The Key to Overcoming Scarcity

I was on a call with a founder who had two weeks of runway left.

He was spiraling. Refreshing his bank balance. Rehearsing the conversation he'd have with his team when the money runs out. He was languishing in victimhood, telling himself the story of how it was all falling apart.

I helped him see that with two weeks left, nothing could be more important than using his precious creative energy to create the future he wanted instead of wasting it imagining the future he didn't.

Something unlocked. He started getting creative. He brainstormed people he hadn't thought to ask for money. He made a list of angel investors, got in action, reached out, and set up meetings. He showed up energized and excited for the future ahead.

Weeks later, he had raised over a million dollars.

He didn't find more resources. He found more resourcefulness.

Here's where that resourcefulness came from.

Finite Is Not the Same as Scarce

There's a distinction I find really useful when working with founders.

Yes, time is finite. You have 24 hours in a day. Your bank account has a number in it. Those are just facts.

But scarcity has within it the notion of not enough. And "not enough" is always a story. Always a perspective.

The language of scarcity is everywhere: "There's never enough time in the day." "We don't have the budget for that." "The market is too competitive." "I can't find the right people."

These stories put your system into a state of threat. And when you're in threat, your creative energy gets drained. You can't think clearly. You can't see opportunities. You can't be resourceful. Instead of responding to reality as it is, you're reacting to a story about reality, and that reaction creates a cycle of stress, burnout, and reactive decision-making.

Your creative energy is the resource that actually matters, and telling yourself a story about scarcity is one of the fastest ways to lose access to it.

Time: Where Your Creative Energy Goes

Most entrepreneurs I know feel behind, burdened by endless to-do lists. They tell themselves they don't have enough time.

But the scarcity of time is a product of the mind, the result of imagining a future where we "need" to do more than is reasonably possible.

Think about it: let's say you have eight hours to work and you've put fifteen hours of tasks on the list. You will never do more than eight hours of work in eight hours. The only thing there is to do is prioritize well.

Overwhelm is an optional overlay to reality. You have eight hours. You're going to do what you're going to do. The idea that you're not doing enough or don't have enough time is a story your mind makes up.

And that story is where your creative energy goes. Instead of being present to what's in front of you (thinking clearly, prioritizing well, doing your best work), your creative energy gets spent imagining futures you don't want. That's the drain. The hours didn't change. But the energy available to use them well did.

If you bring your attention fully to the present moment, you can find no scarcity of time. And it's never not the present moment. In each moment, you are simply doing what you're doing.

Letting go of the story of "not enough" calms your system and frees up your creative energy to best use the hours you do have.

Money: Resourcefulness Is Creative Energy in Action

Before you started your company, it had zero money. Your resourcefulness brought in the capital, whether through fundraising or sales. What makes you think you can't do it again?

Capital is out there. Investors are always looking for the next big opportunity. New revenue streams are waiting to be unlocked.

So you can see that the issue often isn't a lack of resources or money but a lack of creativity, conviction, or willingness to ask for what you need. In other words, a lack of resourcefulness. And resourcefulness is a function of your creative energy.

And one of the most common ways founders limit their resourcefulness is by trying to do everything themselves. Many entrepreneurs learned, typically at an early age, to be self-reliant and not rely on others. This adaptive strategy in childhood becomes maladaptive when you're trying to scale a business.

When you limit the support you allow yourself to have while still wanting to get done more than what can be reasonably done, you trap yourself in scarcity from multiple angles. You spend your creative energy doing work you could hand off, you reinforce the "not enough time" story, and you cut yourself off from the very resourcefulness that would create a way forward.

Seeing Through Scarcity

My client with two weeks of runway didn't find more resources. His situation didn't change. What changed was his state.

He let go of the story he was telling himself about scarcity, came back to the present moment, and his creative energy came back online, and with it, his resourcefulness, his willingness to reach out, and everything he needed to solve the problem.

The scarcity was never in reality. It was in his interpretation of reality.

And seeing through that interpretation for yourself is what will allow you to build a business, and a life, rooted in abundance.

With love,

- Dave Kashen

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