The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 178 The Cost of Scarcity

Episode Date: October 13, 2023

In this episode, I dive with you into the world of scarcity mentality: what it is, where it comes from, and how it impacts our lives, and I bring you practical strategies to shift into an abundance mindset.   Book your free consultation with Renée HERE Download the transcript from this episode HERE   Mind Over Finger Visit MindOverFinger.com for all things peak performance – including impactful online courses and free resources on peak performance. Connect: https://www.youtube.com/@MindOverFinger https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindoverfinger https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/     Thank You Most sincere thank you to composer Jim Stephenson who graciously provided the show's musical theme:  Concerto #1 for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra – Movement 2: Allegro con Brio, performed by Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted by Jim Stephenson.

Do you ever find yourself worrying about having enough? Afraid of not having enough time, enough work, enough money? Afraid of not being enough? Do you find yourself caught in the grip of scarcity? If so, this episode is tailor-made for you because we're about to rewrite the narrative on scarcity. You're listening to the Mind Over Finger podcast, episode number 178. Let's dive in.

Welcome to the Mind Over Finger podcast, where we dive into the world of mindful music making, peak performance, and crafting a purpose-driven life and career. I'm your host, violinist, certified performance and life coach for musicians, and your guide to unlocking your full potential, Dr. René-Paul Gaultier. Hello, my dear listeners. A few words before we jump in the episode. Actually, kind of a funny story. I think my English is pretty good, but as a native French speaker, there are still a few words that elude me in the pronunciation department. And as it turns out, one of them is the main word in today's episode, scarcity, which I believed was pronounced scarcity

until after I had spent a bunch of time recording the episode. Not sure why I thought that, why things are pronounced the way they are in English. I don't always get it. So when I realized this, after spending all of this time recording the episode for you and working on it, I was pretty devastated. And being a perfectionist, I decided that I would re-record it. But I released the episode to my clients a few days ago because it's part of our work this month inside the Music Mastery Experience. And they have encouraged me to go ahead and release it as is. Now again, as a perfectionist, I wasn't so sure about sending out an episode with the main word mispronounced over 45 times. But I have to say that I was very

sad at the idea to re-record it and relinquish the energy that we have when we first deliver content. I really like the energy that the original version had. I was afraid it would sound forced if I re-record it. And also, to be honest, I didn't really have the time to do it. So I have decided that both in the spirit of keeping that genuine energy that I had in that first recording, and also in the spirit of embodying what I teach my clients to let go of the unnecessary perfectionism, I have decided to keep the episode as it is. And I am releasing an episode about scarcity with the word scarcity mispronounced every single time. So I can't lie, this is a big step for me to go ahead without fixing such a huge mistake.

But I know you'll find tons of value in the episode. I hope your ears don't twitch every time you hear me say scarcity. I hope you forgive me and if anything I hope it gives you a little chuckle I also hope that this whole thing inspires you to let go of that rigidity the perfectionism that eats up your time and energy and to allow yourself to be human and make mistakes I mostly hope that the word you walk away from this episode thinking about the most is a completely different word, which is abundance. And that one I believe I pronounced properly. So now that you will have been properly warned, properly prepared, let's talk scarcity and abundance.

Hi, everyone. I hope I find you doing great. As many of you know, I lead a group coaching program called the Music Mastery Experience. It's so much fun. It's a fantastic group of musicians from all over the world. And inside the program, we, of course, cover all the topics that can help us lead thriving musical careers, from how to practice to how to prepare for optimal performance and everything that comes with that. But we don't stop there because the Music Mastery experience is so much more. It truly is a life coaching program for musicians. As such, we tackle all the topics, everything that impacts our lives and affects our ability to thrive and experience joy and happiness. In October, our trainings and coachings are centered around scarcity and how

it shapes our lives. That topic is very much on my mind. It's so critical as a concept. And because of that, I wanted to open the discussion to everyone. So I'm bringing it here on the show to include you in the conversation. So what you're going to hear today is part of the fundamental notions I'm going to share with my clients. Then with them, I'm going to expand on that in our training. We're going to workshop and we're going to be coaching on this topic for the rest of the month. It's a great month ahead inside of MME for sure. As I just said, scarcity, scarcity mindset is an important topic because it sneaks by us quickly. We don't notice that that's what's happening, but it holds us back tremendously. Today, I will look at what scarcity mentality is,

where it comes from, and how it shows up in our lives. And then I'm going to offer some strategies you can implement to break free from that negative mindset and start to embrace an abundance mindset. Let's dive in. What is scarcity mentality and how does it show up in our lives as classical musicians. I was trying to find a simple and precise description of scarcity mindset. So I looked it up on the Google and I really like this one. Scarcity mentality or scarcity mindset is an outlook on life that focuses on a lack of resources that must be conserved and used strategically. I like this definition because often when people talk about scarcity mentality or scarcity mindset. They think it's only related to money, but it's so much more than that.

As the description says, it's an outlook that focuses on a lack of resources. And scarcity mindset shows up in many ways regarding the different resources in our life. Time, energy, work, love, food. And in any area that scarcity mentality shows up, we are likely to experience anxiety because we think there's not enough of this one resource. We feel like there's not enough time. There's not enough work. Our companion doesn't love us enough. And of course, there's not enough money. Oftentimes, people who have a scarcity mindset see life as a zero-sum game. There's a little voice in their head that whispers, there's not enough for everyone. Them having this means I don't have it. We focus on what we could lose. Okay, it can be accurate

in certain specific situations. Yes, there's usually only one tuba position in an orchestra, So if you want that position within a particular orchestra, well, that certainly creates scarcity. But we completely shrink our internal universe when we extrapolate that mindset to everything in our lives. We're not open to possibilities. That's why it's essential to talk about scarcity mentality and notice where it appears. because the anxiety scarcity creates has a significant negative impact in our lives. Worrying about not having enough, either money or resources, can shake our mental state. It creates so much unnecessary suffering. If you remember what I talked about in episode 153 to 155,

the way we think creates our results what we think generates our feelings those feelings fuel our actions and the actions we take create the results we have so when our brain is focused on what's missing what we don't have now or might not have in the future it creates negative emotions for us. I'm sure you've been there. The fear of not landing enough gigs, not winning the job, the constant comparison with others, or the never-ending financial worries. Focusing and obsessing over what we lack can lead to poor decision-making, higher stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, strained relationships, and risky behaviors. And if you take a moment right now to think back about the type of actions you took when you were in that emotional state,

in that scarcity mode, when you were experiencing that fear, that feeling of not enough, I'm sure you'll see what I mean. And I'll have more examples of this in a minute. But before we get to that, let's look at where scarcity mentality comes from. Well, it can come from anywhere in any time in our life. Our scarcity mentality can trace back to our childhood or the environment we grew up in. If we had experiences where money was tight or resources were scarce, those memories can stick with us. if a parent or a trusted adult modeled a mentality of scarcity that most likely partly imprinted on

you. We absorbed this idea that there's just not enough to go around. But the thing is, these early experiences don't have to dictate our mindset forever. With self-awareness and a shift in perspective, we can break free from those old beliefs and open ourselves up to abundance in our lives and musical journeys. An internal fear of not being or having enough can trigger thoughts and feelings of scarcity. We worry that we won't secure enough gigs, earn a steady income, or make it in the competitive world of classical music. These concerns originate from our desire for stability and security. And that's normal, but it's not always helpful. Let's talk about the comparison trap, the constant comparison with others. We look at our fellow musicians,

their successes, and their seemingly perfect careers, and we wonder why we're not there yet. This comparison trap can make us believe that the opportunities are scarce and that we're missing out. And finally, there's the external pressure. External factors like societal expectations, parental pressures, or the opinions of others can also fuel our scarcity thinking. When we feel pressured to meet certain standards or live up to others' expectations, we may become fixated on what we lack rather than embracing our unique journey. So what can scarcity look like in action? Let's dive deeper into how scarcity mentality can impact our work, our performance, our creativity, and overall well-being. Let's start with what it does to the quality of our work.

We become indecisive. Scarcity thinking often leads to indecision. When we constantly worry about making the wrong decision. We may find ourselves paralyzed by indecision. This can affect our repertoire choices, career decisions, and even our performance interpretations. The fear of scarcity can cloud our judgment, preventing us from making confident and creative decisions that elevate the quality of our work. We deprive ourselves. One of the subtle ways a scarcity mindset impacts us is by causing self-deprivation. We might hold back from investing in quality instruments, music lessons, performance coaching, concert tickets, proper equipment, clothing, or any other resources that could enhance our work because we believe we don't

have the resources to do so. By depriving ourselves of what we genuinely need to facilitate our artistic growth, we limit our potential and the quality of our performance. Here's a big one. We mismanage our time. When we feel like time is running out or that we need to rush our learning or our creative process, we may waste valuable hours on tasks that don't contribute to our artistic growth. We play mindless run-throughs instead of fixing one difficult passage. We skip our warm-up or crucial technique work. We start to play fast way too early in the process and skip the magical slow work. All of this inefficiency in our work and our practice decreases the quality of our musical output. Let's talk performance. When it comes to performance, we suffer from

self-doubt. Scarcity mentality makes us question our abilities and our readiness for performances or auditions. We get more nervous and our performance suffers. We have a crippling fear of mistakes. When we're influenced by scarcity thinking, we might develop a deep fear of making mistakes during performances. Anyone? Been there before, right? That fear often paralyzes us, makes us tense, and it makes it pretty much impossible to be fully immersed in the music. We compare. This relentless comparison fuels our performance anxiety and keeps the cycle of self-doubt going on all cylinders. How is that one landing for you? Can you relate? how about the way scarcity impacts creativity well we develop risk aversion we stick to what's

safe and familiar instead of exploring new innovative approaches think about how small this keeps our creative universe we lose the internal drive to explore scarcity mentality limits our willingness to explore both in life and in our musical career path. We might feel that there's not enough time or money or energy to spend on exploration so we stay put. Think how different things would be if you gave yourself permission to explore new musical genres, styles, techniques, or opportunities. And let's not forget the good old fear of rejection. Oh, the burning rejection or criticism from our peers or audiences. This fear stops us from experimenting and expressing our unique artistic voice. Finally, let's talk overall

well-being. The constant worry about securing enough gigs, earning a living, or achieving success in a competitive field can lead to chronic stress and anxiety. And this doesn't only affect our mental health, but also our physical well-being. I'm sure many of you can see yourself in this one, right? We burn out. We overwork ourselves. We take on too many commitments to secure our financial stability or validate our worth. Put your hand up if that's you. And just so you know, mine is definitely up. Scarcity thinking also takes away our joy and passion. We become so preoccupied with fears and concerns, and we lose sight of the bigger picture. We get caught up in the day-to-day trying to keep up and not fall behind.

so in short it's it's a sad summary i talked about self-doubt fear risk aversion chronic stress anxiety burnout and a diminished sense of enjoyment in our overall journey lovely right and that's why i said earlier that recognizing and addressing the presence of scarcity thinking in your life and its impact on you is crucial as you strive for fulfillment and success in your life and career. Now that I've been so gloomy, you probably wonder if there's hope. Well, absolutely yes, there is. There are several great strategies you can start to implement today to gradually break free of the scarcity mentality. The most powerful one is to slowly, gently, lovingly move towards an attitude of abundance. Abundance mentality is a mindset that invites us to view

the world through a lens of boundless possibilities. It's about embracing the belief that there's more than enough to go around, whether in opportunities, creativity, money, love, work, or success. This way of thinking inspires us to collaborate rather than compete, generously share our talents and resources, and celebrate the achievements of others. Adopting an abundance mindset makes our lives better and helps us reach our full potential by giving us a positive outlook and reducing stress about not having enough. With less worry, we can focus on growing personally and connecting with others. This mindset lets us freely use our talents and be more creative. And the way to develop an abundance mentality is not through working more, accomplishing more, or accumulating

more money, more success, more accolades, more validation from our peers. The way to a state of abundance is through gratitude. Through developing the ability to see everything we have and everything we are right now. Appreciating it. Having this knowing that we are enough as we are in this moment and that we are abundant beings. Abundance comes from inside. It's an attitude. It's a belief. As I said, it's not going to come from material possessions or accomplishments. Because as you know by now, our feelings come from our thoughts. So it's not about what you have and what you have accomplished. It's what you're thinking about who you are and what you have and what you have accomplished. And we know that this is true because there are plenty of wealthy,

quote unquote, successful people out there who feel like they are not enough and that they don't have enough. Are you starting to see it now? It's a shift in perspective. It's about the lens through which you see the world. Take a moment now and think about what it is that you want. What kind of career do you want? What kind of life do you want? How much money do you want to make? put yourself in the place of having those things of being this person close your eyes and ask yourself what is it that i'm truly after what is it that i want to feel by doing those things having those things being this person what is the feeling i'm after is it safety is it stability? Is it peace? Is it joy? Is it abundance? What is that feeling that I ultimately

want? And the way to gratitude and abundance, flipping that script on scarcity, is by embodying those feelings now. By looking around you and noticing where those things already exist in your life? By feeling gratitude for how they are present in your life right now. Where is joy in your life right now? Where is the good in your life right now? What can you savor in your life right now? No amount of money or accomplishments will give you what you're after. To create those feelings of safety, of joy, of abundance. Notice them in your current life. By opening your eyes to their presence in your life right now, you will feel your thoughts shifting. And now I repeat it again. Your thoughts create your feelings and your feelings generate your actions. So with more

positive thoughts, more positive feelings will come, and those feelings will inspire actions that will take you in the direction you want to go. Let me give you an example. Let's say you get a call with a performance opportunity, but you're already very busy around the time of the performance. So as you're trying to decide what to do, you're taken over by scarcity and fear. There's just no time, but it's an amazing opportunity and it might never get back. What if they get upset and that I say no and never call me back? Also, things are a little bit tight right now. I can't say no to more money, but I'm already so tight for time.

And if I say yes, everything else will suffer. What if there's not enough work this summer? Also, if I say no, then someone else will get it and then they'll get all the money and the connections and yada, yada, yada, right? Has that ever happened to you? And if it has not happened to you in a musical context, I'm sure you can map this onto something that has happened in another area of your life. Now, you're probably expecting me to say that by changing your thoughts, you'll realize that the best answer is saying no. But that's not the point. The point is not if you end up saying yes or no. The point is the energy you're coming from when you make the

decision. If you're coming from a place of scarcity, you're going to have negative feelings attached to this decision whether you say yes or no. Did you hear that? If you're coming from a place of scarcity, you're going to have negative feelings no matter what. If you say yes, you're going to focus on how little time there is. You're going to be upset at yourself to have set up your life in such a way that you're constantly rushing from one thing to the next. If you say no, you're going to judge yourself for not having the capacity to handle more. You're going to be full of fear for the future work you might not get from having said no. You're going to be upset at yourself to have set up your life in such a way that you're not able to handle more. Right? Do you see it?

When you operate from a place of scarcity, you just can't win. You're going to experience regrets and anxiety for taking the gig and for not taking the gig. And on top of that, you're going to shame yourself for making the quote-unquote bad decision. Think about all of the negativity and anxiety this approach will bring you. What type of actions and results will that bring about in your life? When you come from a place of abundance, you're able to see what is objectively positive about both options. If you say yes, you're going to feel like it's a great challenge. it's an opportunity to push yourself out of your comfort zone to make music with perhaps new colleagues to create meaningful connections with other musicians to learn if you say no

you're going to feel good about having respected your time and the boundaries you've established around your energy management you're going to appreciate the space you've created for yourself you're going to trust that many more amazing opportunities will be coming your way you're going to feel at peace with your decision whether it's yes or no from a place of abundance whether it's yes or no to the opportunity it will feel like a win now from this mental place what kind of actions and results do you think you will bring about in your life? I'm going to ask you again. Do you see it? Do you see the difference? Same circumstance, different mindset, different results, very different impact in your life.

So when you can turn your eyes intentionally to the abundance that already exists in your life, When you intentionally cultivate thoughts that fuel your feelings of abundance, you take actions that will perpetuate and amplify that abundance. I want to tell you something that is both the best and the worst of news. You will always find what you're looking for. If you're looking for evidence that things are scarce, you will always find it. And if you turn that around, it's also true. If you look for evidence that things are abundant, you will also find it. Now tell me, which one is more conducive to you taking action?

Which one is more conducive to you feeling motivated and excited and happy? Which attitude is most likely to create the kind of life you want? So if you create suffering for yourself by allowing scarcity to claim a stake in your life, start the momentum of that gratitude wheel and turn things around for yourself. Start a gratitude journal. Write three things you're grateful for every morning. You can also put what I call a gratitude ritual in place. You could decide that every time you park your car, you will find one thing to be grateful

for. Or every time you wait in line at the grocery store. And you can incorporate it in your practice as well. List three things you're grateful for before you tune your instrument. Or do it as you zip up your case after you've put your instrument away. Just find simple ways to have gratitude more present in your life. Make it become a reflex. Almost your default way of operating.

I also want to bring you back to episode 176 where I talk about limiting beliefs because scarcity mindset is the result of those ingrained limiting beliefs. Take some time to identify specific beliefs that contribute to your scarcity mentality. What thoughts or fears come to mind when you think about your life or your musical career? Do you believe that it's too late? That you're not enough? That it's too hard? When you start to notice them, challenge those negative beliefs. Challenge them with evidence to the contrary. Can you recall moments when you achieved success, received positive feedback, or secured opportunities? Is it possible that it's not too late? What if you were enough? What if you could figure it all out, even if it's hard?

And to help with this, create your list of accomplishments. List your past successes, whether they're small achievements or significant milestones. Write down everything you can think of. Anytime you showed courage and tried something. every challenge you overcame every little victory you can think of we have a tendency to keep our eyes forward on what we don't have yet and we completely forget to acknowledge ourselves for what we have done we minimize it so change that it's good for you to appreciate the things you have done. Recognize your accomplishments and boost your confidence. And notice how your mind

opens and your heart softens when you start to let go of your firm belief in those limiting thoughts and plant seeds of doubt and possibilities. I remember vividly my first steps towards abundance mindset. Back in the early 2000s, I had an affirmation CD from Shakti Gawain, the author of the amazing book, Creative Visualization. And one of the affirmation was, this is an abundant universe and there is plenty for all of us. And let me tell you, I remember how that sentence landed for me the first time I heard it. It took my breath away. It was so different from anything I had ever heard before. I wouldn't say it transformed me overnight. It's not easy to let go of long ingrained beliefs, but things did shift for me

in a powerful way in that moment. Once that seed was in my head, it kept on blossoming. So in parting, I'm going to leave you with one short and simple additional tip to move towards abundance. Adopt a mindfulness practice. Incorporate mindfulness technique into your daily routine to stay present and reduce your anxiety about the future. Mindfulness can really help us regulate our nervous system. And when you bring mindfulness in your life, you develop a stronger connection to the present moment, and you open the door to seeing and appreciating the abundance around you. So get started this week. Notice when scarcity shows up and counterbalance it with thoughts and feelings of gratitude and abundance. You'll know it's scarcity based on how you feel physically.

When scarcity grabs you, you feel constricted, heavy, deprived, stuck, anxious, confused, hurried. Abundance, on the other hand, feels the opposite way. It's calm, poised, light, open, even joyful. And if you feel the need to get guidance navigating that journey, Book a consult with me. What I help my clients do is tap into what's possible for them in their career and their life that they might have never let themselves contemplate. Over six months, I help them connect with their deep purpose, creative vision, and then we tackle those limiting beliefs and we make things happen.

So maybe there's one big dream you want to go for, but you feel stuck or afraid. well go to mindoverfinger.com slash coaching right now and book your call of course i'm going to have that link for you in the show notes so come to the call it's completely free and when we talk i'm going to help you reconnect to your deep purpose open some possibilities for you and we're going to identify the thoughts that are blocking you and if it's a good fit we can continue working together in my six-month one-on-one track. And no matter what, you're going to come away from that call with clarity. Okay, this is what I have for you this week. I hope this episode gave you hope for a life of abundance and positivity. I send you much love and à bientôt!