A Simple Way to Improve Your Mindset
As humans, we don’t have a say where we are born and raised.
I happen to come into the world in the northern suburbs of Chicago and was raised in a very competitive community.
From the time we entered elementary school to the time we graduated college, there was a steady underpinning of how we compared to others as if life was a zero-sum game.
No one really questioned it, we just followed the path laid before us and the culture of the moment.
With my high school class pushing 1,000 kids in the late 1990s, making a varsity athletic team was often the hardest part of the entire season.
Same went for being named first chair in the orchestra or getting a part in the play…
Personally, I was fortunate to have a stable home environment and friend group that helped absorb the highs and lows of adolescence.
I did what was expected and (thanks to my golf game) was able to find my way into The University of Michigan where I ran another competitive gauntlet and got into the BBA program at the Ross School of Business.
After four years in another highly competitive, zero-sum game culture, I was on my way to Arthur Andersen in Chicago to start my career.
The Shift
A few months into my career at Andersen, we got word the ship was going down and some of us were being let go.
Including me…
"What the heck?"
"I did everything I was supposed to do according to the environments I grew up in…"
"How could this happen to me?"
Truth be told, I did enjoy my unemployment days where I had long gaps to fill while my buddies were at work.
It was at this time I became a voracious reader and re-discovered the concept of a scarcity vs. abundance mindset.
When you come from a scarcity mindset, your world is limited and there is only “so much” to go around.
Like spots on a varsity team in high school, or places in the BBA program in college…
You focus on the “lack” in life and don’t recognize the endless opportunities around you.
In short, it makes you selfish.
On the other hand, an abundance mindset recognizes a world of endless opportunity.
There is plenty to go around and you are grateful for what the universe supplies to you and all of humanity.
领英推荐
A more altruistic, gracious approach to life.
Small Tweak Towards Abundance
When I first landed in Chicago to start my career, I walked everywhere I went.
With my head down…
As I made my shift from a scarcity to abundance mindset, I found myself looking far into the distance as I walked around the Loop or my neighborhood.
This little tweak brought confidence to my mind and peace to life.
It was like I picked my head up from the trees and was now seeing the forest.
Or to use another book reference from my unemployment days, I was looking into the Blue Ocean instead of focused down in the Red Ocean scarcity minded people thought I was in.
Just by lifting my head up.
Wrap Up
When you come from a perspective of abundance, you WILL see more opportunity for contribution in your career and life.
With this mindset, you will find yourself growing the proverbial pie for others in many seen and unforeseen ways.
Keep your head up and focus on the horizon of your career.
It’s going to be wonderful.
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Scarcity vs. Abundance (7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey)
Blue vs. Red Ocean (Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim)
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Roger Lumpp III?loves helping people find more fulfilling work, faster. He firmly believes WORKERS will gain more and more control over the conversation as we move into the “future of work” and shares his thoughts and observations of the rapidly evolving landscape through The Next Gig newsletter, speaking engagements, podcasts and anywhere else he's needed. Roger is a Top 100 Staffing Leader to Watch in 2023 Winner from The World Staffing Awards presented by?Candidate.ly.
Opinions expressed are my own, all rights reserved.
Great post Roger Lumpp III I was introduced to this concept by CHAD COE many years ago. In the back of my mind I embraced it too. When I found myself in a transition stage is when I met Chad in the early 00's If you believe there is "enough" to go around, there will be enough. In walking my own talk regarding abundance, and networking and helping others, I try to give as generously as my time permits. However, one thing that I try to encourage folks in transition to do that takes almost no time (and here IS the big leap of faith)... is to share leads with your network as soon as you have scoped them out. "But wait, Craig, they called me asking for me and I need a job." "Yes, you need a job, but if you wait to pass the lead on to your network after you've been eliminated from contention, the lead will likely be dead and of no use to your network." "Huh" "In all likelihood, sourcing is well underway and when they eliminated you, they have others that are making it to the next stage. It's unlikely that new entrants to the process will get a look. Trust the process, if it's a fit for you, you'll get the job" I betting that the folks that seek me out understand my ethics and are likeminded..
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1 年There is absolutely no doubt this was not written by AI, Roger Lumpp III :) I came from a similar background but unlike you, I sucked at sports until later in life. This was a confidence deflater and reinforced that scarcity mindset so many of us were socialized into. And like you, when my division closed and I was nudged onto a new life path I discovered that abundance mindset. You described it beautifully - lifting your head up and seeing the a whole new forest of opportunity.