Welcome to Up and Not Crying. This is your host, Beth Repp. I am an MD and certified life coach. Up and not crying is a Norwegian phrase that you would give in response to someone asking, "How are you today?" We are up and not crying. So far so good. In this podcast, you will learn self-improvement and coaching tools to engineer your mindset, your mood, and your time, your schedule. We're gonna make your real life feel better. In this episode, episode 13, we're gonna talk about the scarcity mindset. Scarcity mindset. Okay, so what is the scarcity mindset? Let's start first by, going through the definition of scarcity itself. Scarcity is insufficiency or shortness of supply, and the scarcity mindset is, a belief system, this is kind of an overall belief, focused on lack, lack of resources, lack of money, lack of time, and this perspective triggers kind of an overall higher stress state. It triggers people to make more impulsive, reactive decisions, and it narrows your focus down to what is missing as opposed to what you have. So scarcity mindset is in direct opposition to a mindset of abundance or a feeling of abundance. And I've been thinking about this. I kinda was prompted to do this podcast in looking around and seeing all the kinda new back to school sales, and it got me thinking about the scarcity mindset. So in our United States culture, we're in this very heavy consumer culture, this capitalistic consumer culture, more so than in other places in the world, and I just wanna start with a few boring facts. So, stick with me through the boring facts, 'cause I'll get to the point here. The United States has between 4 and 5% of the world's population, but we have the world's largest economy, national economy. It generates over $30 trillion per year, which is one-fourth of the world's economic output. So we have less than 5% of the world's population, but we contribute one-fourth of the world's economy. So this is larger than all the nations below us ranked three through 10. So if you add up three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, all those nations together do not make up our economy. The US consumer spending drives 70% of our national GDP, the gross domestic product. So that's the total value of all goods and services produced within our country within a year. Okay, so consumer spending, our shopping, our spending, our shopping accounts for 70% of this enormous economy, which is the world's largest economy, which is higher than nations 3 through 10 put together. Okay, the United States makes up 4 to 5% of the world's population, but it accounts for 30% of global consumption. So we consume one-third of the world's resources. 5% of us consume one-third of the world's resources. So I just kinda wanna walk you through some examples of this. So we kind of all know that the US is consumeristic, and we buy more and eat more and consume more than other people, but these statistics really kind of are alarming. You know, when you're, when you're a fish and you're swimming in water, you don't, you don't even know what water is 'cause you're surrounded by it. So we don't even really recognize the degree of the consumer culture that we're living in 'cause we're just swimming in it all the time. So let's talk about sneakers. And by the way, I just want to just take a little moment here to say, like, I am the world's guiltiest person of every single one of these things in what I'm gonna talk about on this podcast, but every other podcast I talk about. So I don't want you for a second to think that I know better than you or I'm doing it better than you or I have it all figured out. The reason I spend so much time thinking about this and reading about it and teaching you about it is because these are struggles for me as well as you. So I get this, you know, as soon as I, I give a podcast, I get that topic wrong 14 times the next week. So we are all in this together, learning together. So each thing that I'm talking about here is because, like, this is very directly applicable to my own life. So everybody will laugh at this because they know I am such a shoe person. So let's go through sneakers. So sneaker consumption in the United States, is that we each have about three to four new pairs of sneakers per person annually compared to the rest of the world that gets, on average, about half a pair per year, okay? So what that means is for every one pair of sneakers the rest of the world buys, we are buying six to eight pairs per person. Technology. As of the end of twenty-twenty-three, Americans owned on average thirteen tech devices per person. Thirteen devices per person on average. This is four more devices per person than Europeans, and it is four times more than the average Asian. Beauty and cosmetics. The US leads here again. So US women spend on average, get this number, three hundred and thirteen dollars per month, or three thousand seven hundred and fifty-six dollars per year on beauty and cosmetics. And I don't know what all goes into that, definitely skincare, cosmetics, but I don't know if that also is including hair appointments, nail appointments. I'm not totally sure, but just kind of, the overall umbrella, beauty and cosmetics, we're spending over three hundred dollars per month The United States accounts for 30 to 45%, so this is one-third to almost one-half, of the world's lawn care products. Okay, so again, we make up 5% of the world's population. We consume one-third to one-half of the world's lawn care products to make sure each of our suburban lawns looks perfect. So again, I am super guilty of all of these things, and it really was an eye-opener when I read the statistics on this. So we need to kinda have this information to be able to outsmart the system. So if we know that our economy, which is the greatest economy, the, the, the largest economy in the world, and it's driven primarily by shoppers, 70% of it is driven by shoppers, how do companies keep getting us to buy so much? So the average household, this number also blew my mind, the average household... And I'm not sure how they figure all this out, and again, I'm not sure what accounts for each of these items, if they account for, you know, every nail, you know, in the wall in the house. But the average US household has 300,000 items in it. Okay, so how do they keep getting us to buy more and more and more when we already have so much? We have so many things. So one way marketers do this is to make us feel really insecure, feel badly about ourselves, that we need to constantly look better, feel better, be more energetic, have a better house, have a better lawn, a newer car, a smaller body, 'cause we are not enough as we are. Okay, so there's this kind of underlying theme all the time to marketing, which is, "Hey, if you wanna, if you wanna look like this, if you wanna be happy, if you wanna get that guy, if you wanna get that girl, if you wanna have this family, you've gotta look like this, smell like this, have a house that looks like this, drive this car." Okay, so it's, like, this constant messaging that each of us is not enough as we are. Another way, and this is where I'm gonna get to my overall point of this episode today, another way is to create artificial scarcity w- to make us feel like time and goods are running out, and we need to get it right now. They create a sense of urgency and FOMO, fear of missing out. So fear of missing out is just another version of the scarcity mindset, that, that we're gonna miss out on this thing, and it's never gonna happen again. They're... We're never gonna get it. We're never gonna have that moment. We're running out of time. We're running out of product. We're running out of people to be with. So let's go through some examples of this. Back to school sales, which are, you're starting to see pop up all over the place now. Limited time only. You have to buy it right now 'cause it's on sale right now, and things are gonna sell out. You've gotta get these things right now. They're gonna sell out, and they're only on sale right now. Limited edition items is another example. Item- common items but in a limited edition color, so sometimes they do this for sneakers or bags. Um, a limited edition kinda celebrity-endorsed item. A free gift with your item. The department stores do this a lot with cosmetics. Buy this now, and you'll get this free gift with it Infomercials and the Home Shopping Network have done this for years and years. "Call in the next 15 minutes and you'll get 20% off, and you'll get this thrown in for free." So I just want to remind everyone listening, and myself over and over and over again, there will always be sneakers. You can buy shoes anytime all year round. There will always be clothes, a plethora of clothes. There are more clothes produced in this world than any of us on the planet can, can wear. There will always be clothes. There will always be a car, a reliable car to drive, to purchase and drive. This... I overheard this sage bit of wisdom when I was shopping just a couple years ago. So I was well into my 40s at this point in my life, and a teenage girl was shopping in a store, and I just overheard her say, "You know, I just tell myself when I see something really cute, there will always be cute things. I don't have to buy this thing today, 'cause there will always be cute things." And I thought, "Oh my God, I, I am today years old," before I thought that myself. And here she was in her teenage years and was always already so much wiser. "I just tell myself there will always be cute things." Now let's apply this scarcity mindset also to food. So you at... The US is also the largest consumer of sugar in the world, and this amounts to about 126 grams per person per day. Huge amount of sugar that we consume. One of the reasons we overeat is, again, this feeling of scarcity. This artificial feeling that we can only get this food at this time in this moment. And I'll go through some examples of this. Restaurants will have, for a limited time only, meals or foods or a meal deal. There are limited edition food items. So think all things pumpkin spice in the fall. And trust me, in about a month, I'm gonna be buying pumpkin spice Cheerios and all things pumpkin spice. Trust me. But that's an example of the limited edition food items. A summer barbecue, where you get this feeling of, "I have to eat all the summer things." You know, the burger on the grill, corn on the cob, the s'mores, and you just end up overdoing it. Favorite foods during the holidays. Like, Grandma only makes this at this time of the year. I, I have to eat not just one, but four of these 'cause I only get it once a year. Celebratory foods, birthday cake. This is the, I only get this once a year, so I'm gonna way overdo it. Halloween candy, only once a year. But I wanna go through those and remind you of something. Okay? You can always go to that restaurant that's having the limited time meal or food. You can always go there. You can always get every season of the year has a limited edition food item. So if you're not getting pumpkin spice, you're getting cinnamon something. You know? It's, there's always, always new limited edition things, which makes it not at all limited The summer barbecue, you can have a burger all year round. Even if it's not corn on the cob, you can get corn. There's a plethora of corn year-round that you can buy. You can make a s'more any time of the year. You really don't have to overdo it that one, at that one summer barbecue. Favorite foods during the holidays. You can bake a pumpkin pie any moment of the year. They're not that hard to make. You can buy canned pumpkin year-round. You can make roll-out sugar cookies in any, any shape or form the whole year round. You don't have to eat 12 of them just at Christmas. You can make 'em any time. In terms of Halloween candy, you can drive yourself to Quick Star or whatever your local gas station is and buy a Snicker bar any moment of any day, okay? You don't have to overdo the candy from your kids' Halloween bucket just on Halloween. There will always be enough food. In fact, there's always too much food. So, how do you deal in the moment when you are super excited to get that, that it's the last pair of super cute limited edition sneakers in your size at the store that day, okay? Or, you know, somebody made your very favorite cookies at this celebration, and you're like, "Oh, my God, I, I, I never get these. I never get these," and you're feeling this urge to eat four of 'em. How do you deal in that moment? So first recognize that you are having an urge. Think to yourself, "I'm having an urge to eat another slice of pie. I'm having an urge. I'm having an urge to buy these shoes." And then process that urge because an urge is a feeling in your body. And if you go back to previous episodes, we talked about all the feels, all the feelings, and processing feelings. We also talked about this when we were working through the self-coaching model, that you have thoughts, feelings, and actions. An urge is just a feeling in your body. So I want you to just kind of think about this for a minute. What does an urge feel like in your body? And it's gonna feel slightly different for all of us. I feel it really in my abdomen. It's like this almost feeling of, like, clenching and this feeling of momentum or a feeling of being rushed. Like, I need this thing right now. I just feel it. I feel it more in my abdomen, but it's gonna feel maybe different for you or in a different location So feel that feeling, feel the urge, and let the 90-second waves of urge come and go. Just ride the wave, let it be there. And then think, "I can make this food any day of the year. I can have this food again. This isn't the last time I'll have this food. I don't have to eat this all right now. I can eat some of it. I can get some of this anytime. I can come back and get a specialty cocktail at this restaurant anytime. I don't have to have another one right now because it's my anniversary. We can come back anytime and get this specialty cocktail." There will always be cute things. You know, I joke every year at Christmastime that Target cannot possibly make cuter Christmas items, so I always buy a few each year. And then the next year they make cuter things somehow, and the same thing happens. I'm like, "No, no, this, they can't possibly make cuter things next year, so I gotta get all the things this year." So I'm just, you know, falling victim to this scarcity mindset. Think to yourself, "There will always be cute things. There will always be comfortable sneakers. There will always be stores. There will always be sugar. There will always be food." Now, remember, shopping and eating are not bad. I am not at all painting shopping and eating with a negative brush. We all shop, we all eat. We all have to. We all have to to survive. And it's fun to eat treats and to shop for a few extra treats. That's fun, and I, I encourage that. You know, I think the, the secret to happiness is, like, small interspersed treats along the way. Like, that's a lot of fun, and it really boosts your mood. But if you're finding that the amount of shopping you're doing is leading to a net negative result, result, that the negative effects of your shopping is outweighing the positive boosts of joy, these can be money struggles, debt, relationship problems, clutter. If you're finding that there's a net negative result from over shopping, just keep these things in mind. If you're eating to an amount that is leading to a net negative result, again, an overweight body, discomfort in your body, diabetes, decreased ability to participate in activities, relationship struggles because of how you're feeling about your body or your weight or your inability to participate. All of these things are net negative results of eating to an extent that is causing problems. So this is not just the occasional Snicker bar or cocktail with your dinner or, birthday cake. This is overeating daily to an extent that it's causing a net negative result. So if that's happening, just keep these things in mind. Be aware of the fact that you're having an urge. Process that urge. Feel the urge. Just allow your body to feel that feeling, and start thinking to yourself, "I can have this any time." This is a special moment. This is a special moment, but I don't have to overconsume to make this moment special. This moment is special because it's back to school, and we're shopping for back to school for my child, which is really fun. I don't then need extra things. She doesn't need extra things more than what the back to school list or clothes or shoes require. We don't need extra things. It's special just because it's back to school shopping. It's special just because it's our anniversary. I don't need three cocktails to make it special. It's special because it's my birthday. I don't need three slices of cake because it's my birthday. I can have one and celebrate. But the specialness is in the fact that it's my birthday, and we're together with people that we love, and we're having a celebratory meal together. But I don't have to eat to the point where I'm feeling ill. So it's not the overeating that makes it special. It's the special event in and of itself. So just keep that in mind, and then think to yourself, "I can make a chocolate cake any day of the year. I can have a glass of wine any day of the year if I want to." Okay, so to review, our very powerful consumer economy in the United States is fed by each of us thinking there isn't enough. There's not enough time to buy what we need. There's not enough product to go around. There's not enough of this special, unique, limited time only product that would make us really stand out and really look great and chic and cool. There's not enough. Now, there's nothing wrong with shopping and eating. Both are necessary for survival. However, if you're over shopping or overeating to an extent that it's causing problems for you, try to outsmart the culture. Know that there will always be enough. There's always gonna be enough food, enough clothing to buy. There's enough items in your house. There's enough time to buy it. You don't have to buy it today. There's enough time to think about it and ponder it and maybe compare prices. There's enough time to buy it. There's enough food to go around, and there's enough time to eat it. In the moment, recognize that you are feeling an urge. Recognize the feeling in your body, and allow the urge to be there. Just feel it. Think to yourself, "I can make this anytime. I can buy this anytime. I can buy cute shoes any day of the year. Next year, there will also be cute jeans. Next year, there will also be new cars." If you take one thing from this episode, it is this: you have enough, there's enough time, and to totally Stuart Smalley you, you are enough. So in the great words of Stuart Smalley, Saturday Night Live from the 1990s, "I am good enough, I am smart enough, and doggone it, people like me." You are enough. Don't be fooled by marketing campaigns that are just trying to drive the economy. All right, friends, until next week, stay upright, find the good, and if you can't find the good, at least make it funny. You can find me at bethrepp.com, hello@bethrepp.com, or Beth Repp Coaching on Facebook. And finally, the disclaimer: the content presented in this podcast is for general information only. Reliance on the information provided is done at your own risk. Until next Tuesday, everybody, have a great week. We'll see you back here for episode 14 next week