Using The Abundance Mentality To Cure Procrastination

article written on the 30th of November 2005 by Lee Nutter

The abundance mentality is in my opinion, one of, if not the most important aspect of personal development and growth. Abundance means ‘The property of a more than adequate quantity or supply’ and to really take advantage of all that is available to you, you really do have to have a handle on this extremely important way of thinking.

The exact opposite to the abundance mentality is the scarcity mentality. Amongst other things this mentality breeds fear, jealousy, spite and selfishness leading to insecurity and lack of self worth due to your belief that opportunities are lacking and you have little choice or freedom in your life. The scarcity mentality leads to you seeing nothing but obstacles and problems (There is no money to be made in this industry. I don’t have time to spend on something like that.)

Without saying anything more we can see the negative side effects of the scarcity mentality, but how is the abundance mentality superior? It leads to opportunity because you believe it is everywhere, riches because you believe there is plenty to go around and enjoyment because you are able to celebrate other people accomplishments instead of loathing someone for stealing your ‘piece of the pie’.

So how does this all relate to procrastination? Well, people with a scarcity mentality usually procrastinate because at first glance the task they should be getting on with seems all too hard because of all the perceived obstacles and problems. With an abundance mentality you look at possibilities and opportunities rather than obstacles and problems meaning you don’t have any reason to put it off, and a few good reasons to get on to it right away!

Curing procrastination isn’t the only reason to adopt the abundance mentality though. As I mentioned before, with the scarcity mentality, everything becomes a pie. Each pie only has so many slices. To get more pie, you need to take it from someone else, and to keep it you need to prevent others from taking it from you.

With the abundance mentality there is no pie, there is enough of everything, for everyone. There is no jealousy, selfishness or insecurity. You become a more generous, giving, well rounded individual and everyone in your circle of influence, yourself included, is better for it. (The circle of influence is a concept I adopted from the book The 7 habits of highly effective people by Stephen R. Covey. )

As with any state of mind, a perfect way to make it your own is via affirmations. The affirmation ‘I possess an endless supply of creativity, energy, tolerance for any project that I assume.’ is one of my favorites. I use this whenever I take on a new project, or need encouragement working on an existing one. A general abundance affirmation is ‘I see right through appearances and illusions and know that abundance is all mine.’. Both of these affirmations are associated with the abundance tag on bmindful, and are available for you to add to your list at any time!

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