Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is a Scarcity Mindset?Signs of a Scarcity MindsetHow a Scarcity Mindset May Affect YouCultivating an Abundance Mindset

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

What Is a Scarcity Mindset?

Signs of a Scarcity Mindset

How a Scarcity Mindset May Affect You

Cultivating an Abundance Mindset

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A pervasive feeling of not having enough—whether that be time, money, connection—is also known as a scarcity mindset. Having a scarcity mindset can be a self-fulfilling prophecybecause these beliefs make it difficult to move forward and may keep you stuck in scarcity.

It is necessary to acknowledge that scarcity is not just a mindset but a reality for many. If you struggle to meet your basic needs of affording food, housing, and paying your bills—it is not your fault and not as simple as a shift in mindset.

Growing up inpoverty—in true scarcity—is linked with behavioral and mental health issues,as being raised in scarcity literally changes your brain.

Adopting an abundance mindset won’t magically solve all of your problems, but it may help you see them in a different way that makes it easier to problem-solve or cope.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

It is important to note that some of the effects and feelings of a scarcity mindset may be similar to depression or other mental health issues—and scarcity can also lead to mental health issues.

Here are some signs you may have a scarcity mindset:

If living in a scarcity mindset is affecting your life functioning, you may want to talk to a mental health professional.

If you’ve ever made a hasty decision because you didn’t have time to think through its consequences, you have an idea of what it feels like to make decisions from a scarcity mindset, as time was scarce for you.

This is because our minds only have so much bandwidth at any given time. Constantly needing to think ahead of how to outsmart that drains bandwidth,leading to reduced cognitive ability—which can then lead toself-defeating actions.

Operating at this level of reduced brainpower can lead to actions that are ultimately self-defeating but feel (or may actually be!) out of your control. Some include:

In this drained state, your brain activity slows down in the prefrontal cortex(the area of the brain associated with decision making) much like a computer trying to run too many processes at once. The response time in decision-making is longer, and more stress and less confidence are experienced. Long-term planning becomes too taxing.

And scarcity on a larger scale can affect the mindset and decision-making, too. It is believed that after events like the 2008 financial crisis (and likely after the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying economic uncertainty), theability to make decisions quicklyhas collectively suffered.

What Is Maladaptive Behavior?

Acceptance

You can want to change where you are in life—and that is part of the growth mindset!—but in order to move forward, it helps toacceptit. By doing so, you stop using your precious limited resources to fight against accepting where you are now. In order to know where you are going, you must know where you started.

Self-Compassion

Whatever you have done up to this point in life has gotten you to where you are today—and you should be proud of yourself for making it through to today. Any habit or mindset you have now that you want to change had its reason or purpose at one time—survival. Give yourselfself-compassion.

Find That One Thing

Perhaps your finances are not abundant, but your time is—you have lots of free time. View that as an area of abundance in your life to be treasured. Or you do have financial abundance but your time is scarce because you work so much to earn that money. You can recognize that you wish you were able to spend more time with your family, but that your abundance is helping them.

Don’t have an abundance of time or money? Maybe you have an abundance of love—from a human or from a pet. No matter how small, there is likely at least one thing in your life you can see as abundant—even if it’s just that you took another breath today.

Define Abundance for Yourself

Abundance and an abundant mindset look different to everyone. What looks like abundance to you might look like scarcity to someone else, or vice versa. It’s hard to get yourself in the mindset of being abundant if you don’t know what you’re striving towards. How would it feel to be abundant? What would your life look like?

Start Small

Changing all your habits or ways of thinking at once—in any domain—can be a recipe in setting yourself up for unrealistic expectations. In what area do you feel like your scarcity mindset is holding you back in the most?

Begin with making small tweaks to your mindset there. Are you feeling like your time is scarce these days? Think of what you do enjoy that’s filling up your time–or what you might be able to add.

Mindfulness

Our brains understandably get wrapped up in the scarcity mindset. They are constantly processing what they need to do next to survive. This takes us out of the present. Taking some time to bemindful—whether that is through meditation or just paying attention to the current moment can slow our brains down so we can think more clearly.

Journaling

5 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Mani A, Mullainathan S, Shafir E, Zhao J.Poverty impedes cognitive function.Science. 2013;341(6149):976-980. doi:10.1126/science.1238041Akee RKQ, Copeland WE, Keeler G, Angold A, Costello EJ.Parents’ incomes and children’s outcomes: a quasi-experiment. American economic journal Applied economics. 2010;2(1):86. doi:10.1257/app.2.1.86Zhao J, Tomm BM.Psychological responses to scarcity. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. Oxford University Press; 2018. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.41Huijsmans I, Ma I, Micheli L, Civai C, Stallen M, G. Sanfey A.A scarcity mindset alters neural processing underlying consumer decision making.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. Published online May 23, 2019:201818572. doi:10.1073/pnas.1818572116Ng B.The neuroscience of growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. Brain Sciences. 2018;8(2):20. doi:10.3390/brainsci8020020

5 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Mani A, Mullainathan S, Shafir E, Zhao J.Poverty impedes cognitive function.Science. 2013;341(6149):976-980. doi:10.1126/science.1238041Akee RKQ, Copeland WE, Keeler G, Angold A, Costello EJ.Parents’ incomes and children’s outcomes: a quasi-experiment. American economic journal Applied economics. 2010;2(1):86. doi:10.1257/app.2.1.86Zhao J, Tomm BM.Psychological responses to scarcity. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. Oxford University Press; 2018. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.41Huijsmans I, Ma I, Micheli L, Civai C, Stallen M, G. Sanfey A.A scarcity mindset alters neural processing underlying consumer decision making.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. Published online May 23, 2019:201818572. doi:10.1073/pnas.1818572116Ng B.The neuroscience of growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. Brain Sciences. 2018;8(2):20. doi:10.3390/brainsci8020020

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Mani A, Mullainathan S, Shafir E, Zhao J.Poverty impedes cognitive function.Science. 2013;341(6149):976-980. doi:10.1126/science.1238041Akee RKQ, Copeland WE, Keeler G, Angold A, Costello EJ.Parents’ incomes and children’s outcomes: a quasi-experiment. American economic journal Applied economics. 2010;2(1):86. doi:10.1257/app.2.1.86Zhao J, Tomm BM.Psychological responses to scarcity. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. Oxford University Press; 2018. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.41Huijsmans I, Ma I, Micheli L, Civai C, Stallen M, G. Sanfey A.A scarcity mindset alters neural processing underlying consumer decision making.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. Published online May 23, 2019:201818572. doi:10.1073/pnas.1818572116Ng B.The neuroscience of growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. Brain Sciences. 2018;8(2):20. doi:10.3390/brainsci8020020

Mani A, Mullainathan S, Shafir E, Zhao J.Poverty impedes cognitive function.Science. 2013;341(6149):976-980. doi:10.1126/science.1238041

Akee RKQ, Copeland WE, Keeler G, Angold A, Costello EJ.Parents’ incomes and children’s outcomes: a quasi-experiment. American economic journal Applied economics. 2010;2(1):86. doi:10.1257/app.2.1.86

Zhao J, Tomm BM.Psychological responses to scarcity. In: Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology. Oxford University Press; 2018. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.41

Huijsmans I, Ma I, Micheli L, Civai C, Stallen M, G. Sanfey A.A scarcity mindset alters neural processing underlying consumer decision making.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. Published online May 23, 2019:201818572. doi:10.1073/pnas.1818572116

Ng B.The neuroscience of growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. Brain Sciences. 2018;8(2):20. doi:10.3390/brainsci8020020

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