Deficit Mentality

Is the glass half empty? Do you seem to always hit red lights at intersections? Is there never enough money? Is there never enough time? Do you get stuck with under-performing associates at work or school? Are weekends too short? Are you never getting enough sleep? Is your career going nowhere?

And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

--2 Kings 6:16

Deficit mentality is the thinking error in which we find ourselves on the flip side of the rock, the part that gets no sun. Weighed down by our choice of position beneath the heavy stone, we constantly complain that life is a burden, an unfair load that keeps us from the kind of carefree life we perceive in others as they seem to flit about under the blue sky. Deficit mentality is never having enough.

In the case of the young man from 2nd Kings, Elisha asked that God open his eyes. When that happened, the young man "saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha (2 Kings 6:17)."

Nothing changed for the young man except his perception. What if we saw something different while stopped at a red light? What if we perceived something more in our work associates than their shortfalls? What if we soaked up the weekends instead of dreading Monday? What if our career stopped being a dead end street, and began to offer opportunities to bloom where we are planted? What if we decided to sit on the rock, instead of under it?

Why deficit mentality? There are many contributing thinking errors. Ingratitude. Impatience. Toxic pride. Anger. Fear. These are based on a fundamental insecurity that leads us to constantly look out for number one. After all, if I don't get enough of my share, how will I survive? How will I thrive? How will I be happy?But herein lies the thinking error. The more selfishly I fixate on what I don't have, the better practiced at it I become. Eventually, I become a true expert at articulating in a million ways how bad off I have it. Like other thinking errors, this continues to feed on itself in a downward spiral. 

The antidote for this thinking error is easily discovered. Since deficit mentality exists in defiance of abundance mentality, all we have to do is flip the coin over. Practice abundance mentality. What do I have a ton of? Your challenge for the week is to play the Glad Game made famous by Pollyanna. Each day, list ten things you have lots of. It might take some practice, but in the end, framing your worldview to see the good is just as easy as it is to see the bad.  Like the young man with Elisha, nothing around you changes. You just have to see the world differently. Good luck!