The Courage of Your Talent Episode V: Water Tight Doors

The Courage of Your Talent Episode V: Water Tight Doors

The Courage of Your Talent

Moving from a scarcity mentality to an abundance mentality

 

I’ve found four major stages of growth in people as their lives and their “callings” mature and progress. The problem that arises is that their behaviors are often inconsistent—they exhibit cognitive dissonance—between their success and their actions.

You can see the progression in the visual below, “Water Tight Doors.”

As we move from a scarcity, or poverty, mentality on the left toward an abundance mentality on the right, we move through these stages:

Survive: We struggle to “put bread on the table,” endure debt, perhaps are forced to changed sources of income, are tolerate unfulfilling jobs in order to maintain a minimal standard of living.

Alive: Here we are stabilizing. We are paying bills, managing debt intelligently, may have modest investments, take brief vacations, and have joined the “middle class.”

Arrive: Now, if we are employees, we hold senior positions and have a promising future. We have a nice net worth, are respected, and obtain things we want, not just what we need. If we are entrepreneurs and professionals, we have a strong brand, create new products and services, are published, and are known within our specialty.

Thrive: At this level we have very strong brands, are sought by others, have published multiple books. In larger businesses we are executives and board members. We often receive job offers even though we’re not looking for them. As entrepreneurs we are cited by others, looked upon as authorities and thought leaders, and gain constant unsolicited referrals. We have very significant net worth.

As this movement occurs, are change from a scarcity mentality to an abundance mentality may not always be reflected in our behavior because we’ve failed to seal the water tight doors behind us. Hence, although we are wealthy, we don’t pick up checks. We continually deny ourselves (and our family) as if we were still in survival mode. We don’t volunteer our time, mentor others, and continually look for bargains (often spending more searching them than they will actually save us).

To solidify our trip from scarcity to abundance, and to allow the true courage of our talent to emerge, we must make changes during that journey, which may include friends, beliefs, affiliations, relationships, expectations, self-talk, and so on. To be what we’re meant to be means we have to abandon aspect of who we’ve been.

Are you slamming shut and sealing those water tight doors? If not, you may have great talent but you’ll be missing the courage to use it to help yourself and to help others.

Alan Weiss, PhD, is a consultant, speaker, and author. Through his consulting firm, Summit Consulting Group, Inc., he has worked with more than 500 leading organizations, including Merck, Hewlett-Packard, GE, Mercedes-Benz, The Federal Reserve, and the New York Times Corporation. A sought-after speaker at major conferences, he’s also published more than 60 books, many of which have been on the curricula at top business schools. His new book is The Courage of Your Talents:How to Build Your Self-esteem, Trust Your Own Judgment, and Constantly Succeed in Business(and Life) (Productivity Press, Oct. 12, 2026). Learn more at alanweiss.com. For advance orders: amazon.com/Courage-Your-Talent-Self-Esteem-Constantly-ebook/dp/B0GXRNT7DY

© Alan Weiss 2026