Developing a different mindset from the norm gives us the ability to pursue personal growth and happiness in our lives. The world’s affairs are in urgent need of dreaming bookworms, fearless visionaries, curious night owls, kind adrenaline junkies and and and… We need ideas, to turn the world around us to the positive. A world where you do not have to experience fear or harm of any kind. Where you can grow your memory book of extraordinary experiences and where you can be your true self. If you agree with all of it, welcome to the club of abundant thinkers!

The influence of information we receive from the media, peers and our environment doesn’t make it easy. Being bombarded with bad news about different global crises every day makes it difficult to find the right path to achieve sustainability.

Sometimes the solution is simpler than you think. We are being told that change happens through economic growth and technological innovation. It might be partially true, but something I find quite powerful to achieve change is overlooked by the media: mindset and behavioural change.

Maybe, we simply need to shift our focus away from the omnipresent bad news of what is going wrong in the world. Instead of focussing on negative aspects let’s only look at possibilities and opportunities. We can decide to live in an abundant world and I want to show you how.

Who are abundant thinkers?

Abundant means that something is over-sufficient and you will be able to find plenty of it. In Australia, you might find that you can experience plenty of sunshine while alternatively in the Northern Scandinavian countries the opposite is the case. Trust me, I hadn’t seen direct sunlight for a whole month and it affected me more than I would have thought! But I would not want to have missed this experience as it challenged me to find other sources of serotonin.

At this time, I wasn’t aware that I had applied some of the core strengths of abundant thinkers: learning how to cope with a new and challenging time. Abundant thinking is a capability you can acquire, which helps you to develop bigger visions and implement them on a daily basis by improving the actions you decide to take.

How can an abundant mindset help us?

Our imagination plays a very important role when it comes to abundant thinking as it opens a world of possibilities and opportunities. With an abundant mindset, you see more options, more choices, more resources and more relationships. Abundant thinkers can easily provide you with different opportunities to pursue your dreams and improve the situation you are in.

It can help to understand something better when you compare it to its opposite meaning. The opposite of an abundant mindset is a scarcity mindset. A scarcity mindset is marked by thoughts that highlight that there is not enough of anything. With a scarcity mindset, you always focus on what you don’t have to improve your life – no money, no time, no health, no opportunities, no relationships etc. Focusing on what you don’t have won’t bring you any closer to where you want to be.

Unfortunately, I fell into the trap of the scarcity mindset. At first glance, it seemed so easy to identify what I didn’t have and how I wasn’t able to change the situation. But it’s a trap. Once I actively decided that my time is too precious to dwell in the scarcity mindset, I got my energy and enthusiasm back. One thing we don’t need right now is for people to be stuck in the scarcity mindset, missing their opportunities from the abundance mindset.

To clarify the main differences between scarcity and abundance mindsets I have prepared a table for you:

Are you more like abundant thinkers or scarcity thinkers?

It is possible to change your outlook on life. Remind yourself that every day you get the chance to work on your abundance mindset. In the next chapter, I want to explain to you how to do this.

How to develop your mindset of abundance

Focus on what you have. Sometimes we don’t realise that everything we need to change the unhappy aspects of our lives are right in front of us. The easiest way to get rolling is to look for inspiration on the world wide web.

Get clarity on what you need to improve your life situation. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people, the majority of us are very nice and happy to help. The obstacles you’re experiencing are not due to a lack of resources, but a lack of knowledge of how to use them.

We have plenty of everything but it is not evenly distributed. To achieve sustainability we need solutions that contribute to establishing a balance in the accessibility of opportunities.

Learn from people who already have an abundance mindset. Role models are an important factor when it comes to finding inspiration in changing your way of thinking.

It is not only about the half-full or half-empty glass change of attitude, but rather understanding the intention and motivation behind choices that an abundant thinker makes.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions of someone (mostly they might not even see themselves as an abundant thinker) who has an aspiring attitude. They might give you the right ideas to start or continue developing an abundant mindset.

Train your mind to spot the opportunities. Our brain is very good at filtering. Sometimes to be good at this you need to allow yourself to increase your awareness of what is happening around you.

We miss a lot of opportunities by passing them unnoticed. A helpful exercise is to set an alarm during the day which reminds you to stop what you’re doing for a bit and simply look around.

You will be surprised by all the different things which you never noticed. Training your awareness is an important step to stop overlooking opportunities.

Why is an abundant mindset important for global sustainable development?

So what does an abundant mindset have to do with sustainability? And why should you strive to develop one? Craving learning and growth is in our blood. Unfortunately, we live in systems which stop us from pursuing our purpose. We have to work a 9 to 5 job to cover our expenses, have some hobbies to not go insane, keep up with our friends and families and maybe find some time to sleep and eat in between. There is not a lot of time left to save the world, right?

With an abundant mindset, you will start seeing the opportunities to improve the systems you are involved in. Instead of developing solutions, which contribute to more sustainability in a place you are not affected by, you open your mind to what needs to be improved in your environment. Opportunities are right in front of us because the change we need is gaining freedom in our lives and breaking down the barriers limiting our personal growth.

Our world is full of flaws made by humans thus we need solutions made by humans. We have the access to change our broken systems and sustainable development will thrive from people who reach their full potential and help others to do the same. The more people get aware of their capabilities, the more resources we are creating: ideas worth changing the course of the world. 

Some ideas to nudge you in the right direction: towards becoming an abundant thinker

I can’t leave you without some inspiration, some abundant ideas I came up with to implement sustainable solutions to tackle these pressing problems. As my blog is all about reimagining sustainability and the current state of the world, I would like you to read the following sustainability goals. While reading you might think of opportunities to achieve those goals. This may be your first step on the pathway to becoming an abundant thinker.

• Become carbon-negative 
• Become the first city in the world without suicide
• Become the first location without homelessness
• Become the first country without food waste
• Become the first community without obesity or diabetes
• Become the first school without mental health problems
• Become the first kindergarten with well-nourished children
• Become a green space city

If you crave for more inspiration, check out my article about how sustainability heroes provide solutions via apps: link here.

Become the solution provider alias abundant thinkers the world needs to see and be inspired by.