Have you listened to some of the money advice from some of the financial gurus out there? There is a lot of money advice being put forth from a growing number of financial teachers, writers, “gurus”, etc. about everything from stocks and bonds, to frugality, green investing, couponing, and any number of niches.
It’s everywhere.
When you're exposed to this constant barrage of financial information that comes streaming forth every day, it’s easy to start noticing a common theme that’s put forth on a regular basis from many of these sources.
That theme is the theme of scarcity.
Is Scarcity The Only Way?
So many money experts, especially during times of economic upheaval, recession, and job loss, communicate from the perspective of cutting back on expenses such as eating out, cable TV, coffee drinks, and designer clothes.
That CAN be a good place to start if you’re struggling financially and something you definitely should do if you’re spending too much on those things, not being able to make ends meet. Even the Bible says you should use your money wisely and take close account of it so it’s not wasted.
But is cutting back and scarcity the only way?
I don’t think so.
You Can Only Cut Expenses So Much
Cutting waste out of your budget will help your financial situation when there is a lot of waste going on, but it can only help to a limited degree.
It is very wise to get rid of those things that add little or no value to your life, those things that cause more burden than they do joy. You know what they are in your life, and they’re different for everybody.
But when you do too much of that, you begin to limit yourself. You’re limited because you can only cut so much, and when you get to that point where you’ve cut so much that it saps the joy out of becoming debt free, then the cost cutting ends up becoming more of a burden than a help.
That kind of cost cutting is psychologically unsustainable over the long term and can cause you to fail at your goal of becoming debt free.
This mindset that says the only way you can succeed financially is by cutting back is what I call a mindset of scarcity.
The Scarcity Mindset
When you have a scarcity mindset, you acknowledge that you believe that there are only so many resources available to you, so you have to trudge along, doing what you can with what you have, believing you can save your way to wealth through cutting coupons and eating ramen noodles.
Don’t get me wrong, managing your finances well, minimizing waste, and saving are all good things, and are essential to being financially successful, but they work so much better when paired with the right mindset.
When you live with a scarcity mindset, you’re taking a defensive posture financially. You’re doing what you can to preserve and protect what you have, and maybe even increase it a little, because now you’re saving money you once wasted. But there is more, so much more out there for us that God wants us to have because He wants us to prosper in a huge way.
He doesn’t want you to have a scarcity mindset.
He wants more abundance for you than you can imagine, but imagine it you must if you want to participate in it.
In my next post I’ll talk about the mindset of abundance and why it makes such a difference to your financial situation to those that really “get it”.
Resources:
How Do You Get Out of Debt? (Part 1)- Get Mad and Naked
Creating a Get Out of Debt Mindset
Loved this post!
The scarcity mindset wears many disguises. It sounds like “I can’t afford to…”, “I don’t have time to….”, “I’m not as smart as”, or “We didn’t have things handed to us.”
When I stopped using that language and asserting that I do have money for the things that are important to me, I do have time for the people and experiences that are important to me–scarcity went away and fulfillment became my reality.
I’m am a realist–life happens and sometimes the statements are true. But if you think you can’t–try proving that you can. Give up the things that bring no joy, no peace and no comfort to you and put your treasure where your heart is.
It’s so true. You can choose to be a glass-is-half-empty kind of person, or be the opposite. When you understand that the world and God who created it are all about abundance, it’s life changing. You just have to choose to think and live in an abundant way, no matter what’s going on around you.