Top o’ the Mornin’ to Ya!
TLDR: Discover how scarcity mindset manipulates our decisions and behaviors, from wanting defective collectibles to panic buying toilet paper. Learn why “scarce scarcity” (secret information about limited resources) creates even more irrational behavior, and how Kingdom leaders can guard their hearts and minds against this chaos by seeking God’s abundance first.
What?
Are you influenced by scarcity? I’m reading “Influence” still – what a great book. As Kingdom leaders, family leaders, business leaders, you need to read “Influence.”
The thing that’s inspiring me today is just that scarcity mindset – how scarcity comes into our being, comes into our thinking. It makes me think: why would anybody want a messed up stamp or a messed up Pokemon card or a messed up dollar? It’s like they’re messed up, they’re broken, ink’s off, it’s crooked, or a toy or comic book or anything that has errors in it.
It’s simply because it’s fouled up, it’s scarce. There’s not very many of them. And sometimes we want that thing.
You know what’s worse than scarcity? Scarcity scarcity. In the book, Robert tells a story of an experiment where they told people nothing and they bought this much. They told people there’s gonna be a future scarcity on beef, and they bought twice as much. Then they told people there’s gonna be a scarcity on beef AND this is scarce information, secret information, from an inside source. And they bought six times as much.
So people thinking there’s scarcity about the secret information just increases the demand and the craziness. This is insane. Have you seen the toilet paper shelves? All it takes is a blink and the toilet paper shelves go empty because of this scarcity mentality that this world is full of.
Why?
This experience revealed something crucial about how we’re manipulated and influenced in ways we don’t even realize. I was talking with a gentleman yesterday in our roundtable about God guarding our heart and mind and reading “Influence.” I need that so much. There is so much going on that influences us.
If I can translate that into all the scarcity stuff I’m thinking about, it’s like wow – why do people want defective stuff? Because it’s scarce. Why do they want it? Because nobody else has it. What good is it? Sometimes that scarcity needs to be set free.
We need to come to the Lord and have Him guard our heart and mind. We need to have our hearts and minds seeking Him first, because this world is chaos. This world is going crazy. People want messed up stamps, they want defective stuff, they want scarce stuff.
Lesson
Our God is a God of abundance. Our God is a God of plenty. Our God is a God of blessings and mercy. This stands in stark contrast to the scarcity mentality that drives so much of worldly behavior and decision-making.
The scarcity principle works because when something becomes less available, we tend to want it more. But when that scarcity information itself becomes “scarce” or “secret,” the effect multiplies exponentially. This is why people make irrational decisions during perceived shortages or when they think they have inside information.
As Kingdom Family Leaders, we need to recognize how susceptible we are to these influences. The same psychological triggers that make people pay premium prices for defective collectibles or panic-buy toilet paper can affect our spiritual, family, and business decisions.
We need to have our hearts and minds guarded against this chaos. When we seek God first and operate from His abundance rather than the world’s scarcity, we make better decisions based on His provision rather than fear of lack.
The key is recognizing when scarcity thinking is driving our choices and returning to the truth that our God is abundant and provides for our needs according to His riches, not according to market manipulation or artificial scarcity.
Apply
Write down in the Doobly Doo: What was the last thing that you went off on scarcity? What was the last thing you got inspired to buy because of scarcity? Bonus points if you realize now that thing was like “I don’t even need it. That was stupid. I don’t even want it.”
Write down what was the last purchase you made as a response to scarcity and freaking out, and you realize (bonus points) you never needed it in the first place.
Reflect on areas where scarcity thinking might be influencing your current decisions as a Kingdom Family Leader. Are you making choices based on fear of lack rather than trust in God’s abundance? How can you shift from scarcity-driven decision making to abundance-based Kingdom thinking?
Consider how you can guard your heart and mind against the constant scarcity messaging in our culture and instead focus on seeking God first and His abundant provision.
You be blessed! Don’t be scarce. Be abundant.
Breaking Free from Scarcity: How Kingdom Leaders Can Choose Abundance Over Fear
