by Tom Shivers, an SEO professional and president of Capture Commerce

Recently I met with some colleagues and discussed a topic that sometimes strikes business owners with fear: competitors and how to deal with them. We talked about the fear of losing business to a competitor who is not ethical, or cheap or bigger or who is perceived to be better but isn’t.

Afterward I remembered something from a book I read a few years ago:
“Abundance Mentality. Our thinking is that there is plenty out there for everybody…It flows out of a deep sense of personal worth and security. It results in sharing recognitions, profits, and responsibility. It opens up creative new options and alternatives. It turns personal joy and fulfillment outward. It recognizes unlimited possibilities for positive interaction, growth, and development.

Most people are deeply scripted in the scarcity mentality. They see life as a finite pie: if someone gets a big piece of the pie, it means less for everybody else.”
From Principle-Centered Leadership by Stephen Covey

In an article by Penny Tremblay, The Benefits of an Abundance Mentality, she outlines the characteristics of these two types of thinking:

Scarcity thinking:
1. Victory means success at the expense of someone else.
2. Difficulty showing happiness for the success of others including family, friends and business associates.
3. Difficulty sharing credit, recognition, power and profit.
4. Difficulty being a team player because differences in opinion are perceived as disloyalty.

Abundance thinking:
1. Victory means success that brings mutually beneficial results to all involved.
2. Recognizes unlimited opportunities for positive growth and development.
3. Realizes that there are three ways to do things, my way, your way and a better way.
4. Appreciates the uniqueness of others.

Yep, I have the scarcity mentality but sometimes I have the abundance mentality. It’s a constant battle I fight inside. I want to think abundance, but like Covey says, I’ve been deeply scripted with scarcity thinking. How do I turn my fear around until I fully adopt the abundance mentality?

One day a few years ago, I was invited to lunch by one of my big, ugly competitors to talk shop with a bunch of other competitors, some of whom are now famous in our industry. I discovered that many of these guys were lots of fun to be around, open to talk about common problems in our industry and learn about the differences in philosophy. I found that a few of these “competitors” could be assets for my business and began using them. Some of them found that they could use me as a resource as well.

Along my business growth journey I’m learning that it pays to take risks by facing my fears and doing the very thing I fear the most at times. Three of the guys in my group keep harping on these abundance ideas:

• Always saying good things about everyone else and sometimes bragging about their on abilities.
• These abundance thinker guys seem to turn the tables on negative thinking and speculations by sharing examples from their own experience, pointing out the obvious “elephant in the room” and encouraging rather than blaming people for short comings.
• They foster an environment of collaboration to solve problems and build teams.

I still have a way to go on my journey to get where these guys are, but I wonder… a few years from now maybe I’ll be the new “rock star” in my industry.

What tips do you have about abundance thinking?

Close this WindowBookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us

DotNetKicks Digg diigo dropjack.com dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl

Google Hugg Jeqq Kaboodle linkaGoGo LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb Netvouz

Newsvine PlugIM popcurrent Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy sk*rt Slashdot Sphere

Sphinn Spurl.net Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Webride Windows Live Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »