How To Overcome Scarcity Mindset As A Social Impact Leader

The last time Daron Dickens appeared on this blog, it was to talk about how to make self-care regular and intentional. Today, I’m calling on his expertise as a marriage and family counselor to talk to us (me included!) about how to overcome scarcity mindset as a social impact leader.

I was chatting with a friend the other day about the fact that entrepreneurship, and leadership in general, magnifies our strengths and weaknesses, confidence and insecurities, gifts and shortcomings. It can be the highest of highs and lowest of lows. And it’s hard enough for an individual, but then throw a team into the mix, and you’ve got a constant mirror for self-reflection.

And here’s the reality: Your scarcity mindset affects your social impact.

There’s a direct correlation because our organizations reflect us as leaders.

Hopefully, you’re constantly trying to improve yourself as you improve your nonprofit, social enterprise, or small business. That includes sharpening your skills and your thinking patterns. As you evolve, so does your organization.

So, if you also struggle with a scarcity mindset, but strive for a growth mindset, I think you can learn something from Daron’s advice. I know you probably feel like there’s never enough time, money, and resources, but if that’s where you focus your thinking, that may always be the case.

There are already enough challenges in your work. Don’t let your mindset be one of them.

What is a Scarcity Mindset?

“Only two left.”

“Act now—supplies are limited!”

“You don’t want to miss out! This opportunity won’t last long.”

These are just a few common messages we hear every day in the world of sales; a world that is perfectly designed to elicit thoughts and feelings of scarcity.

Scarcity is the idea that there’s a limited amount of resources. If we don’t act quickly, we will be on the outside looking in, unable to access valuable resources, money, deals, or opportunities.

In short, we will miss out.

These are a few common (and sometimes silly) examples, but they can still cause us to have real feelings of anxiety. They can cause us to spend money that we don’t have, and buy things that we don’t need. If you’re like most people, you’ve experienced this sometime in your life—and have some object in your house as a reminder.

As harmless as these situations may often be, they are just small examples of a greater mindset that can cause a much larger struggle when it comes to trying to live a healthy, connected life. And isn’t that what we’re all striving for?

Forms of these messages can show up, not only at Walmart, Amazon, or on eBay, but in our politics, our global economy, our societal interactions, or even in our social impact organizations. Certainly in us as leaders.

The scarcity mindset can erode the very things that we hold so dear, and keep us from living out who we really are.

our brains in a Scarcity Mindset

The mindset of scarcity, or the feeling that there’s not enough, especially when it comes to resources, registers in the brain as a threat.

Often when our brain identifies a threat, we slide from the frontal lobe to the lizard brain. The frontal lobe is the area that allows us to problem solve, to access creativity, to connect relationally, and to see things from many different sides.

The lizard brain, as you probably know, is only concerned with eliminating the threat, usually through flight, fight, or freezing. Most of the time, this comes in the form of a ”us versus THEM” mentality.

Essentially, the lizard brain skews data and causes perception to overtake reality.

Meaning, it may have you thinking things that simply aren’t true. (But they feel true.)

Abundance and Scarcity: A Complicated Relationship

Here’s the truth; the reality of things, if you will: In the United States, we live in a time where abundance is at an all-time high.

We live in a time where you can buy almost anything you could ever imagine cheaply, and with a click of a button. If that weren’t enough, strolling through the aisles of your neighborhood megamart can satisfy almost any whim you might ever experience. Not only that, but the things that we have are bigger, faster, and more sophisticated than ever before.

So what’s the problem?

Why aren’t we satisfied? And worse, why do we seem to be struggling with accumulating more and more because we feel that we have less and less?

You can blame it on marketing, or the need to create a market for things that should last much longer in a quickly-changing technological society, or a political scheme to get people more malleable, or even an overarching alien conspiracy.

The truth is more complex, though. A mix of many things from many sources. We may never find out for sure, and we certainly don’t have control over a lot of these areas.

One thing we do have control over is what we do despite the messages.

When we give in to the scarcity mindset, we tend to become more suspicious, less likely to share the resources that we have, and more likely to live a life of discontent.

• Being aware that this mindset doesn’t align with our reality can help.

• Making decisions based on your values rather than the emotional reaction of these messages you hear every day will allow you to live out who you are.

• Focusing less on where the messages are coming from, and more how to live according to your values regardless of the messages will, in turn, erode the credibility and effectiveness of the messages.

3 Tips for Beating the Scarcity Mindset as a Social Impact Leader

Here are a few helpful suggestions for living out your values rather than through the fear and anxiety of scarcity mindset.

1. Work from a realistic budget.

By using a budget you can see what you actually have and don’t have. You will be able to see what is coming in and out so that you don’t get caught up in fear and anxiety. Likewise, it will allow you to know what spending is frivolous and what spending is necessary.

Make a plan for how to scale and save when times are good, and how to cut back when times are tough. Having a plan also allows you to feel more in control, and having a budget allows you to deal with facts rather than feelings.

Also consider your money mindset. How do you feel about money? Is it good, bad, just a tool to continue your work? The thoughts, emotions, and “power” you give to money will show up in many ways, both personally and professionally, and if you don’t start building a better relationship with money, it will always seem beyond your control.

2. Work with other nonprofits and social enterprises in the same area you are serving.

Scarcity mentality will cause you to see them as the enemy. However, if you’re really working towards a common cause, they are your allies not your enemies. There shouldn’t be a market share on goodness.

Find ways to collaborate so that each of you plays to your strengths and continues to serve the community as a whole. You probably do it a little bit differently anyway, and those differences may complement one another more than you realize.

Just like there’s room for more than one Mexican restaurant in your town, there’s room for multiple people serving the same cause!

3. Generosity begets generosity.

In a world where giving or buying is essential for the survival of your nonprofit or social impact company, a scarcity mentality has no place. Generosity isn’t just for the people that you’re asking to support you, or for the people you support, but also in the way you live out your mission as a leader.

You’ll find that your work is more fulfilling, both as an individual and as a team, because you feel more aligned with your purpose. (And increased satisfaction is a remedy for burnout.) It’s also quite possible that those who benefit from your work will notice a difference, and that your reputation in the community may become more positive as well.

Live intentionally. Live with value. Be aware. Act according to who you are inside regardless of what is happening outside. Remember, we are always better together than we are in isolation.

From KP: If you’d like to continue learning, here are a two resources on scarcity mindset that I’ve come across recently:

• How to Poverty Mindset Sabotages Your Fundraising

• Why the Scarcity Mindset is Hurting Our Financial Sustainability and Social Impact

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Daron Dickens is a Marriage and Family Therapist who has practiced for 18 years. He also previously served as a pastor for 20 years. He lives in Clarksville, Tennessee, with his wife, Margaret, and his sons, Truman and Carter. He loves pie, reading, coffee, and everything baseball.

You can find him on:

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Instagram

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I’m Kristi Porter, and I help cause-focused organizations understand and execute effective marketing campaigns so they can move from stressed to strategic. Your resources may be limited, but your potential isn’t. Whether you’re a nonprofit, social enterprise, or small business who wants to give back, I’ll show you how to have a bigger impact.

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3 Foolproof Ways to Avoid Burnout at the End of the Year

Are you struggling with burnout as we come to the end of the year? I was, until very recently. I think it's pretty common, and probably one reason we look forward to the holidays—we can take a few days off without any guilt.

Burnout is an ugly monster. At the very least, it can slow us down and waste our time. At most, we can become unrecognizable. Tired, cranky, disinterested, shells of ourselves. I also struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder, so I know that as much as I love this time of year, it has other hazards as well.

But I've got a business to run and a job to do, and I know you can relate. I only have the "luxury" of slowing down so much before everything is completely disrupted. So, what do we do? How do we cope? Do we just run headlong into the holidays, hoping that will save us? I don't think so, since most of us arrive on January 2nd's doorstep with that feeling of "needing a vacation from our vacation." 

In my past and recent experience, I think there might be a couple of other solutions we can turn to so that burnout doesn't get the best of us.

REGULAR SELF-CARE PREVENTS BURNOUT

This solution is likely the most obvious answer to you. It's tossed around a lot, especially at the beginning and end of the year. However, in last week's post from my friend, Daron, he points out that self-care is not something to be pursued when you're at the end of your rope. It's to be practiced regularly, throughout the year, so that you don't find yourself a frazzled lump of a person in the fetal position on the floor. (<-- speaking from experience)

I'm certainly not perfect at it, but here's what it looks like for me.

• Monthly massages. These actually started as a result of some back issues, so it's more of a therapeutic massage, but I get them regularly, even when I'm not having other problems.

• Travel. I love travel so much. It's life-giving to me. But since I was getting my business off the ground this year, I traveled much less than usual. And boy, did I feel it! I had the opportunity to housesit right before Thanksgiving in the North Georgia mountains for a few days, and just that short time and distance away did wonders for me.

• Retreats. My goal is to take short, quarterly retreats. For the last two years, I've taken an annual retreat in January, and will be doing so again. But this year, I decided to make them quarterly. I squeezed in two away from home this year (January and March), one in a co-working space (August), and one at home (November). All of these were extremely beneficial, and helped me refocus on work and life.

• Friends. I have amazing friends, and I'm sure you do too. But with life and work, most of them having kids, and my tendency to be a hermit, I see them far less than I'd like. However, I notice that when I do get together with friends, my days and weeks are better. So, I try and schedule to see friends a few times per month.

• Walks. I live near a beautiful trail, and I love to get out there and take a walk. Even though I usually listen to business podcasts while I walk, it still does my heart good to be in a natural setting.

These may, or may not, resonate with you. We're all different. They key is to find things you love, and make them a part of your regular schedule. The trick in executing them is to actually put them on your calendar. Good intentions only get you so far, but we often live according to our calendars.

I put my retreat dates on my calendar at the beginning of the year. I schedule my massages a month in advance. My travel is often planned weeks or months ahead too. So, prioritize your self-care throughout the year to avoid burnout at the end.

Accountability partner/peer group

I've had mentors for years, and value them immensely. But this year was the first time I've ever had an accountability partner. I can honestly say it was one of the best things I did for myself and my business this year.

You can do this one-on-one, or with a small group of people. It can be formal, or less so, according to your preferences. I began with a single partner, but we are actually expanding it to a small group of women next year, and are pretty excited about it. 

Depending on your role at your nonprofit or social enterprise, you may already have one or more co-workers that you can confide in, or collude with. That's important, for sure. However, just having someone to gripe and gossip with isn't enough. The accountability piece is vital. You need someone to encourage you, to push you to be better, and to be a sounding board when needed. 

This is especially important for those in leadership positions where there are likely less options for peer-to-peer relationships. So, having someone outside of the organization to be that person is crucial. 

Accountability partners help each other get things done. We motivate one another, and sometimes, we just listen to one another. We all have good days and bad days in lives and in business, and it's a beautiful thing to have someone to help get you through them. Sure, you also have co-workers, roommates, spouses, etc, that can do that as well, but accountability partners relate differently because they should hold a similar position or responsibilities, and have similar goals. They serve a special purpose.

Note: For you introverts out there (my people!), having an accountability partner or peer group is an excellent solution for you too. They're limited in size, so not overwhelming, and we tend to function mostly inside our heads, so we need others to gain more perspective. This solution could be huge for you, so don't skip over it!

Habits/Routines

I'll be honest, this one totally snuck up on me in the past week. I would have never guessed that habits and routines could help fight burnout. And you may be skeptical as well, but hang with me.

Though I am an INFJ (with sometimes some strong emphasis on the J), I still fight the monotony of habits and routines. There are some things I still want to be flexible. In fact, have always liked freelancing for the fact that it changes. I get bored easily, so predictability isn't always my friend.

However, for the past couple of weeks I've been prepping for January. I want to get a strong start, and that means I lay the foundation now. So, I've been participating in some online business challenges to accomplish short-term goals. 

Through the posts, videos, and webinars in these challenges, the hosts have been talking about how successful people have strong morning and nighttime routines, as well as daily habits. The importance of these things is that they will carry you through when the motivation wanes.

We all start the New Year with goals and resolutions, only to wave bye bye to them a few weeks later. And that's often because we didn't build in the habits that would get us to the finish line.

So, I've been thinking a lot about this over the past week or so. When I'm not stressed and in a time crunch, I like to start my day with the Calm meditation app, 5-Minute Journal, and maybe Blinkist. But when I am stressed or feel like I have no time, I skip all of this by waking up and reaching for my phone so that I can check my email. Sound familiar?

I was on several, big deadlines prior to Thanksgiving, and I was stressed. I started feeling burnout creeping in. Luckily, I had that little trip, and that helped, but the beginning of December has been hard again.

So this week, I decided to go back to that slower morning routine that I enjoyed, even though I didn't feel like I had the time. I wasn't waiting for January. I even added in a five-minute yoga video from YouTube. And you know what? It helped my mindset and that has trickled through my day. I also looked at my Calm app, and it showed that I'd skipped all of November. Coincidence? I think not.

These sort of habits and routines also have strong ties to self-care. However, there are many other habits and routines you could choose, such as exercise, eating healthy, taking a nap, focusing on big tasks in the morning, only having meetings after lunch, checking email only twice per day, and many other things. By making any of them a regular part of your life, you are ensuring that you keep functioning and taking care of yourself and your work when times get hard. And this, friends, keeps burnout at bay.

What do you do to combat burnout? I'd love to hear!

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing, consulting and strategy services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing, and business communications. I believe that cause-focused organizations like yours are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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How to Make Self-Care Regular and Intentional

Today's guest post comes from Daron Dickens, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and one of my bestest friends for the past 15+ years. He's one of the smartest people I know, and I credit Daron with helping me stay sane and mentally healthy (depending on who you ask, I guess).

While this is often "the most wonderful time of the year," it can also be extremely difficult for a number of reasons. I think it's hard for pretty much everyone to invest in self-care, but as we are people who value purpose over profit, I think it's even harder. There's more on the line, and getting in additional sales and donations during the holidays is a lot of pressure, especially when you're trying to filter those funds into a cause. I want your nonprofit or social enterprise to flourish, but not at the sake of your health.

So, I wanted Daron to share some practical tips for managing self-care. I hope you find them helpful!

It Wasn't In My Plan

My sophomore year in college was the first time I experienced it. I had begun my college career two years prior with a solid plan. I took AP and college classes in high school, and because of that, I had been able to enter college as a sophomore.

I had a plan, I had a mission, and I was on target.

My schedule was perfectly designed to fit the maximum allowable number of class hours per semester in order to attack my double major. All of this while working a part-time job to put myself through school, and rock a rich social life. My schedule was delicately designed with activities back to back to back. I want to let you know—I was killing it! That’s when it happened...

Something unexpected.

What was that unexpected thing? Well, it’s actually incidental to the story. It’s not what happened, it’s the fact that it was unexpected. That’s all it took. I was kicking butt and taking names. Everything was working perfectly. It only took one unexpected thing, a bump in the road with no way to see it coming or prepare, to set the whole thing on fire. But more about the fire in a minute.

As I said, I was in my sophomore year in college and killing it when the unexpected happened. Way back, when people didn’t have their own personal computers, there was an ancient center where everyone would gather: The Computer Lab. This was a place I knew well, especially as I worked on a particular project for my Intro to Psychology class.

For this particular class our entire grade rested on one project that was due the last day of class. The assignment was to put together a book filled with our typed notes from the class, three book reviews in the field, our philosophy of a health family, and four essays from a list of topics. It was quite an undertaking, and took the whole semester to complete.

The only problem was some "Jimmy Jack" (my word for idiot) loaded a computer virus onto the computers in the lab which turned words into random symbols from the oldest document you’d opened to the newest. So most of my book was destroyed by the end of the semester before I discovered it. I had to do the whole thing over.

I was taking summer school (I told you I was killing it), upping the hours of my job for the summer, and living across the street with my roommate’s family. Now I had to fit in time to go to the computer lab to redo the massive project per my teacher’s extension.

Each day, I would go to class from 8:00 a.m. until noon, eat my lunch from 12:00 to 12:30 p.m., slave over the computer in the lab from 12:30 to 3:00 p.m., come home to change for work from 3:00 to 3:30 p.m., then go to my job from 4:00 until about 10:30 p.m. It was that schedule that finally did me in.

My Wake-Up Call

It happened when I came home to change for work after the computer lab. I “woke up” to find myself sitting on the bed with my face four inches from a blank wall—just staring at it. I looked at the clock and realized that I’d been like that for about half an hour. I was late for work. I couldn’t even remember sitting on the bed, but there I was, a walking zombie. My brain was done.

That was the first time my brain hijacked my body, but it certainly wasn’t the last time. This is the natural result of not investing in self-care. As my friend, Hal Runkel, wrote in his book, ScreamFree Parenting:

“If you do not take intentional retreats, you will take unintentional escapes.”

It’s just how your brain works. A retreat is something that you do intentionally. It’s a backing up and regrouping so that you can go and fight again another day. An escape is completely disengaging. The problem with an escape is everything that you escaped from is still waiting on you when you return. Rather than being recharged and ready to go fight again, you’re in the exact same spot that you started.

 

A Little About Retreats

Many of us, especially those who are self-employed or in cause-focused organizations, have trouble even thinking about taking a retreat, let alone identifying when they’re needed. Instead of retreating, we go on vacation, completely exhausted. If this vacation actually involved rest, we might be able to get back, but only to zero.

I’m here to help. I'll start with the most important foundational factor: how to determine you need a retreat.

It's not when you're exhausted.

It is not when you are stressed beyond the norm.

It is not even after a big project.

All of those depend on the environment and the situation you are in. To truly utilize self-care, it must not be dependent on your situation. Situations change wildly, your health should not.

It’s the major problem with finding time to care for ourselves . . . there is never time. There will always be more things to do than time to do them in. Unexpected things are not unexpected because they happen routinely.

Here's a simple framework for you to implement essential self-care so that you can take intentional retreats rather than finding yourself staring at a wall for half an hour in an unintentional escape.

Most of us do not have unlimited resources, whether that is time, energy, or other resources like money. So, it’s important to think in terms of a realistic lifestyle. You don’t have to think about a three-month unpaid sabbatical or that perfect vacation on the beach. Everything you do for self-care doesn’t have to be the same. Obviously, different activities provide different amounts of rest and recuperation. The only practical way to work in your normal schedule is by spreading out elements of self-care strategically. We call this “Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly.”

WEEKLY

This is something that you do each week that is low-key and low maintenance, but life-giving. It’s not limited to only once a week, but it needs to happen at least once a week. This can be as simple as working out, getting a massage, or just lounging on the couch watching football or your favorite HGTV show. This is the time you’re going to give yourself permission to rest and to renew on a small scale each week. Whatever that looks like to you.

 

MONTHLY

This is something that might be a little more involved. This might be something that you would need to hire a babysitter for if you have kids or schedule further in advance. It’s something that might take a whole day or many hours. This might be the date night with your spouse. This might be going to an event that brings life to you like a concert or a movie opening or a church event. This is more high-maintenance than weekly, but not a break-the-bank kind of activity. This is something that you could do very easily within your budget but only in a monthly timeframe.

 

QUARTLY

This is where you’re going to go all out. This doesn’t have to be extravagant or expensive, but it is going to be a lot more involved than something you can do on a weekly basis. This might be a retreat, conference, a staycation where you go somewhere void of electronics, or just simply a weekend without the kids where you give yourself permission to completely veg out the whole weekend.

 

Final Self-Care Tips

There is one pothole here that you want to avoid. The name of the game on your quarterly event is to RENEW. Often people use this time to do something exciting or fun that they have always wanted to do. This is how we often do a vacation. If you're anything like me, I often need a vacation to recoup from the vacation! So, be careful that your objective is relaxation and recuperation. That is the win.

This is something that you’re probably going to have to plan well in advance and, like I said, you’re only able to do once-in-a-while. Most likely you won’t do the same thing each quarter. The different quarters just give you four, different types of things that you can do once a year. This will give you plenty of time to plan and to budget both your time and money.

Now the hard part: actually planning things out. I find that many people think this is a great idea, but they spend all of their time thinking about what they want to do quarterly. My advice is to get out your calendar and reserve the time for these breaks right now. It will force you to plan things out rather than keep waiting until the time magically appears, or you think of the perfect activity.

The time will not magically appear. This is something that you have to value just as much as your work, your family, or your personal health. If you do, self-care can be the thing that is not an ER to your crisis, but the apple a day that will keep the doctor away in the first place.

PS: If you haven't read them yet, Daron also recommends Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung and Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. I totally second both of these!

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Daron Dickens is a Marriage and Family Therapist who has practiced for 18 years. He also previously served as a pastor for 20 years. He lives in Clarksville, Tennessee, with his wife, Margaret, and his sons, Truman and Carter. He loves pie, reading, coffee, and everything baseball.

You can find him on:

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Instagram

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing, consulting and strategy services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing, and business communications. I believe that cause-focused organizations like yours are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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3 Tips for Finding a Personal Mentor

Ever wish you could borrow from someone's experience? 

Would you like to bounce ideas off of someone with greater expertise?

Do you need feedback from a professional in your field?

Could you use some encouragement and support from someone who's "been there?"

These are the kind of perks you get by having a mentor. (Plus, so much more!)

It really doesn't matter what kind of role you fill at your organization. Anyone from the founder to the part-time assistant can benefit from a mentor, because if you care about what you do (and I know you do!), you want to do it better.

I've had the benefit of having four official mentors during my life. The first two were spiritual mentors. The third is still currently my all-around mentor. And the fourth is new. She serves as a business mentor since launching Signify was a completely new endeavor with a lot of unique, and exciting, challenges.

My guess is that one of these might be of interest to you as well. I know many of us are in Facebook Groups, signed up for online courses, and attend networking groups because we want to learn from successful people. And whether you want to entirely emulate them or just pick up a few pointers in a specific area, mentors are one of the best ways to make this happen. And guess what—the rules are up to the two of you!

I wanted to share this guest post with you because I've been deeply appreciative of having caring mentors over the years, and I've also been asked about how I found my mentors. I'd love for you to have the same opportunity, whether it comes along naturally, or you give it a little nudge.

Read My 3 Tips for Finding a Personal Mentor.

I also talk extensively about mentors here:

The Key to Your Success May Be Staring You In The Face—Literally (blog post)

How to Find a Mentor When You’re a Freelancer or Entrepreneur (interview by The Penny Hoarder)

Let me know how it goes!

PS: I use the term "personal" mentor just to define a one-on-one relationship, not the type of mentoring. It's up to you to decide!

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing, consulting and strategy services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing and business communications. I believe that cause-focused organizations like yours are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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