Secrets to Mastery an Abundant Mindset
“Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
The Abundant Mindset, or lack thereof, can be an interesting discussion when working with clients. There are the clients who are striving for abundance in many areas of their life. They focus on what they don’t have rather than what they do have. They make it about money, rather than about life situations and experiences. There are also clients who have already achieved a high level of abundance yet their mindset hasn’t caught up with their success. They still see themselves where they were years ago, before they made improvements to their life. They’ve come from lack or scarcity for so long, that when they actually have what they want, they are sometimes the last ones to know.
Having an abundant mindset is similar to other positive mindset areas of your life. I’ve noticed that clients typically go through a 3-step process to shift to the level of self awareness, or mastery. You’ll no longer be the last one to know when you’ve followed this 3-step process.
Abundant Mindset Level 1.
Knowledge. Many times clients understand their success on an intellectual level. They know they have the raise or the new job or a clean bill of health. They understand logically what that means, and that’s where their level of rationalizing stops. They have the information (information overload these days), and don’t always know how to integrate the new information fully into their life.
Abundant Mindset Level 2.
Action. This is how you deepen the new information. Remember when you learned to ride your bike or learned to read? You practiced consistently until you got your result. Now you ride your bike without thinking about how to keep your balance, and you read with minimal effort. Same thing applies to abundance. You practice an abundant mentality by taking action on any of the 11 steps below, and you’ll start living in abundance effortlessly — it will become your natural mindset.
Abundant Mindset Level 3.
Self Awareness. This is the third and final step to mastery. You start identifying with yourself as ‘I am abundant’ or ‘I am wealthy’ or ‘I am fulfilled’ or ‘I am happy’ or ‘I am successful’ or ‘I am ____________’. Because you learned it, have practiced it and now identify with it, you have now mastered an abundant mindset.
Here are 11 steps to help you get to the Abundant Mindset.
1. Decide What You Want to Experience in Life. Without really knowing what abundance means to you in your life, how are you going to get there? Get clear by having a specific, measureable goal. You can create this around any area of your life — happiness, money, health, friendship or anything else you desire.
2. Be Educated About Investing. During the past few years, while everyone was so worried about the stock market, many other people got considerable returns on their investments. There were many opportunities that the media wasn’t talking about – they focused on how bad it was, when in reality many people benefited.
3. Create Financial Wealth. Abundance is not just about money. Many times the first thing people think of as ‘abundance’ is financial wealth. Keep in mind that financial wealth is only one aspect of abundance; there are many others such as health, relationships, spirituality and more. Yes, money is a necessary means of exchange, and it is certainly not the only way to define an abundant mindset.
4. Set Rituals. Starting your day with rituals is a great way to begin on a positive note. What are the abundant lifestyle rituals for you that can ‘make’ or ‘break’ your day. Examples of rituals could be getting up early, exercising, eating a healthy breakfast, connecting with those you love. What are empowering rituals for you?
5. Be Courageous in Your Life. Tap into the courage that lives deep within you – try new things. Sign up for a zip-line adventure on your next vacation, have the conversation you’ve been putting off, turn your dream into action.
6. Be Willing to Make Decisions. Decide and move forward. Indecisiveness stops momentum. Keep the momentum going by getting out of your rut – take a different route to work, take action on one item each week that you’ve been indecisive about. By practicing with small decisions, the others will come easier.
7. Appreciate What You Do Have. More than anything else, being abundant is about taking the time to value what is working in your life. Celebrate your successes and celebrate for no reason at all. Write a list of what you’re grateful for and keep adding to it.
8. Contribute to Others. Make a difference, even if it is a small amount of money, your time, a smile for someone who’s having a tough day. Sharing with others is a wonderful way to positively impact those around you, and you benefit as well.
9. Create a Spending Plan for What You Really Want. Organize your finances by creating a spending plan. It’s not a budget, that’s like a diet, right? This is your spending plan. It’s all about choice. Make decisions towards properly managing your investments, expenses and contributions.
10. Surround Yourself with Things That Make You Feel Good. Clear out what doesn’t help you, i.e. work spaces in your home office, garage, old emails in your inbox, etc.
11. Seize Opportunities and Expect Them. Be optimistic. Dig in, do the work and be willing to do whatever it takes to create the life you want.