August 22, 2012 at 15:53A mentality of sufficiency: in the world everything is enough for everyone
Have you ever enjoyed the defeats of other people?
I can’t pretend to speak for everyone, but I’m sure that many have come across this feeling, especially at a young age. I think many will agree with the fact that at least once in their head the thought “So he needs it” arose in relation to another person who had failed. It is not so important who it is: a competitor or just the hero of another publication on the pages of the news portal. The fact is that the thought “That's what he needs”, which is actually interpreted as “I'm glad he failed,” is familiar to many people, especially in developing countries.
When you relate to the defeat of a stranger or your competitor in this way, gloating is rather normal, although it would be better not to pay any attention to the incident. However, some people go to extremes - they are not at all able to rejoice in the successes of their friends and loved ones, they do not know how to empathize and sincerely thank others for the assistance provided. Such people constantly compare themselves with others, strive to gain imaginary success in society, expressed only by the presence of material values: an expensive car, an apartment and a "10-pound gold chain around the neck."
Even if such a person smiles at you and congratulates you on your victory, inwardly he will be envious and indignant because of your achievements. The reason for this behavior is that these individuals consider the amount of resources and opportunities limited, and if someone else won, it means only one thing - they lost.
Stephen Covey calls this type of thinking the "Mentality of Failure." It is based on the idea that victory can only be personal. People with a mentality of insufficiency live with the sincere hope that others will fail, they constantly compare themselves with others and arrange fictitious competitions, trying to get ahead of anyone.
Fortunately, in the modern world for such people there is less and less space in collectives and communities. Indeed, such a negative attitude towards colleagues clearly does not contribute to strengthening the team spirit and cooperation between them.
The opposite phenomenon is the Sufficiency Mentality, the paradigm according to which the world has enough for everyone. The result of this attitude to life is a sincere desire to share recognition, profit, the right to participate in important decisions. The sufficiency mentality recognizes the existence of unlimited possibilities in the development of human relations and the need to work together to solve complex problems that one person cannot handle.
What is so good about the sufficiency mentality
If we talk about purely practical value, then the matter lies in the possibilities - a person with a Sufficiency Mentality has much more. Imagine a situation in which you have a great idea for selling coffee, but, unfortunately, there is no money to implement it. They don’t give you a loan from the bank, no one has borrowed that amount, but you recall that you have a wealthy friend who is ready to make a financial contribution to creating a business. You have a choice: to bury your idea or turn to a friend for help, giving him 40-50% of the company (Assume that he will not give a loan in principle).
If you look at the consequences, the choice will be this: either you will be left with nothing, or you will succeed with your friend, secure a stable income and improve the quality of your life. The only thing you need is to share your income, success and recognition. It is imperative to do this sincerely, and for this it is necessary to have a mentality of sufficiency.
If you are not ready to agree with this statement, remember any situation in which the success of your business would be more dependent on another person. For example, you trade in system units. One of the key customers made a very large order, but the number of system engineers in the warehouse does not allow to complete it in full. In this situation, you are contacting your supplier, whose key customer is you yourself.
Now imagine that the supplier, having learned about such a large order, contacts directly with your customer and offers him system units at a lower price. Of course, in most cases the client will go to him, but the supplier, having shown the Mentality of insufficiency, will lose his key client - you. In the long run, everyone will lose: you - because your company will incur losses, your client - because you will not be able to turn to you more if you need a smaller batch of system units, the supplier - because it will lose you and in a year its lost profit will significantly exceed the immediate profit .
Developing the Sufficiency Mentality in yourself, you get a unique tool that will not only help you achieve significant results in relationships with people, but also make you happier.After all, a person who is unable to envy and gloat is much less nervous, which means he feels much better (About how excessive anxiety affects health, read here ).
The highest degree of development of such an attitude to life is the ability to sincerely rejoice at the successes of others and the desire to ignore other people's failures, even if these are the failures of your competitors. It makes no sense to focus on other people's problems - this will not bring you any joy.
Of course, writing this post, I do not pretend to the ultimate truth, but I sincerely believe that it is the Sufficiency Mentality that plays one of the key roles in achieving corporate and team success.
I can’t pretend to speak for everyone, but I’m sure that many have come across this feeling, especially at a young age. I think many will agree with the fact that at least once in their head the thought “So he needs it” arose in relation to another person who had failed. It is not so important who it is: a competitor or just the hero of another publication on the pages of the news portal. The fact is that the thought “That's what he needs”, which is actually interpreted as “I'm glad he failed,” is familiar to many people, especially in developing countries.
When you relate to the defeat of a stranger or your competitor in this way, gloating is rather normal, although it would be better not to pay any attention to the incident. However, some people go to extremes - they are not at all able to rejoice in the successes of their friends and loved ones, they do not know how to empathize and sincerely thank others for the assistance provided. Such people constantly compare themselves with others, strive to gain imaginary success in society, expressed only by the presence of material values: an expensive car, an apartment and a "10-pound gold chain around the neck."
Even if such a person smiles at you and congratulates you on your victory, inwardly he will be envious and indignant because of your achievements. The reason for this behavior is that these individuals consider the amount of resources and opportunities limited, and if someone else won, it means only one thing - they lost.
Stephen Covey calls this type of thinking the "Mentality of Failure." It is based on the idea that victory can only be personal. People with a mentality of insufficiency live with the sincere hope that others will fail, they constantly compare themselves with others and arrange fictitious competitions, trying to get ahead of anyone.
Fortunately, in the modern world for such people there is less and less space in collectives and communities. Indeed, such a negative attitude towards colleagues clearly does not contribute to strengthening the team spirit and cooperation between them.
The opposite phenomenon is the Sufficiency Mentality, the paradigm according to which the world has enough for everyone. The result of this attitude to life is a sincere desire to share recognition, profit, the right to participate in important decisions. The sufficiency mentality recognizes the existence of unlimited possibilities in the development of human relations and the need to work together to solve complex problems that one person cannot handle.
What is so good about the sufficiency mentality
If we talk about purely practical value, then the matter lies in the possibilities - a person with a Sufficiency Mentality has much more. Imagine a situation in which you have a great idea for selling coffee, but, unfortunately, there is no money to implement it. They don’t give you a loan from the bank, no one has borrowed that amount, but you recall that you have a wealthy friend who is ready to make a financial contribution to creating a business. You have a choice: to bury your idea or turn to a friend for help, giving him 40-50% of the company (Assume that he will not give a loan in principle).
If you look at the consequences, the choice will be this: either you will be left with nothing, or you will succeed with your friend, secure a stable income and improve the quality of your life. The only thing you need is to share your income, success and recognition. It is imperative to do this sincerely, and for this it is necessary to have a mentality of sufficiency.
If you are not ready to agree with this statement, remember any situation in which the success of your business would be more dependent on another person. For example, you trade in system units. One of the key customers made a very large order, but the number of system engineers in the warehouse does not allow to complete it in full. In this situation, you are contacting your supplier, whose key customer is you yourself.
Now imagine that the supplier, having learned about such a large order, contacts directly with your customer and offers him system units at a lower price. Of course, in most cases the client will go to him, but the supplier, having shown the Mentality of insufficiency, will lose his key client - you. In the long run, everyone will lose: you - because your company will incur losses, your client - because you will not be able to turn to you more if you need a smaller batch of system units, the supplier - because it will lose you and in a year its lost profit will significantly exceed the immediate profit .
Developing the Sufficiency Mentality in yourself, you get a unique tool that will not only help you achieve significant results in relationships with people, but also make you happier.After all, a person who is unable to envy and gloat is much less nervous, which means he feels much better (About how excessive anxiety affects health, read here ).
The highest degree of development of such an attitude to life is the ability to sincerely rejoice at the successes of others and the desire to ignore other people's failures, even if these are the failures of your competitors. It makes no sense to focus on other people's problems - this will not bring you any joy.
Of course, writing this post, I do not pretend to the ultimate truth, but I sincerely believe that it is the Sufficiency Mentality that plays one of the key roles in achieving corporate and team success.