The Scarcity Trap
Today we announced that the Alchemist Blockchain Techstars Accelerator would not be continuing with a 2020 class of the accelerator due to some unforeseen circumstances with the partner for the program.
A few days ago, we were all systems go. I was actively meeting with companies to apply for the next class and we were in conversations about expanding to further cities. Things were looking up. How quickly things have changed.
Today I am in the unfortunate position to no longer be able to build the accelerator program that I’ve spent the past 18 months on, and which I came to New York to establish. In the next month, I may be without a job and income in one of the most expensive cities in the world. To complicate matters, my visa status in the US is linked to my employment.
When I first found out the news, a million thoughts rushed through my head. I noticed how my mind immediately shifted from the possibilities that the future had to new thoughts about how to preserve, maintain, cut spending and secure that which I already have. As I observed these thoughts, I felt a remarkable shift in my feelings: from hope and abundance, to stress, uncertainty and scarcity.
Watching the process unfold reminded me of the incredible NPR podcast, The Scarcity Trap. I have listened to this podcast multiple times.
The Scarcity Trap describes when an individual finds themselves in a situation where all they can do is obsess about the situation and the limitations that it brings.
“It leads you to take certain behaviors that in the short term help you to manage scarcity, but in the long term only make matters worse.”
For example, when a person is starving, all they can do is think about where their next meal will come from. A person who is under extreme financial pressure, can only think about is where their next $ will come from. It is effectively a survival mechanism that creates tunnel vision, forcing you to only be able to focus on the thing that you perceive to be lacking most.
As a result, people in the scarcity trap can no longer make optimal decisions about how to get out of the situation, despite previously having been able to do so. To quote the podcast:
“Scarcity takes a huge toll. It robs people of insight. And it helps to explain why, when we’re in a hole, we sometimes dig ourselves even deeper.”
Being in the scarcity trap in effect keeps people trapped in both a mindset of scarcity and in-turn, the actual reality of scarcity.
As my world of perceived certainty begins to collapse around me, I have noticed just how readily my mind wants to go into this trap of over focusing on the scarcity and how I actively need to work against it, despite not being in a true situation of scarcity and having multiple potential options available to me.
So what are effective tools to use against this trap?
For me, I’ve found the following helpful:
1. Building a buffer: Building a financial buffer in life has been a principle that I’ve fortunately stuck with since I was 18 years old and first learned of the principle of “paying yourself first” or saving 10% of your income. Since then, I have saved 10% of whatever income I have earned which over time has built a financial buffer. 20 years later, this is coming in handy.
2. Routines of consciousness: Routines that let you tap into a higher state of consciousness that focus on abundance instead of scarcity. For some this is exercise, meditation, yoga or prayer. For me this is yoga and meditation. Both allow me to connect with my own internal worth and the sense of abundance that exists within each of us, rather than consistently being focused on the external constraint that produces the tunnel vision.
3. Projecting and reflecting: When facing a decision, project what someone who isn’t in the present state would do. Ask yourself: what would (insert name of person in desired future state would do)? Imagining how this individual would think about the situation and the decision at hand helps elevate you from your own current thinking.
4. Coach or peer group: Working with a coach or peer group that is able to give you an outside perspective and that forces you to think through various potential solutions that focus on the future and longer term rather than indulging in further conversations about the perceived problem at hand.
5. Gratitude and contribution: I write a daily journal item on what I have to be grateful for today and re-read ones that I wrote for the days that have passed. Doing so reminds me of all that I have to be grateful for and reaffirms the sense of abundance in my life. A state of gratitude is a state of abundance. Combining this with a daily ritual of contributing (no matter how small) reminds me that I always have something to give.
These are the tools I’ve found most helpful for me to avoid the scarcity trap. If you currently find yourself heading towards the trap, I hope that some of these tools will help you stay out of it. If you have others that you have found helpful for you, I would love to hear them.