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January 28, 2025 14 mins

Is scarcity thinking holding you back?

In this episode, we’re tackling the sneaky, joy-stealing mindset of scarcity—the belief that there’s never enough to go around. Whether it’s money, career opportunities, time, or even self-worth, scarcity thinking can derail your goals and keep you stuck. But it doesn’t have to.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

  • How scarcity thinking impacts your finances, career, and daily life
  • 3 powerful mindset tools to shift from scarcity to abundance
  • My simple yet transformative morning practice to stop scarcity thinking before it starts

Support the show

Jill Griffin, host of The Career Refresh, delivers expert guidance on workplace challenges and career transitions. Jill leverages her experience working for the world's top brands like Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Hilton Hotels, and Martha Stewart to address leadership, burnout, team dynamics, and the 4Ps (perfectionism, people-pleasing, procrastination, and personalities).

Visit JillGriffinCoaching.com for more details on:

  • Book a 1:1 Career Strategy and Executive Coaching HERE
  • Build a Leadership Identity That Earns Trust and Delivers Results.
  • Gallup CliftonStrengths Corporate Workshops to build a strengths-based culture
  • Team Dynamics training to increase retention, communication, goal setting, and effective decision-making
  • Keynote Speaking
  • Grab a personal Resume Refresh with Jill Griffin HERE

Follow @JillGriffinOffical on Instagram for daily inspiration
Connect with and follow Jill on LinkedIn

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, I'm your host, Jill Griffin strategist, former
C-suite executive board memberand now an executive coach, and
I have a huge passion forhelping leaders navigate
transitions and buildingimpactful careers.
The Career Refresh is the placewhere we talk about actionable
insights to lead, thrive andsucceed in today's workplace.

(00:22):
And listen I have had thepleasure of helping thousands at
this point of professionalsachieve their goals, elevate
their team performance andnavigate the art of reinvention.
Watching and getting to guidesomeone, as they are, in the
transformation of reinvention,first for themselves and then
for their teams, is one of themost impactful experiences I've

(00:45):
ever had the pleasure to be apart of in my career.
And today I want to talk aboutsomething that does touch on
reinvention, and it's aboutreinventing parts of your mind,
and lately there's been a topicthat I have seen front and
center and it is making its wayfinally into my queue.
I'm seeing it in the workplace,in conversations at networking

(01:06):
groups.
It's all over the dang media,even if it is not obvious, and
that is scarcity.
It's that relentless, insidiousmindset that whispers or shouts
there's not enough time, money,opportunities.
It hijacks your focus, drainsyour energy and keeps you stuck
in a perpetual loop of notenough, not enough, not enough.

(01:29):
If any of this feels familiar,we're going to break it down
today and talk about the firststep in shifting mindset.
Ready, let's dig in.
Scarcity thinking.
It is exhausting, it sucks thejoy out of your accomplishments,

(01:51):
it feeds that imposter syndromeor that fraud complex and it
fuels burnout.
It's the enemy of creativityand resourcefulness.
And you know the drill, youknow how.
You've probably heard it eitherin a colleague's brain or maybe
even in your own brain at times.
And it's this like how did theyget ahead of me?

(02:13):
What just happened here?
Wait, am I okay?
Am I good enough for thisposition?
Do I have enough of therequirements for the job?
That's all the scarcity talking.
We see it in corporate lifefrom promotions that feel scarce
, raises that feel scarce, jobsthat come to an end and people

(02:37):
at times in the workplace arehoarding information.
It starts to feel like thisBlack Friday in a pre-COVID
mindset.
Right when there's this fiercecompetition and the mindset is,
there can only be one winner andit's going to be me.
Stephen Covey, in his SevenHabits for Highly Effective
People, talked about thisdecades ago.

(02:57):
This is not new friends, it'sjust coming back around.
He drew a line between ascarcity mentality and an
abundance mindset.
Simply put, scarcity again isthat it's never enough.
It says there's never enough,whereas abundance says you know
what?
There's plenty to go around,it'll be my turn, I'll get my

(03:19):
share, it'll work out, it'll allbe okay.
And I want us to really pauseand really think about what
we're doing with our minds, whowe're associating ourselves with
when they're saying thesethings.
The type of media we'reconsuming and where it's
constantly telling us that weare not enough, are that we
don't have enough or that wedon't do enough.

(03:43):
Scarcity isn't just about whatyou have, it's about what you
believe, and that belief driveseverything.
Think about it.
Have you ever stopped yourselffrom applying for a job because
you weren't sure if you hadenough of the qualifications?
Or you held off from sort of aindependent endeavor or passion

(04:05):
project because you feel likesomeone else is already doing it
and we can't have more of it.
Right, there's the scarcity.
Set that thinking front andcenter.
A client of mine told me awhile ago that he couldn't
pursue an independent endeavorproject because he said he would
be the oldest guy in the roomand he couldn't keep up with the
younger crowd.

(04:25):
He didn't think he still had it, and also that his knees hurt.
I told him, very lovingly, ofcourse, to hush up and bias the
hair of knee pads.
You know what he did?
It took some mindset work, buthe has been leaning in and is
really enjoying the time in thatproject, something that he
would have stopped himself frombecause he told himself stories

(04:48):
about where he was too old ornot enough.
This scarcity convinces us tofocus on everything we don't
have—the skills, the time, themoney, the resources and I want
you to know that whatever youfocus on increases, it grows.
So if you're going to focus onlack, then you're going to feel

(05:09):
stuck on that hamster wheel ofnot enough.
Let me just call it out rightIf you're jumping from one job
that you hate or one job thatyou've been recently laid off,
the answer isn't okay, I'm justgoing to fix it, I'm going to go
someplace else and you're sortof in that frenetic.
I got to fix this.
It's a scarcity, I got a newjob right.
That's where Jon Kabat-Zinnsays wherever you go, there you

(05:34):
are.
You cannot outrun scarcity bychanging your job title or your
LinkedIn profile.
The mindset is going to followyou.
You can't hustle your way outof scarcity.
That's sort of like starvingyourself and expecting yourself
to feel great when you hit goalweight.
You're not going to get there,you're going to be.
You're going to be pale andpasty and really hungry and,

(05:57):
yeah, you'll get there if youstarve yourself.
But it's just not sustainable.
Scarcity will even sneak intoyour wins.
Have you ever hit the promotion, got the job, the career
milestone, nailed the project,sold the deal, did it?
And your immediate thought isokay, what's next?
There's no time to celebrate,you're just going on to the next

(06:21):
goal.
That's scarcity too, because onthe brain science side of
things, you're not completingthe reward cycle.
Your brain doesn't realize it'sgot it, so it keeps chasing to
get that hit and I'm going todrop.
I did an episode a while backon understanding why pausing and
celebration matters and I'mgoing to drop that into the show

(06:43):
notes.
You should definitely checkthat out.
So breaking it down, scarcity atits core is the belief that
there's not enough to go around.
You're definitely not gettingyour piece of the pie, and it's
the mindset that creates thisunnecessary competition, both
with yourself and with others,and ultimately it keeps you in a
fear-based position.
It's this, you know what.

(07:04):
There's a cap on what I canearn.
I can't go higher than that.
You know what?
I would love to switch careers,but I'm just not going to make
enough money.
I'm not going to be able tomake ends meet.
You know what.
People like me don't get thesekinds of opportunities.
You know what?
I only have about seven of the10 requirements for this.

(07:26):
I shouldn't apply.
I'm not going to make it worthmy while and it kind of feels
gross.
And friend, I don't care if youare around people who are
talking this way.
Don't participate.
I want you to try to pause and,if possible, walk away, get
some air, claim a drama-freezone.
It if possible, walk away, getsome air, claim a drama-free

(07:49):
zone.
Because if someone in yourcircle or your colleague circle
or your group has this dialoguegoing and you're around it, you
start to believe that it's true.
You have to protect your brainis a multi-million dollar
machine.
You have to protect it fromthis kind of thinking.
So when it shows up and yourbrain keeps telling you this,
what do you need to do?
Well, you need to rewrite thenarrative that you're saying.

(08:12):
I am not saying there are nottimes that there are failures
and things don't work out ourway.
I'm talking about the insidious, ever-flowing thread that flows
through conversations ofreminding us that it's not going
to work out and it's not enough.
So I want you to picture yourbrain like a rocking chair on a
rug, and the more you rock inthe same spot this is, in this

(08:34):
case, thinking the same thoughtsover and over the deeper the
grooves are going to get on therug.
In order to change that pattern, you have to nudge the chair
out of those wrongs, those ruts,and move it elsewhere.
That is neuroplasticity.
That is how you're changingyour brain.
So how do you do it?

(08:55):
Okay, well, one.
I want you to confront theshitty little committee in your
head, that voice that's tellingyou it's not enough, I don't
have enough, it's not going towork, this is never going to
happen, all of those things.
There's no way that thisopportunity is going to play out
.
I want you to pause and I wantyou, in the kindest way possible

(09:17):
, to talk to yourself and sayokay, jill, prove it, prove that
it's not going to work.
Where is the evidence?
And nine times out of 10,you're not going to be able to
back it up.
And if you tell me that itdidn't happen previously.
Okay, well, that was differentcircumstances and a different
time sign.
We're talking about now andthere's no way to prove that
from right now.
Or right now, or right now Okay, you're hating me, right?

(09:40):
There's no way to prove fromright now to the future that
there's evidence, because wedon't have evidence.
The next is I want you to do anIRL in real life.
Build your celebratorycommittee.
Who you hang out with matters,surround yourself with people
who lift you up and who thinkbigger than you.

(10:00):
If you are the person who'sthinking the biggest in the
career circle that you're in, Iwant you to find other people.
You may need to network.
You may need to read books,listen to podcasts, find a way,
perhaps in your community.
There may be meetups.
You want to find ways to haveyour thinking be stretched.
You need support.
You need stretch.
When I find that I'm shrinkingor not doing the things that I

(10:22):
set out for myself to do thisquarter, I'm like wait a second,
what am I doing?
My head's been down.
I'm not networking.
I'm not in my groups that Iwant to be around groups where I
look at other people and I'mlike, oh my God, that's amazing
that they're doing, that.
You know what.
I bet you I can do somethinglike that, right?
Not copying them, but somethinglike that, and that's what

(10:42):
we're talking about.
These people do not have to beyour best friends.
They you can find them at work,industry events, online
communities.
Join a group, join a groupcoaching, right.
You can find them there too.
I also want you to start amorning mindset practice.
This is a morning growthpractice and it is about
journaling.
I do like pen to paper always,but if you want to do it in your

(11:05):
notes app, fine it's.
You know it's not going to makethat much of a difference, but
go for the pen and paper if youcan Spend five minutes in the
morning and just answerquestions.
How am I feeling today?
What's the word I want to thinkabout for the day?
What's my focus for the day?
I often have words like focus,determination, warrior energy.
Sometimes it's kindness,sometimes it's ease.

(11:27):
It really depends on like whatdo I need to give myself today?
I always look at what Iappreciate and I'm grateful for,
is really important to me, tolook at all the abundance that's
already around me.
And if you're having a daywhere you're feeling like I
can't find the abundance wherepossible, I want you to look out
the window and I want you tocount all the shades of green
you see, or all the shades ofbrown you see, and this gets

(11:50):
your brain into seeing abundancein the simplest form.
Count the birds in the sky,right, I know this sounds really
, really simple, but it'sgetting your mind into looking
at the abundance of what's thereversus looking at or trying to
find the lack of what's there.
I want you to ask yourself whywas today worth waking up?
What's on the agenda?

(12:11):
What did I learn yesterday?
How did I grow yesterday andwhat are my goals for today?
Those are just simple questions.
Takes a couple of minutes.
Jot them down in the morning,get them out and once you've
looked back on that paper, Iwant you to look for any sneaky
scarcity thoughts.
Is there anything that you aredragging yourself with?

(12:31):
Are you coming from that lackor are you in that abundance?
Then it's shifting to thatappreciation.
Abundance isn't about havingenough.
It's also that recognizing ofit.
The more you focus on what youdo have and what is going right,
the more you are going to feelbetter.
Insert positive emotion andthen take an action from that

(12:53):
positive emotion.
This requires work, but if youcould do it for a few minutes
every day and I almost call itlike revving the engine, like
generating those good, positivefeelings you then start to take
action from that and you'll see,little by little, how your day,
or the length of time in yourday, is more in abundance and

(13:14):
positive feelings versus feelingin negativity and lack.
So final thoughts right, it'snot magic, friends.
It really is practice.
It is strengthening andbuilding muscles, choosing new
thoughts, taking actions fromthat, really looking at what
you're thinking and how you'respending your time.
This is how things shift.

(13:35):
And when you start to thinklike you know what there's a
possibility this could happenyour brain starts to find
solutions.
If you're in a place that thiscan never happen, well, you
don't need to find a solutionthen.
So start where you are.
Take a moment today, whetherit's journaling on a walk, even
if you're having a quick thoughtin the shower in the morning

(13:56):
ask yourself am I coming fromlack right now or scarcity?
That's where the change happens.
All right, friends, I want youto be intentional.
I want you to redirect,redirect, redirect your brain
when it goes into places ofscarcity and find the abundance
all around you.
I appreciate you so much and Iwill see you next time.

(14:16):
Thanks,
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