Volume 5 Number 6   |   June 2015

You Have to Give to Get

A poverty or scarcity mentality prompts people to seek "deals." If they can't get a deal, they want a short-term, tangible ROI. They don't believe in self-investment as a long-term, continual need, but rather want to see their money returned with a dividend a week later.

Moreover, you don't "get" unless you give. Edgar Schein, the estimable organization development expert (Process Consultation) once remarked that, "If you really want to learn something, try to teach it." I would add to that, "Try to coach it." We learn more when we teach and coach, which is the "giving" part. If all we want to do is "take" and extract value, then we're never going to be effective (or, perhaps, even welcome) in a mastermind group or accountability team.

I tell everyone is any of my experiences and events that I know I'll learn more than anyone. That's why I keep providing them. I'm often asked, "Why do you keep doing this?" The reason is, I'm being paid to learn. Participants who repeat my programs often comment, "This was totally different from last time." That's because I've learned a lot!

Understand the uniqueness: You're being paid to learn.

Changing the Mindset

The "million dollar mindset" of this newsletter is, of course, a metaphor. It's really about an abundance mindset, whether your lifestyle demands $3 million or $300,000 to support it. It's about not acting, behaving, and deciding based on perceptions of scarcity and poverty.

Don't decide where to make money "from" if you have an unexpected expense or a desire for an impulse purchase. Decide how to generate the money you need. You should have the confidence to know you can always make another dollar (though not another minute), so that creating the money via new offerings, new clients, new initiatives is always possible with a high probability of success.

The poverty mentality says, "This current good fortune may well be temporary and may never happen again." The abundance mentality says, "This current good fortune is due to my talent and therefore can be replicated easily and continually."

If you don't believe in yourself, the odds are that no one else will, either.

© Alan Weiss 2015