enough.

Enough money.  Enough success.  Enough time, praise,  and love.  There is enough for me, you, and everyone else.  Enough is a mindset.  In fact, there is something even better-- an abundance mindset.  Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effect People, first coined the phrase as well as the opposite mindset, which is a scarcity mindset.  


An abundance mindset, which is directly related to a growth mindset, is the attitude that there is enough to go around.  The success of someone else doesn't mean that you lose.  It means that you are willing to share the glory and give credit where it's due.  It means that you know if you give something away, it will come back to you in spades.  As Covey said, "it flows out of a deeper inner sense of personal worth and security."  If you are coming from a place of love, you most likely have an abundance mindset.  


A scarcity mindset, on the other hand, is the attitude that I lose when someone else wins.  Someone with a scarcity mindset is reluctant to share the credit, power, or profit.  They hold tight to their resources.  This is directly related to a fixed mindset, and it comes from a place of fear and insecurity.  

Which way sounds like more fun to you?  
Here are some ways to grow and nurture an abundance mindset:

Become aware of your thoughts.  That's the first step to almost anything, really.  What is your attitude towards money?  How about success?   You can even think about this in terms of food.  As a personal trainer, some folks are held back by the fact that they feel like they have to eat the whole bag of chips or cookies.  Sometimes, subconsciously, they may have a scarcity mindset which makes them feel like there won't be enough when they come back to it. Notice your thoughts and decide if there is a pattern.  
If you notice a pattern, you can address it.  Your thoughts create your feelings, and your feelings drive your actions.  If you notice a thought like, "I'm not smart enough," you can change it to "I am fully capable of figuring this out."  OR "I don't have enough money, " replace it with "I can always make more money."   It takes practice, and it might sound weird at first, but it works!

I know you hear this everywhere, but that's because it works: practice gratitude.  Write at least 5 things for which you are grateful each day.  When you begin to notice the little things throughout your world that bring you joy, that joy becomes amplified.  Your brain seeks out the simple pleasures, and gradually that becomes enough.  And then, guess what happens?  It starts to feel like more than enough!  It begins to feel abundant!  Do it.  I promise it works.


Open your heart and your mind to all possibilities.  A lot of times, when we are so focused on one thing, we don't see all the other options that are right in front of us.  If you are so focused on not being good enough, for example,  you may very well miss all the resources that actually present themselves to you to help you learn and grow.  Look up and look around!  You will be amazed at what you find.  It will feel almost like magic-- the right person or the book or website will fall into your lap.  You won't notice it, though, if you aren't intentionally looking for it.  

Build your confidence!  Scarcity comes from a place of fear and a lack of confidence.  You have to figure out how to build your confidence.  One of the best ways I know how to do that is to begin making small promises to yourself, and then KEEP them.  Start super small, like promising yourself that you will make your bed in the morning.  Or promise that you will call your mom, do a load of wash and actually put the clothes away when they are clean.  When you keep a promise to yourself, you build trust in yourself and that leads to confidence.  

Once you begin to feel abundance in one part of your life, it becomes easier to feel it in other parts of your life.  Pick a small section of your life and begin to experiment with changing your attitude.  Notice how it affects other areas of your life!  

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