed out about it. Now, you might know the type. And maybe that's you yourself, maybe you've recognised that that can be you, you know that the bills are piling up, the tasks are overwhelming, you feel like you're, you're just getting by you feel like you're living paycheck to paycheck, or maybe you are living paycheck to paycheck, and then the appointments are too many to keep. It's like you're living in your own personal Crazy Cycle. Now, that's something we talk a lot about on the business side of things. But what about over on the personal side, maybe we just need some, some time management, maybe we just need some budgeting courses, obviously, it couldn't hurt. And I can tell you that I've seen firsthand how much money management courses like Financial Peace University can change lives. So if you've never checked out Dave Ramsey, I would highly suggest that you go do that. But today, I want to dig into something a little bit deeper, in order to discover what's underneath at all, we're gonna get to a particular lie that we can sometimes get fooled by no matter how many courses we've been through. And it's called a scarcity mentality, or it's called scarcity mindset. Now, this is a root system kind of issue, right or a root issue, I should say it that way for those who haven't been through next level, which goes deeper than the surface issues like money or like time, it's how we think about our allotment of time and money that can make us or break us. So that is what we're going to be talking about today, when we come back discovering what's behind your own personal Crazy Cycle, to find the serenity in the joy that's been eluding.

Speaker 2 2:42
Freedom, it's so powerful, I felt rejuvenated, almost renewed, I just felt so welcomed and loved and accepted for who I am, and not an ounce of judgement. So I was very comfortable there that had a really big impact on me, that's going to be worth it. It's going to be hard. But it's going to be even better. On the other side. For me, it was just, it was just very refreshing. And I'm gonna say lifegiving. For me, it really was, you know, I would go to the next level life again, and probably again, and probably again, because it's so powerful.

Chris LoCurto 3:17
If you want to experience the same kind of life transformation, this same kind of self awareness and freedom that they have. Or maybe you're just curious what the process would look like for you, then head on over to Chris liccardo.com/next level life.

So what is scarcity? Well, first of all, it isn't necessarily a bad thing, right? Think about it. Why is gold valuable? Because of the rarity because the scarcity, right? Scarcity is just an indicator, a quantity a measure, but we tend to set our value by it, right? The funny thing is, and sometimes, you know, things like diamonds are actually not scarce, but yet it appears as though they are and so it has a high value, right? So that's actually a scarcity mindset, there's not actually a lack of gold or a lack of diamonds, believe it or not, I'm not actually sure how much gold there is. But there tends to appear to be a limited amount of it, right? So we've got all the same allotment of time as anyone else. And no one has a monopoly on time. There's just 24 hours in a day, there's just seven days a week and so on and so on. Right? It's limited. It's fixed. It's, it's finite. But then again, it's also recurring. In the long run we've got roughly 75 years on this planet dependent upon you know, when God wants to take you right depending upon if you just look at the the averages more or less depending upon which stat you fall under right, more or less depending upon choices that you make in life, but if you live a relatively healthy life, then 75 years is about the Average thing is, is that we're on this earth for a limited time. And we need to understand and spend some time thinking about our mortality. ancient wisdom says memento mori which means which is Latin which means remember that you will die. Why is that important? Now the psalmist says, are the psalmist prayed in Psalm 90, teach us to number our days that we make, cultivate and bring to you. A heart that's full of and endowed with wisdom will teach us to number our days that we may cultivate a heart that's full of wisdom. We're actually supposed to learn something from the fact that our days are numbered. Our creator wants us to understand how scarce time is. He wants us to profit from it. Psalm 103 says, The Lord is like a father to his children tender and compassionate to those who fear Him. For He knows how weak we are, he remembers that we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass, like wildflowers, we bloom and die, the wind blows, and we are gone as though we had never been here. But the love of the Lord remains for ever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children's children of those who are faithful to his covenant. Underline that part right there. Of those who obey his commandments.

Underline the power there. The Lord remembers that we are just dust. It's like it puts things into perspective for him. Not to look at it from an interesting perspective, the CEO of Google Sundar Pichai, I believe I may have just jacked that up. I'm pretty sure he's not listening, puts it like this. scarcity breeds clarity. Why is that important to understand from him? Well, Sundar is an Indian American who was born in a small town in South India. He knows what scarcity looks like, he also knows how to take advantage of it. He said, It breeds clarity. He goes on to say hard times force us to make decisions about what really matters. And what about money, you've likely got a job or own a business or have some kind of income. What you do with that income is up to you, you make choices, whether good or bad. Again, it's in limited, not unlimited quantity. And like time, it's fluid and needs to be stewarded. So shifting perspective here, a scarcity mindset is one, you're so obsessed with the lack of something, usually time or money, that you can't focus on anything else, no matter how hard you try. And over time, that deficit starts to grow in your mind. And maybe also in reality. That's what we're talking about today. Right? When we look at the perspective of somebody like you know, Sundar, I hope I'm saying that correctly.

It's an amazing perspective to look at scarcity when somebody comes from scarcity breeds clarity. You don't need a lot, you can survive without a lot. You can you know, scarcity, believe it or not, somewhat gives you options when you're trying to hold on to everything you got. It kind of removes options when you put yourself so heavily in debt, that you can't do anything but focus on paying off the debt. It absolutely robs you of your options, right. Debt robs you of options. Just think about that for five seconds, and you'll get there. But what happens when we become obsessed with a lack of something? Oh, over time, not only does it grow, in our minds as truth, but in reality, it actually may become truth as well. We may be creating that it may be a self fulfilling prophecy. Now before we look at the scarcity mindset on a few different levels, I have a question for you, what's holding you and your team back from going to the next level this year? The fact is, the more effective you become as a leader, the more effective your team becomes, which means the more your business will grow with less stress. If you're ready to take a huge leap forward in your leadership capability, then you absolutely need to check out our next level leadership live event coming up this April. Registration is open and seats are selling out. So don't put this off. The keynote lessons are geared to equip you to build high performing teams cultivate excellence in every corner of the business and grow your revenues. We'll teach you six truly transformative lessons. During this event, and you won't want to miss them, Sign up today at Chris a crypto.com/events. And get ready for growth. Once again, go to Chrislocurto.com/events to take your business to the next level. Okay, let's get back to where a scarcity mentality might be cropping up.

What's on the backside of that ad, don't have a scarcity mentality, and hold yourself back from growing and getting good information, get your butt to the event. Now let's start on the personal level that we should be able to relate to personally. Personally, people can be said to have a scarcity mentality when they see only the lack or deficit. That's when people consider obstacles to be bigger than rewards. This is a trained behaviour. It's rooted in, in fear anxiety in the the thing is, is that it has to be unlearned. It requires a focus shift, right. So let's take a look at number 13, where Moses sent out the 12 spies. So the Lord said to Moses send men to explore Canaan, which I'm giving to the Israelites send one leader from each of their ancestors tribes. The text then names the spies, but mentioned something interesting about one of them. Moses pauses After naming all the spies, and which houses they came from, he pauses to mention that he changed the name of one of them in verse 16. These are the names of the men, Moses sent to explore the land. But Moses gave her Shaya son of noon, the name, Joshua, Moses changes her Shaya or Hosea, which is a cry for help of, oh, save us to Joshua, which is a declaration you'd shave off a is our salvation you have as our salvation. Moses uses the opportunity to remind the Israelites of what happened in their past. Just as they were about to leave Egypt and cross over the Red Sea. Moses told Israel Fear not. He says, Stand still and see the salvation of Jehovah of God, that he will work for you today. Their mission was to go through the Negev, which is the desert and then the mountain region. See what the land is like? And whether the people living there are strong or weak. Few are many. Is this land they live in good or bad? Do their cities have walls around them or not? Is the soil rich or poor? Does the land have trees or not? Do your best to bring back some fruit from the land it was the season one grapes were beginning to to ripen? Well, we know how it turns out. The 12 spies enter the promised land in 10 of them come back with fear and dread in a full panic. They said they can't take the land they reported we went to the land you sent us. It is really a land flowing with milk and honey. Here's some of its fruit.
But the people who live there are strong. And the cities have walls and are very large. We even saw the descendants of a knock which would be giants. There we felt as small as grasshoppers. And that's how we must have looked to them. Now notice the perspective. It's all turned around their mission wasn't to compare, but to assess and report. This is one way that scarcity mentality sneaks in. It's a it's a faulty focus. Now Joshua and Caleb, however, told the people to be quiet and listen to those who had explored the land, Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes in despair. They said to the whole community of Israel, the land we explored is very good. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us. This is a land flowing with milk and honey. Don't rebel against the Lord. And don't be afraid of the people of the land. We will devour them like bread, they have no protection. The Lord is with us. So don't be afraid of them. It's a complete change. Right? That's, that's more of what was asked of them. That was more of the mission to report on the land and assess right. Now obviously they did come in and say don't be afraid we got this the God of of Israel has got this right. Now, before we go any further, I want to go back to the first report. And I want to ask you a question. Where do you find this kind of persistent negative self talk in your life? Things like I can't, I don't have I won't be able to I'm not enough. I'll never be it's too tough. There's not enough. There's too much competition. They won't accept me. Where do you find those types of negative self talk in your life? Let me ask you a few self assessment questions if you will. Well, where are you talking yourself out of taking a positive step forward in your life? Where are you focusing on your your problems or obstacles more than the rewards? Where are you comparing yourself to others instead of assessing the situation? These are questions we all need to be asking ourselves, right? So why don't we come back where else you might be experiencing scarcity mentality and how to be good.
Folks, if you've been listening to me for any length of time, then you know, the number one issue when it comes to business, when it comes to family, when it comes to friendships, is having a lack of high quality communication, to make sure that you are absolutely winning in every aspect of your life, it all starts with having great communication, the best way to get that communication is to understand your personality style, and to understand the personality style of the folks that you're spending the most time with, whether it be at work, whether it be at home, the best way to do that is to go to Chris accredo.com/store, and get your personality profile and personality profiles for your team to date. Get it for your family members. Today, as you go through that profile, you will begin to see the greatest ways to communicate go to chrysocolla.com/store today. Alright, a few other areas of life where you may be cultivating scarcity mindset. Let's start with the big one. In business, it's when leaders focus on their team's problems rather than their potential, you know, maybe it's the lack of personnel in general, right, or, or their defects or their lack of training, right? This is an area that a lot of leaders can spend time focusing on and really create or already have that scarcity mindset, we talk a lot more about this, and in a couple of episodes, making other successful which was episode 504, or where leaders spend their time episode 272. These are these are things we dive deep into on those, if that's an area that you feel like you're struggling with, or you just want to learn more about. It's also when teams are allowed to spread gossip to create rumours or cultivate negativity. Right?

So go back and check out episode 221 How Great Leaders deal with gossip, conflict and accountability on their teams. These are areas that we may be cultivating a scarcity mindset, that we may be creating this in our own culture, right. And these are things that we have to shut down. Because if we're doing it and we're creating that culture, then it doesn't take long before people start following it. It doesn't take long before people start doing it. Right? So things that we need to think about, what about at home, it's one, you know, parents create a culture of scarcity by their negative talk, right? It's like focusing on the downside, or keeping up with the Joneses or look at what they don't have, you know, the kids are never good enough or their spouse is never doing stuff, right? It's not hard to see that many times at home, because of the negative talk or negative self talk or, you know, negative culture that we're creating in our own homes, that we're creating a scarcity mindset in our own family. What about in relationships, it can be setting your standards too high so that no one makes the cut. So you don't open yourself up. So you can't be vulnerable and, and you tend to not be relatable, right? Like a Seinfeld character with a list of serial relationships, who's never made the cut, right? Scarcity creates a belief that only a certain type of person is right for you. But when you find this person, you're always wondering if the grass is greener on the other side, you always find something wrong with them.

You've got to watch out for this flaw in your own thinking. So let's go back to the story about Israel looking into the land that was promised to them. Israel had just come out of hundreds of years of programming as slaves, right? They still had a slave mentality, a mindset that was built around lies lies about their identity, which God had already reset for them, right? They had all these lies around their limitations and their victimhood. God was trying to get their eyes on him. They were just learning to listen to interest in invisible God. Which obviously sounds pretty difficult, right? For those of us that listen to and trust in the invisible God that we've not seen tangibly yet. That's a difficult thing to do. But that's what he was trying to get them to do. Trust me, look at what I'm doing in your life. Trust that I am the guy Out of abundance. I'm not teaching a prosperity gospel here, and I'm talking about he is the king of the universe, he owns it all. He is absolutely a God of abundance and provision, right not giving you anything you want, but definitely taking care of the things he knows you need. So here's my question for you. Where does your wrong programming come from? We all have it by the way. Some people can find it in like core events in their life, you know, maybe there was a loss or some grief or some trauma in there. A lot of times going through a divorce or losing a loved one, or maybe big things, those are all big. But maybe something big, like a bankruptcy, really not your round, right? Or even something I shouldn't say so simple. But even something like maybe getting fired. Right? Sometimes there's situations that happen in life, that create a scarcity mindset. And the problem is that we tend to ruminate on the negative aspects of that core impact. Right? The problem is that focusing on something creates more of that very thing that produces kind of tunnel vision and creates even more problems. Think about if you've ever bought a car, either new or used, what happens as soon as you take your first drive, everyone and their mother has the same car, and they're driving around in it right? How was that possibly happened? Right? You see this car, you want this car, you've not recognised it on the road. And yet, once you buy it now, it seems like everybody has one. It's amazing how something so small and so simple. can create a mindset for us if we're not careful. So were you part of a freak boom and purchasing the same exact car on the same day? Hardly? I don't think so. Obviously not. You were just suddenly more aware of it than you were before you bought it. Nothing changed externally. But something certainly changed inside of you.

That same thing happens when we look at the mindset of either abundance, or scarcity. We become and obviously produce more of what we're focused on. So whatever we're focused on, whatever it is, that thing that we do over and over again, is the thing that we allow to live in our minds that the negative self talk that we keep saying to ourselves, the the lies that we keep living or telling ourselves it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, we eventually become that that's the scary thing. How many times do we not recognise that? That we're actually becoming the very positive or negative thoughts that we have in our mind? Now I'm, I'm no positive thinking guru. But I am very concerned about how negative thought patterns are keeping people bound. We talk a lot about this in next level life, right? The lies the negative self talk, it's very destructive thinking. And that's what it is destructive. Right? What about an abundance mindset? What if I don't want to have that kind of mindset? What if I, I need to get past all of that? I hear you talk about this abundant mindset. But what does that even mean? Let me leave you with three steps you can take to start turning your scarcity thoughts around. Number one is total acceptance of your present circumstances. You have got to start owning and taking responsibility for where you are. Now listen, if as I said that you went directly into victim mentality that needs to be a huge warning sign. If that's exactly where you oh, gosh, I'm not responsible for our gosh, I didn't have any choices. Listen, if that's where you went immediately, you have a bigger issue. It's victim mentality. And that's something we need to get out of. That's something we need to work hard to stop, right. You need to take ownership of decisions that you've made. Have people hurt you have people affected you? Of course. But how much stuff have you received that you didn't need to?

How much stuff have you allowed that you didn't need to write? These are the things we need to take responsibility for. If you're in a situation and you're heavily in debt, that's nobody else's fault. You don't understand, Chris. I know that's, I hear it all the time. I hear it all the time. I've been in so many bad situations and desperate situations and have learned to get out of That's by seeking wisdom and gaining wisdom and all that kind of stuff. But I never understand this specific situation as somebody who's done the same thing. You don't understand, Chris, I didn't have a choice, but to go heavily in debt on whatever, fill in the blank. Yeah, you did. You absolutely did. And you always have choices. And let's go back to Sundar, right? He's the CEO of Google. Pretty sure he probably came from a more desperate position than most people listening. Now, believe it or not, we actually have a lot of listeners in India. Glad you guys are listening to us. Some you might be in one of those situations. Now, here's somebody who came out of this, and is actually the CEO of Google. Why? Because he didn't look at his current situation as a victim. He looked at it as an opportunity, it bred clarity for him. It helped him to see opportunities, options, ways out things that he can do. But so so so many times and by the way, let me say you've heard me say this in past episodes, victim mentality is Vogue. In our culture, people want to be victims, people are celebrated as victims. It's disgusting, and ridiculous, and unnecessary. Right? So the thing you need to think about is that if you immediately go to victim mentality, that's a big massive part of what you're experiencing, what's holding you back, take ownership of where you are, take responsibility for where you are, and ask yourself this question, what am I going to do about it?

What am I going to change? How am I going to change it? What options do I have in front of me, let's start moving in the direction of I may be here right now, but I don't have to stay here, I can change this, I can do something different. Number two, and this is huge. You have to have are, let me just say I highly suggest that you have a heart that is full of gratitude, even even for the small things in your life. And saying thank you to God and others. Daily, is vitally important to an abundance mindset. When you are able to be grateful for what's going on, for what's happening, even if it's something small. You will be amazed how much it changes your mindset. Now, let me hit you with something difficult. When you're able to be grateful for the difficulties that God allows you to go through, because he's growing you. You'll be amazed at how much it changes your mindset. Think about it. We struggle when we look at difficult times and painful situations, to see them is good things. We struggle to look at God allowing us to go through painful stuff and stressful stuff. As a good thing. We don't see it as very positive in our life. We look at it as something we want to get out of as fast as we possibly can. In my younger days, I used to pray that God will get me out of stuff fast. But praise God through time and wisdom that he has given me. I don't pray that he gets me out fast. I pray that I learned what he's trying to teach me fast. If you want to get out of your situation fast, how about focusing on what he's trying to teach you? What he's trying to help you to understand and how he's trying to grow you focus on that. You'll get out of your situation a heck of a lot faster. You've got to be grateful

I loved hearing her Dennis Prager say this one time that it is profound, or a very important piece of scripture that when in Egypt, one after Joseph had died that a new emperor, a new emperor, not Rome, that a new Pharaoh had rose up and he did not remember Joseph, he didn't know the things of Joseph, and in the Jewish life. That is a important verse. That's one of like, a top verse for them. What they see what the new pharaoh which also explains a lot about what happens afterwards. Is this lack of gratitude for what Joseph did. If it wasn't for Joseph, right and God speaking to and through Joseph and explaining things, then that whole country would have been gone. decimated but because of elsif they were able to make it through the seven years of famine. So, things to think about. Gratitude is incredibly important, even in the bad stuff. Thank God for all the bad times that you've gone through. Because it's making you who you are. And usually, if we don't live in victim mentality, going through difficult times and stressful times, for the person who's willing to do something with it helps us to become better people, stronger and more capable people. Right. Number three, this is a tough one. It's a zero tolerance for complaining and negativity. I know, I know. Here's the funny thing. Many people just heard me say that and go Yes, exactly. Back it up. Ask yourself, how much do you complain? What's your tolerance for complaining and negativity? Right? What if we decided that there's an out and out refusal to play any kind of victim mentality whatsoever? No complaining, no victim mentality. It's funny, there's times i, I can be around somebody. And listen, I have complained my whole life. There's plenty of complaints I've had in my life.

So you're not hearing me say that? I don't. But there are certain people who allow so much negativity in their life that all they do is complain. And there's times that I've asked myself, What would you do if you didn't have anything to complain about? You know, thinking of a person who's just nonstop complaining? What would you do if you didn't have anything to complain about? What would you focus on? Right? Would you focus on good quality things, positive things? Or would you just be bored to death or, you know, feel like you didn't have any purpose. So here's the deal. If you want an abundance mindset, if you desire to think in an abundant way, if you desire to create self fulfilling prophecies in your life in abundance manner, once again, this is not a prosperity gospel. So hear me on that. Then you need to own your stuff, own your situation, take responsibility for where you are, you need to have a heart that's full of gratitude. Be grateful every day when you wake up in the morning, think of 10 things, crud, think of three things that you're grateful for, write them down. But if you can do 10, do 10. Be grateful, and choose today, to have no tolerance for complaining and negativity. When it creeps up crops up, or it's happening around you. Remove yourself, do something, I'm not telling you to go tell people to shut up and all that kind of stuff. I'm saying remove yourself from the crap. Get away from it. If you will do these things. Then you will start to see the abundance that's all around you. And it is it's all around you. The opportunities are all around you. Well, folks, that's all the time that we have for today. Again, I hope this information was helpful to you. I really hope you do what we say at the end of every one of the show's take this information, change your leadership, change your business, change your life. And join us on the next episode.