That One Amazing Opportunity…..

This is the only position that’s going to open up in my company, I have to get it. If I don’t – that’s it. The opportunity is gone forever and there will never be another one like it. If my friend gets it, it’s at my expense. Ugh. This is what a scarcity mindset sounds like, let’s try on an abundance mindset for a moment.

A position opened up in my company. I really want that position, I’m going to work as hard as I can to get it. If I don’t, there are other opportunities out there. Maybe not in this company, but maybe it will be at this company. If my friend gets it, I’ll be happy for him. Regardless, I’ll find something that works for me.

Life Is Not Zero-Sum

Notice the difference? That’s how an abundance mindset differs from a scarcity one. When we work to develop an abundance mindset, we realize there are lots of opportunities in the world and life is not a zero-sum game. If someone else gets something, it doesn’t have to be at our expense. If we miss one opportunity, yes that exact opportunity may be gone, but others will come up.

Getting Over Setbacks More Quickly

So why should we work to develop an abundance mindset? In terms of happiness, it makes negative feelings occur less frequently with faster resolutions. When opportunities don’t turn out the way we want, we’re less likely to ruminate. Your date didn’t go well? Not a big deal – there’s billions of people on the planet. Plenty of other opportunities.

Another business took the sale you were trying to make? A little frustrating, but there’s tons of potential customers you can pitch. They just made the better pitch that day. You don’t need to hold it against them because there are other options out there. The deeper in an abundance mindset you get, the faster you look for the next opportunity.

How Do We Develop An Abundance Mindset?

Let’s go over a few ideas for developing an abundance mindset. The next time an opportunity comes your way, try thinking about it in terms of the whole ecosystem of opportunities. Wow, there’s a job opening in my company. Now we’ll expand it. If that exists, there must be lots of job opportunities in lots of great companies. It’s that simple. The more you practice, the more ingrained it will be as a habit.

Maybe that’s a bit too vague for you. If you want to get more practical, you can actively start looking for opportunities of a similar type. There’s a job opening in my company? Let’s start looking to see what other jobs are out there. This can show you the vast amount of opportunity available in the world. Careful not to spend too much time on this though, as you may distract yourself from the initial opportunity you were chasing!

Another strategy you can use is to brainstorm what you’ll do as an alternative. If there’s a job coming up, what will you do if you don’t get the job. Of course you don’t want to ruminate on this, but having a backup plan will ensure you’re not completely destroyed if it doesn’t work out. You’ll have alternatives to fall back on.

Look At The Big Picture

An abundance mindset isn’t meant to trick you into trying less, it’s about getting less upset when things don’t go your way. For certain issues, there may really only be one opportunity. An abundance mindset isn’t about specific opportunities, it’s about realizing how big the world is and how much we can impact it. There will always be more out there, it just may not be the exact opportunity you first encountered.

If you can divorce yourself from individual opportunities, you’ll be far happier in the long run. You’ll identify and act on those things which you can truly influence, while letting the past be what it is. That will lead to a greater feeling of control and more attempts at success. The more you try, the more things seem to fall in place.

Exercise:

1. Think of an upcoming opportunity, now think of other opportunities of the same type. How many can you come up with?

2. Brainstorm some ways you can search for additional opportunities if yours doesn’t pan out – ex. Let’s say you want a certain job, how can you find other jobs similar to it that will also be good opportunities?