With my teaching background, I have a lot of experience with instructing and practicing positive growth mindset behaviors. While I whole-heartedly believe in the power of a strong mindset, I am no expert, and still have to intentionally practice what I preach for my own benefit.
Imposter syndrome is REAL and it makes us resist new and exciting opportunities. I still have to remind myself that it’s not a failure if I learned something and tried again. And I have to recognize that what I have to offer is unique and wonderful and that I am enough… Still working on it daily.
Abundance vs Scarcity Mindset
I think we all have mind blocks somewhere, and it’s those of us that can push past them, or sit for a little while in the discomfort of something new that can continue to find successes.
One thing that does come more naturally for me is an abundance mindset. I think it is so important to look at your life and be grateful for what we do have, and help others as well. A scarcity mindset can be a dark place to operate. It creates walls around you and puts possibility and opportunity just out of reach. Competition can be a great motivator, but competition within a scarcity mindset means you aren’t serving the purposes that will launch you forward, you’re serving the purposes that will keep you struggling against the tide.
It’s Okay to Share the Secret Sauce
There is room for everybody at the table. This is one of my favorite sayings, and I strongly believe it. I love to work collaboratively with people who follow this line of thinking too.
There are people who are better than me at certain things, but there is a need for all of us, and the more we can collaborate, work together, refer each other, and blend our talents, the better off we, and the people we serve are.
I share the secret sauce- meaning I am open to sharing my great ideas and how I make life easier and my writing better- and I will give you a little analogy to tell you why:
My mother in law makes some AMAZING chocolate chip cookies.They are her specialty, and she shares the recipe openly whenever people rave about them. But guess what, even with the recipe- heck, even if she is in the room with me walking me through it- I can never recreate them exactly like she does. She just has a special talent, and she shares her cookies and recipe happily with others, but only she can really make them perfectly.
When Competition is Healthy and Beneficial
Having tried to bake her recipe, and doing a pretty good job, but just not nailing it- I thought about what I could do to make them work for me. And the answer was salt. I LIVE for the blend of salty and sweet ( hellooo maple bacon), and I blended her recipe with parts of a recipe that I learned from a friend, and I have a totally different looking and tasting cookie, even though the basic ingredients are pretty much the same.
My husband says they are both delicious, but he prefers his mom’s… They are soft and chewy and plump, while I prefer mine a little flatter and crispier on the edges. Some of my coworkers prefer my salty treats. Everybody is different, and so ALL of those cookies are getting eaten and enjoyed. That’s an abundance mindset.
Keeping Competition from Holding You Back
If I had operated from a scarcity mindset, I would have kept trying to make those original cookies and never branched out. I would have passed the recipe off as my own and it never would have quite measured up. I wouldn’t have grown, and I wouldn’t be able to appreciate how great those cookies are because I would have been competitive and jealous, and when my mother in law comes to visit, I would have prevented her from making those delicious cookies for my husband because I want him to love mine more.
Look- I know this analogy is going a little off the rails. But let’s take out the word “cookies” and replace it with the word “writing”… or whatever service or product you have to offer. If I know a client who would benefit from somebody else’s writing service, over mine, a scarcity mindset would have me do the job even though it’s not the right fit, and an abundance mindset that says Hey- I am not the right fit, but I know somebody who would be PERFECT for you!
Everybody Wins with Abundance Mindset
The outcome of that is a happy client who gets what they need, and I have built trust and possibly even loyalty because I led them to what was right for them. Now I have two people- the client and the other service provider -who might refer my next client to me. Because maybe next time I have the right recipe and if I helped that writer out, they are likely to do the same– as long as they too share an abundance mindset… if not- well then it’s a personal struggle that’s on them.
So share your recipe because nobody can do it just like you. And when somebody else has a great talent- refer people to them. Because there is an abundance of need out there, and the right match for everybody if we give them a seat at the table.
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