‘We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.’ Buddha
An abundance mindset is about believing you have the power to determine your life choices. It’s about knowing there is enough for everyone and therefore living generously and with ease.
Unfortunately, however, that’s not the world promoted in the news or on social media.
So many live in a scarcity mindset believing the world around them to be immovable, their life path to be inevitable, and therefore they must desperately hold on to everything they own including their beliefs and opinions.
It’s never we, only them or us. Nothing good is to be believed. Everything progressive is to be suspected.
Their mind is fixed. Closed. Set.
With an abundance mindset, anything is possible. Even the seemingly impossible is possible.
As I write this, I’m in Phuket, Thailand.
11 years ago we packed up and started traveling the world with little to no money.
In the last 11 years we have traveled to 35+ countries, built several 6 & 7 figure online lifestyle businesses and haven’t even scratched the surface of what we want to achieve yet.
The world is yours for the taking. All you have to do is believe it!
Here’s a few tips on how to create and cultivate an abundance mindset and achieve the life of your dreams.
1. Watch Ted Talks
We are what we consume! Unlike the daily depressing grind of the news, Ted Talks are an excellent way to open our minds, learn new information about the world, listen to positive abundant minded people, and start our day with enthusiasm and excitement.
Instead of reaching for the phone and scrolling the headlines tomorrow morning, try setting up a Ted Talk on YT before you go to bed tonight and watch it as soon as you wake up.
2. Follow the right people on social media
Curare your social media feeds to ensure you’re only following people and accounts that align with your life vision & mission.
There’s so much negativity and hatred on social media these days, this is more important than ever if you want to create an abundance mindset.
Don’t get caught up in senseless arguments online. It’s almost impossible to change others’ world views through opinions. Be the change instead!
3. Surround yourself with the right people
Continuing in the theme of we are what we consume, we’re also heavily influenced by who we surround ourselves with.
Spend less time with toxic friends or family members. Don’t ask opinions of those with ‘can’t do’ attitudes and look to build relationships with like minded people already on your journey.
The more you surround yourself with people with an abundance mindset, the easier it becomes to adopt your own.
4. Practice gratitude
I’m certain you’ve heard this a million times but sometimes it’s not so easy to put into practice.
Develop a daily habit of identifying 1-3 things you’re either incredibly grateful for or are super excited about.
If neither come to mind, then list 3 things you’re curious about.
Curiosity lends itself to an abundance mindset as you explore new thoughts and ideas.
5. Always be learning
Read! A lot.
And if you don’t like reading, listen to podcasts, watch documentaries, create a YouTube habit.
The goal is lifelong learning!
What don’t you know about? Religion, crypto, finance, veganism, CrossFit?
You name it, there’s a documentary, a podcast or a book on it.
Don’t get stuck in a closed mindset of what you know or believe to be true.
Challenge your beliefs, learn about the world and develop an abundance mindset around striving for knowledge.
6. Travel
There’s nothing like traveling around the world to open your eyes and broaden your mind.
To experience countries & cultures vastly different from your own increases tolerance and a deeper understanding of differing world views (something that’s sadly lacking in so much online conversation these days).
The more you understand by first hand experience of what’s happening around the world, the more you start to look beyond your own backyard for ideas and inspiration.
7. Pay attention to your thoughts
What we think about is what we become.
The average person has somewhere around 30 – 50 thousand thoughts a day! Of which 80% are repetitive.
That’s an awful lot of times you can be telling yourself the wrong stories, or instead focusing on an abundance mindset and taking yourself to places you’ve never been before.
Pay attention to what you’re thinking about throughout the day.
Take the time to purposely change any negative thoughts to positive abundant messages as often as you can.
8. Change your language
Alongside becoming aware of your thought processes, watch the language you use.
Beware of negative phrases such as ‘I can’t’, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘that’s impossible’ and change to ‘isn’t that interesting?’ or ‘if I did know…’?
Also be careful not to define yourself negatively with your language.
Phrases such as ‘I am stupid’, or ‘I’m unfit’, or ‘I’m bad at (fill in the blank)’.
Instead, change to ‘that was a stupid decision’, ‘I’m currently engaged in unhealthy behaviours’, or ‘I could definitely improve my skills at….’
It sounds fluffy, but the language you use influences the actions you take.
Try it for a few days and experience the difference.
9. Believe what’s useful (not what’s true)
This is a fabulous tip I first heard from best selling author Mark Manson.
Why always believe what’s true? As long as your beliefs cause no harm why not instead believe what’s useful.
For example, if you’ve recently put on a few pounds, and have been a bit lazy, why not believe you are in fact an athlete waiting to happen!
Or, if you’re trying to get a business off the ground and have no followers, why not believe you are the guru everyone should know they just haven’t found you yet?
Why not believe you’re a best selling author (before you publish your book), or a famous singer (before you release an album), or an amazing family cook (even if you tend to burn toast like me!)
The reality of the world can very quickly make you feel small, insignificant and anything but abundant, so create your own stories & believe what you want!
10. Focus on what you do want, not on what you don’t
Too often we focus on what we don’t want.
I don’t want to be in this relationship. I don’t want to be unhealthy, I don’t want to work in this dead end job. I don’t want to spend my life watching Netflix.
None of those statements can take us to where we want to be.
They’re defeatist in and of themselves, with no benefit except backing up any reasons we have to feel unhappy or unfulfilled.
Instead, focus on what you do want & be specific.
- I want a relationship with someone with an abundance mindset! Someone who’s upbeat, energetic, enjoys life, wants to travel, and loves to laugh!
- I want to be 150lbs, be able to do 10 pull ups and easily hike Machu Picchu.
- I want to build a lifestyle business online & generate $10,000 a month
- I want to join some mastermind groups and go out in the evenings to meet new people and explore new ideas!
How much more positive and action based are those statements!
11. Take action every day
When in doubt, err on the side of action!
The one thing that holds so many of us back from achieving our goals and dreams is lack of action.
We know what we want to do, sometimes we even know where we want to go, but the path ahead seems fraught with difficulty.
More often than not, it’s not as hard as we think it is. In fact life is so much harder when we live our lives not according to our true values.
Become someone who takes small steps forward every single day.
The more action you take, the more momentum you’ll gather and the more of an abundance mindset you will experience.
12. Regularly move out of your comfort zone
The comfort zone is called so for a reason.
It’s comfortable!
The only way to stretch yourself and attract more abundance into your life is to go beyond your comfort zone.
As Neale Donald Walsch says ‘Life begins at the end of your comfort zone’.
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable and watch the world open up to you!
13. Fuel your mind and body with the right stuff
I talked a lot at the start about how we are what we consume, and ensuring you’re feeding your mind with the right information.
The same is true of your body.
If you consume crap, you’ll feel crap and you won’t have the energy to pursue your dreams.
Sure we’re not all angels & there’s nothing like a cold beer on a sunny afternoon, but play the 90/10 game.
Make 90% of what you put into your body energy giving substances like water, vegetables, lean proteins, etc.
Give your mind a fighting chance by being kind to your body.
14. Look for lessons
Always be looking to learn and grow. See every opportunity as a learning opportunity.
Even negative situations are lessons which can help build an abundance mindset.
Look for the lesson in every scenario and use it to learn and grow as a person.
15. Take on new hobbies
When was the last time you mastered something new?
Perhaps it’s doing jigsaw puzzles, painting, or playing Backgammon.
Starting a hobby and learning something you’ve never tried before, expands the mind & uses new parts of your brain.
Instead of Netflix tonight, try something new!
16. Challenge yourself
Set a new challenge for yourself every day or week.
It could be as simple as getting out of bed and doing 5 pushups, going for a 10 min walk or writing for an hour.
Set yourself mini challenges that are easy to stick to and complete.
The more you can complete challenges and do what you say you’re going to do the more you’ll cultivate an abundance mindset and the feeling that you can do anything you set your mind to.
Make it easy to succeed with some quick wins.
17. Forget what you know (think like a child)
Remember how curious you were when you were a child. Questioning everything with a ‘why?’
Why not do the same now? Just because things are, doesn’t make them right.
Regularly ask why something is, simultaneously looking for a better solution.
Challenge common held beliefs and ask what if the opposite were true?
Just the act of questioning the things we take for granted will challenge your mind to think more creatively.
18. Create a daily meditation practice
One of the top recommendations for cultivating an abundance mindset is to start meditating regularly.
Just 10 minutes a day is said to help rewire your brain and get you thinking differently.
I use an app on my phone called Headspace for guided meditation. But meditation can be as simple as sitting comfortably for 5 minutes focusing on your breath.
Learn to control your emotions and take just 5 – 10 mins a day to start meditating.
19. Say affirmations
Alongside meditation, create some affirmations for your life and daily thinking habits.
Just some short sentences which represent the way you want to think.
If you like, write them out on post-it-notes and stick around the house. Or set reminders on your phone to read your affirmations at set times throughout the day.
The more you repeat words and sentences to yourself, the more your brain believes them to be true.
Take action and create just two daily affirmations right now! Set a reminder on your phone to say them to yourself every hour. Try this for 30 days and see what happens!
20. Decorate house with messages of abundance
As with post-it-note affirmations you could also download posters with quotes and messages of abundance.
Print the posters, frame them and hang them around the house.
The more you surround yourself with positive ideas and thoughts, the greater your abundance mindset will grow.
21. Look for good news
So much of life is bad news. Pandemics, wars, economic hardship, crime.
Everywhere you turn people are talking about and regurgitating the bad news they heard that morning.
Look for good news! Follow good news accounts on social media that showcase random acts of kindness.
Ask family members and friends, so what happened today/this week that was good?
Ask your waitress, shop assistant, hairdresser as they share the terrible world problems with you, ‘what’s happened that made you laugh recently?’
Just by searching for good news and stories of happiness you’ll not only find the good in everything, you’ll change other peoples days & outlooks also!
Be the reason someone smiles today!
22. Don’t get caught up in mindless gossip
‘Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds discuss ideas’ – Eleanor Roosevelt
Be someone who talks about ideas!
23. Focus more on what you have, instead of what you want
How often do you stop and appreciate everything you have around you, right now.
Your relationships, your neighborhood, your job or business, your health, the local coffee shop, the park down the road, the fact the sun rises in the morning.
It’s easy to focus on what we want (or don’t have), the luxury vacation, a new car, a bigger house, to be 10lbs lighter, perhaps a new set of knees.
But the fact is, there is greatness around you at this very moment, no matter your current circumstance.
You just have to choose to see it.
24. Focus on how far you’ve come rather than how far you have to go
Most of the time we’re so focused on where we want to go we forget how far we’ve come.
It’s easy to get caught up in how far we still have to go, and yet the whole point of life is the journey, not the destination.
One of my favorite stories is that of Walt Disney who never got to see his dream creation ‘EPCOT’ as he died before it opened.
But can you imagine the fun he had dreaming it, creating it and making it happen?
Create goals for sure. Goals will help us take the right direction.
But focus on the journey.
Smell the roses, stop and get out of your metaphorical car to see what’s around you right now, and appreciate the different places along the way.
Appreciate the people you meet, the experiences you have and the new things you learn.
Most importantly once in a while look back and take a moment to appreciate how far you’ve come!
25. Challenge your limiting beliefs
We all have limiting beliefs.
- I’m too old
- I’m too young
- I’m too fat
- I’m too thin
- I’m not clever enough
- I don’t have enough experience
- I don’t have enough money
- I don’t live in the right area
- I’m not good enough
Start challenging yours today.
Every time you hear yourself start a sentence with ‘I’ or ‘I’m’ – listen to the rest of that sentence and if need be challenge it.
‘I’m too tired’, ‘I’m bored’, ‘I can’t’.
Just for a moment ask what if the opposite were true.
What if I could, what if I were full of energy, what if I was absolutely good enough?
What would that look like?
Keep challenging your beliefs and see what happens!
26. Live your life by themes (you don’t have to have one purpose)
It is true that having a purpose leads to greater motivation.
However you don’t have to have just one. You haven’t necessarily been put on this planet to have one singular calling in life.
What if you have a multitude of purposes throughout your life?
Instead of looking for that one passionate purpose to guide you for all eternity, live your life in themes.
Right now might be a crypto theme for example. A few years from now might be a writing theme, or a health theme.
Maybe you have an abundance of themes!
Don’t shy away from being multi-passionate just because you’ve been told to only focus on one thing.
The trick is to only focus on one thing at a time.
27. Experiment! Don’t be afraid to try lots of things
If you haven’t failed yet it’s because you haven’t tried hard enough!
Most overnight successes are the result of years of experimentation.
We now live in a world where experimenting is easy and costs little.
Stop worrying about what other people think and try as many different projects, businesses, health kicks as you like.
Find what works and do more of that!
Most importantly…
28. Fail often
I love the saying ‘failure is feedback’ as unless you’re skydiving or bungee jumping it’s absolutely true!
If you fail often, it means you’re trying lots of different things. And experimentation leads to success!
Keep trying and failing, trying and failing until something works!
29. Focus on your strengths
What are your strengths?
Identify them and focus on them. If you’re constantly battling away trying to master your weaknesses you’re just going to tire yourself out.
You have natural abilities and personality traits. Figure out what those are and put them front and center of all you do.
Focusing on your strengths will give you greater levels of self belief which will help to cultivate an abundance mindset.
30. Move away from toxic relationships or people
If you have toxic relationships or people in your life, get out. As soon as you can.
If they’re family members, limit your exposure as much as possible. If friends, find new ones!
Toxic people will bring you down and no matter how much you may want to, you cannot change their world view with words.
Go and be the change, and if they want to, they’ll see who you’re becoming and change also.
You are not responsible for how other people think or see the world. You can only be what you’d love to see in others, and demonstrate how the world could be.
31. Don’t believe everything you hear or read
Do your own due diligence!
There’s so much fake news and false facts doing the rounds on social media these days, it’s sometimes hard to determine what’s real and what’s not.
Be the person who investigates and explores statements passed off as facts online. Fuel your mind with knowledge and information from both sides of a story.
Get a full understanding of a subject and always be open to others opinions and suggestions.
An abundance mindset considers all aspects of a situation before forming an opinion, and even then, continues to adopt an open mind to a changing world.
32. Give to others
The truest of all happiness comes from giving.
Think about Christmas or birthdays. What makes you happier? Receiving a gift or seeing the look on someone’s face when they realize how much thought you put into something for them?
If you’re struggling with happiness in any area of your life, ask how you can help someone else today?
How can you make someone else smile?
By giving to others, even just a smile will help to develop a happy and abundant mindset!
33. Always look for the win win
Instead of focusing on what you get out of an experience, how can you make it a win win for all involved?
Whether that’s an everyday occurrence, a business deal, a relationship or even a dispute.
By cultivating an abundance mindset & looking for ways for everyone to win, you’ll experience greater levels of happiness.
34. Appreciate the mundane
When was the last time you spent 5 minutes watching the clouds move across the sky, or the sun setting behind the trees or even the grass moving with the breeze?
When did you last celebrate that you get to flick a switch in the morning and have instant hot coffee, or turn a tap and have clean drinking or washing water?
When did you last appreciate that you can light a flame & cook a meal or jump into a car and travel across a city, or pop into a shop and buy a loaf of bread?
As you’re taking these things for granted there are people sleeping on concrete floors, rummaging through rubbish dumps for things to make and sell, walking miles to get a bucket of water and eating bugs for protein.
If you’re lucky enough to brush your teeth and get into a warm bed tonight, spare a thought for those less fortunate and appreciate the mundaneness of your life.
You are surrounded by abundance.
35. Create systems to help you achieve your goals
Systems help to create an abundance of time.
If you never seem to have enough time chances are you don’t have great systems.
As James Clear says in ‘Atomic Habits’, we don’t rise to the level of our goals, we fall to the level of our systems’.
Review your regular habits and tasks each week and work to create systems to reduce time wasted.
36. Think big & set big goals – 10x your thinking
Peter Diamandis is my favorite resource for cultivating an abundance mindset.
His advice is to 10x your thinking. If you’re going to dream and set goals, why not make them massive!?
Next time you dare to dream, do so by imagining you have all the time and money in the world and no limitations at all.
Ask ‘what would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail’.
An abundance mindset comes from thinking big. Don’t limit your dreams!
37. Do more of what you love
How much time do you spend doing what you love?
Why does life always have to be a challenge?
Why not do more of what you love? Who’s telling you, you can’t??
Make a list of all the things you love to do and start to incorporate them into your days/weeks.
The more you get the most out of life, the happier and more abundant you’ll feel.
38. Spend time with kids
Have you ever noticed how kids have abundant energy, minimal self doubt and no inhibitions!
As we get older we start to feel the judgment from our peers and those around us and suddenly become very self conscious about who we are and the actions we take.
Where possible (and with parental permission) spend some time in the company of kids and immerse yourself in their natural energy and inquisitive nature.
39. Get plenty of sleep
Sleep has recently been a buzzword amongst the health & business industries.
What used to be the ‘hustle, hustle, hustle’, culture has turned into the ‘get as much sleep as possible’ generation.
Whether trendy or not, the fact is sleep is imperative to feeling great!
The better & deeper you sleep, the more energy you’ll have to adopt an abundance mindset and see the world as a place of opportunity.
It’s not just about the hours you sleep, it’s the quality.
Some quick tips; stop drinking caffeine by lunchtime, drink plenty of water throughout the day but stop by about 7pm so you’re not on the loo all night.
Don’t eat too late, avoid alcohol and put your devices down minimum 1 hour before bed.
Watch your sleep quality increase!
40. Spend time getting to know yourself – EQ
Have you ever noticed how the most self aware people seem the most confident?
This is because they have high levels of emotional intelligence.
They know who they are, what their strengths and weaknesses are, what they like and don’t like and most importantly what they’ll stand for and what they won’t.
They’re in control of their emotions and tend to suck the juice out of life.
The rest of us are still finding ourselves and some just flat out aren’t looking!
Take time to get to know who you really are. Own up to your ego, assess how you react to different situations and educate yourself on how to manage your emotions.
The higher your EQ, the more abundant your mindset.
41. Declutter
A cluttered space equals a cluttered mind!
You don’t have to be a total minimalist, but the less crap you have around you the more space there is for ideas to develop and grow.
42. Create plenty of ‘me’ time
How much time do you actually spend just with yourself?
Not with your kids, spouse, parents etc. Just you, doing something for just you?
Getting a massage, going for a walk, singing in the car, or just sitting in the garden or in a coffee shop watching the world go by?
We live in a world where we’re busy & bombarded with ‘stuff’ 24/7!
To cultivate an open and abundant mind, you need to take time out.
Let your mind wander, your thoughts drift and allow yourself to do nothing and think nothing even if for only 5 mins a day.
Take the pressure off for a minute. Free your mind!
43. Make time for friends and family
Does work come before anything else?
Particularly you entrepreneurs and lifestyle business owners!
I know you!
Do you struggle to spend time with friends and family because you’re on a mission?
Do you promise to yourself you’ll spend more time once you’ve hit a financial goal or a specific promotion?
Don’t wait!
As much as I’m encouraging you to adopt an abundance mindset, time is finite.
Your kids will be grown up before you know it. Your spouse will grow old. You will grow old.
Grab every day and take the time to enjoy your family right now!
44. Practice Kaizen
Kaizen is a Japanese word for ‘small improvements’.
Tony Robbins calls this ‘CANI’ – continuous and never ending improvement.
Strive to make small improvements every day. Walk for 1 minute more, write just 50 more words, do one more rep in the gym.
Just small incremental improvements each day will compound over time to make a huge difference in your life long term.
We all want results yesterday and as a result sabotage our efforts. Play the long game.
45. Learn about stoicism
It may seem counterintuitive to learn about needing and wanting less when we’re talking about developing an abundance mindset.
However, the stoic beliefs of wisdom, justice, courage and moderation, promote abundance through virtue.
If you can harness wisdom, emotional mastery, get comfortable moving beyond your comfort zone, invest in the greater good and practice self control you will be abundant.
To truly create an abundance mindset this is definitely a philosophy worth deeper investigation.
46. Learn about technology & the future
The future may seem scary. Web3, NFT’s, Crypto, etc.
However, the more you learn about it, the less scary it becomes.
Look for beginners guides on Amazon, listen to podcasts or watch some YouTube videos.
You don’t need to become an expert, but a basic understanding of what’s coming will help you to see and grab opportunities as they arise.
47. Learn about developing/emerging countries
If you don’t get a chance to travel across the globe, it’s imperative you learn about other people’s countries and cultures.
You can’t possibly create an abundant view of the world without understanding how other people live.
Set a goal to read about one country a week on Wikipedia. If any catch your interest you can explore further.
Be the person who forms views and opinions based on a deeper knowledge of the entire world.
48. Know your finances – Financial IQ
Have you got a hold of your monthly budget? Do you know your own net worth? Do you know how much you need to live the life of your dreams?
If you don’t have a basic grasp of your finances, you’ll forever be living in a world of scarcity.
Use one of the many budgeting apps available online, or simply a google sheet, and start to regularly track and monitor your finances.
- Know how much you’re spending and on what.
- Know how much you need to earn on a monthly basis to feel or be financially free.
- Calculate your net worth and actively work to increase it.
Simply being more aware will make a huge difference.
49. Model others
Who do you know who has an abundance mindset you’d love to emulate?
I already mentioned Peter Diamandis as someone I admire and follow.
Who do you admire and respect either on or offline?
As Sir Isaac Newton said ‘If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’.
Who’s shoulders can you stand on? Who can you model? Who can you learn from?
50. Engage in random acts of kindness
Have you ever randomly paid for a stranger’s cup of coffee? Or helped someone out who didn’t have enough change? Or given a car park ticket with time left to someone just parking?
If so, doesn’t it feel good?
Engage in random acts of kindness as often as possible. Look for scenarios where you can assist others.
Not only will you make their day, but your cup will runneth over with abundance!
How to Create an Abundance Mindset Summary
Cultivating an abundance mindset is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.
Rather than seeing the world as a finite, immovable place where your path is predetermined, you can take control of your future.
You’ll understand that you are responsible for your life and that your choices, decisions and actions will determine the path you take.
Just adopting one or two of the above strategies will help to cultivate your abundance mindset.
You don’t have to do or be everything to achieve success.
And always remember, abundance isn’t about having more ‘stuff’. Ultimately, it’s about knowing you can change your own circumstances and create an abundance of happiness in your life while positively impacting the lives of others.