Scarcity vs Abundance Mindset: Do the Test to Discover Your Level

Shifting from a scarcity to an abundance mindset is essential to unlocking your full potential and creating your best life.

Our mental attitude is the greatest roadblock to our success.

While the scarcity mindset keeps you pessimistic and defensive, tapping into the law of abundance empowers you to face your fears, take calculated risks, and pursue your dreams.

In this article, I’ll challenge you to test and find out how much you lean towards the scarcity and abundance mindset. 

And if you’re unsatisfied with the results, I’ll provide tips so that you can cultivate an attitude of abundance. 

So, let’s dive in!

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Scarcity vs Abundance mindset

The scarcity mindset perceives the world in its limitations and believes there aren’t enough resources for everyone. 

Key characteristics include:

• Primary focus on external validation and success.
• Seeking short-term results and instant gratification.
• Having a pessimistic and limited outlook on life.
• Being competitive, selfish, possessive, and protective.
• And often experiencing stress, fear, and anxiety.

What if you switch to an abundant mindset?

The abundance mindset believes there are plenty of resources and opportunities for everyone. 

Key characteristics of the abundant mindset include:

• Primary focus on personal fulfillment.
• Embracing long-term growth and delayed gratification.
• Having an optimistic and opportunistic outlook on life.
• Being collaborative, generous, open-minded, and supportive.
• And often experiencing inner peace, trust, and joy.

Cultivating an abundance mindset means prioritizing inner qualities over external validation. 

You recognize that success equals personal growth, fulfillment, and impact – not just a number in your bank account. 

Test the abundance level of your mindset

Below you’ll find the key differences between an abundant and scarcity mindset. And you can simply glance over these ideas… 

Or you can challenge yourself and do the test.

Sure, it can be a little confronting and uncomfortable. But it’s good to know that almost no one lives 100% in abundance. 

For example, I scored 77.5% in the abundance mindset. 

What about you? 

Be brutally honest with yourself for this exercise.

For each row in the table below, identify if you lean towards a scarcity or abundance mindset. For example, if you identify as proactive in the first row, give yourself 1 point in the abundance mindset.

If you’re unsure or sit somewhere in the middle, give ½ point to each side.

Finally, count your total points for each mindset and multiply them by 5 to get your percentage score.

Scarcity Mindset	Abundance Mindset
Passive attitude	Proactive attitude
Fear of failure	Embracing failure
Resources are limited	Resources are plentiful
Pessimistic outlook	Positive outlook
Fixed mindset	Growth mindset
Seeks external validation	Seeks personal fulfillment
Obstacles are roadblocks	Obstacles are opportunities
Narrow perspective	Openness to different ideas
Need for certainty	Acceptance of uncertainty
Fearful and anxious	Joyful and optimistic
Resentful	Forgiving
Unappreciative	Grateful
Self-sabotage	Self-confidence
Problem-oriented	Solution-oriented
Controlling of others	Trusting of others
Micromanaging	Delegating
Dependent	Independent
Hoarding	Sharing
Competition and comparison	Collaboration and cooperation
Surface-level connections	Deep connections

Here’s my outcome: I scored 4.5 points in the scarcity mindset and 15.5 points in the opposite. That means I lean 15.5 * 5 = 77.5% towards the abundance mindset.

Although it’s better than five years ago, there’s still plenty of room for me to improve!

How to shift your mindset from scarcity to abundance?

Fortunately, developing an abundance mindset isn’t difficult. But the challenge lies in consistent effort and deliberate practice.

Below, we’ll discuss some tips for cultivating this mindset.

And since they’re related, you’ll easily enjoy more abundance if you take action on a few of them. And as a result, you’ll enjoy greater opportunities, deeper relationships, and more personal fulfillment.

#1: Give more than you receive

This first tip is practical.

Aim to give [much] more than you receive.

The idea is to shift away from a scarcity mindset that only thinks “I should do X to get Y” or worse, “I deserve X because I did Y”.

And instead, think from an abundant perspective: “I will do X because it adds more value (and I do not expect X in return)”.

Do you note the difference?

When you expect something in return, you’re not providing genuine value. Instead, you’re merely making a transaction that comes from a place of scarcity.

The benefit of providing value without expectation? 

• More success in your career and business;
• Better relationships and deeper connections;
• Making a more significant impact faster;
• Feeling more fulfilled and satisfied.

You see, it’s a paradox.

The more value you provide without expectation, the more you’ll receive in return. 

Perhaps not in ways you expect it to. But having that expectation in the first place ruins the genuinity of this process.

In other words, always aim to deliver more value than you receive.

#2: Focus on learning, not results

People who’re obsessed with results often struggle to achieve them.

And the reason is simple.

Outcome-related objectives make you focus on short-term tactics. 

For example, if you want to become a millionaire within three years, you might hop on shiny objects like dropshipping one day and crypto the next.

As a result, you never get good enough at anything.

And it’s skills that deliver the results.

Building a great skill set requires you to focus on the process first. 

So, prioritize experimentation and growth before results.

For example, I ditched my finance career path to start from the bottom in a marketing agency and took at least a 50% cut in my salary. 

But I prioritized growth and learning a more enjoyable skill set that I could also turn into a freelancing career. And while agencies pay mediocre, they enable rapid growth because you work with different clients on various challenges.

That’s why I felt competent to start freelancing after only 3 years of agency work. Plus, I had a small reputation since many businesses look for those with agency experience.

The moral of this story?

Prioritize learning over money, especially if you’re early in your career.

#3: Be proactive, not reactive

The scarcity mindset waits for stuff to happen and always reacts to the present moments. As a result, you never feel in control of your life.

For example, the reactive mind:

• Waits for career opportunities, and when they arise, they experience anxiety and use short-term tactics to secure that spot.
• Experiences frustration and blames external circumstances when setbacks occur – and are then likely to give up on their goals.
• Experiences overwhelm at social and networking events, especially when others seem to connect easily.

Being abundance goes hand in hand with the proactive mindset:

• Seeks to provide value in their careers, regardless of any available opportunities. Their proactive attitude prepares them for when they come along, or better yet, they create their own.
• Setbacks are opportunities for the proactive person to learn and grow. So, they love challenges and embrace adversity to take their career or life to the next level.
• The proactive mindset seeks to connect and add value to everyone in social settings. They’re most joyful when everyone gets along well.

Being proactive and adding value go hand in hand.

The problem?

Most people avoid proactive action because they fear failure. After all, a proactive attitude requires you to be bold and take some risks.

#4: See the opportunity in adversity

Difficult times are never fun – but always useful.

Your most challenging times are often the greatest catalysts for personal growth. 

It forces you to act and think differently than usual.

With an abundance mindset, you’re able to extract positive lessons from challenging situations. Or at least see the good in the bad.

A shared lesson that adversity always teaches is resilience. But also consider these specific examples:

• Losing your job ➜ Teaches you to navigate uncertainty and provides an opportunity to reassess your career.
• Financial difficulties ➜ Teaches you to become resourceful and provides an opportunity to evaluate your financial habits.
• Though breakup ➜ Teaches you what values you admire in a partner and provides an opportunity to rediscover yourself.
• Losing someone ➜ Teaches you the preciousness and limited nature of life. And it provides an opportunity to reflect deeply on your relationships.
• Economic recession ➜ Teaches you to manage your financial resources better. And most radical innovation occurs during recessions, providing opportunities to advance your career or start your own business.

You might wonder if you can’t learn these lessons without adversity. And although you can, people rarely seek the essential discomfort that comes with this learning curve.

Adversity forces you to learn and grow.

So, embrace times of change as opportunities to get ahead. 

Difficulty will happen anyway, so it’s better to come from a place of abundance and make the best of this opportunity to become stronger.

#5: Become curious about the possibilities

Fear is a characteristic of the scarcity mindset, whereas curiosity is the attribute of an abundant one. 

Curiosity means you don’t assume you know it all and open yourself to explore possibilities, new perspectives, and opposing ideas.

Here’s how curiosity helps to foster an abundance mindset:

• Expanding your perspective: Curiosity is the attitude of exploring new ideas, experiences, and possibilities. It encourages you to question assumptions and seek different perspectives.
• Embracing growth: The curious mind seeks knowledge and wisdom, acquires new skills, and embraces continuous self-improvement.
• Embracing uncertainty: Curiosity helps you approach uncertainty with a sense of adventure rather than fear. It encourages you to get outside your comfort zone, take calculated risks, and embrace new experiences.
• Seeking and seizing opportunities: A curious mindset motivates you to seek opportunities rather than waiting.
• Cultivating gratitude: Finally, curiosity fosters a sense of wonder for the world around you. It helps you notice and appreciate small joys, successes, and blessings.

Curiosity empowers the shift from a scarcity to an abundance mindset, exponentially increases your wisdom, and fosters personal fulfillment.

#6: Engage and connect with uplifting people

Your peer group determines your mental state.

Don’t believe that?

Try to stay positive when you’re around pessimistic people. 

It takes effort and energy to stay optimistic when everyone else only focuses on negative events or sees the downside in everything.

Fortunately, the opposite is true too.

Surrounding yourself with uplifting folks helps you to get rid of the scarcity mindset.

So, how do you connect with such people?

Well, it’s no surprise that like attracts like. 

So you want to become what you seek to attract more of.

In other words, adopt the right social attitude:

• Proactive add value to others;
• Cheer others on and root for their success;
• Lavishly celebrate their wins and successes;
• Seek win-win opportunities, not win-lose. To explore this idea in detail, I recommend reading 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

With this social attitude, you’ll attract inspiring people. And once you connect, deepen those relationships by providing even more value.

Focus on building positive long-term relationships.

And it will allow you to tap into the law of reciprocity.

#7: Be thankful for what you’ve got

Gratitude shifts your mindset from scarcity to abundance.

Most people confuse gratitude with complacency. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive for more, stop trying to get better, or avoid setting goals – even if that means material stuff, like buying a Lamborghini.

Instead, gratitude is being grateful for the experience.

When you’re grateful for the journey and everything that comes along with that, it becomes much easier to stay optimistic about the future. 

It encourages you to live in the moment.

Appreciation also diminishes fear, anxiety and stress. It truly allows you to become your best self, regardless of the stage of your life.

Gratitude also helps you overcome challenges.

Reflecting on setbacks and appreciating the lessons you learn can fuel your motivation to keep moving forward. 

Gratitude will help you persist through difficult times.

What’s next?

When you shift from a scarcity to an abundance mindset, you’ll experience more joy and extract more value from your journey.

The paradox is that you’ll provide more value too.

After all, an essential component of the abundance mindset is to provide value without expecting anything in return. When you come from that place, the quality of your life will improve.

But you must take action.

Only action turns knowledge into wisdom. And it’s only through practice that you can cultivate a mindset of abundance.

If you did the test, you know where you’re at.

You’ll also understand that there are levels to this process.

So favorite this page, practice these tips to cultivate a more abundant mindset and do the test again in a month or so.

And let me know how much your life has improved.

More tips for living in abundance

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