Occassionally I feature tips and stories from other individuals who have helpful input about the mental side of fitness, training and life. All of the other post on this site are written about me, so it’s nice to hear from different perspectives. I select witty and honest pieces, that give insight and advice.
This was originally posted by Eric Fasciani on the CrossFit Nashua Page. Enjoy the guest post.
“The lessons learned through physical training are unavoidable. The character traits required and developed though physical training are universally applicable to all endeavors. Perseverance, industry, sacrifice, self-control, integrity, honesty, and commitment are best and easiest learned in the gym.”
I was listening to a podcast that talked about abundance vs. scarcity mentality and thought about how applicable it is both inside and outside the box. There are really two types of people, and once you realize this it becomes very obvious and easy to spot.
- There are the people with abundance mentality, who love to share, who get excited when people around them experience success, and who are trying to “make the pie bigger” instead of “getting a bigger piece of the pie.”
- Then there are people with scarcity mentality. These people are constantly worrying that others will be better, or more successful, or steal their ideas, or take what is rightfully theirs. These people don’t enjoy when people around them are successful and are trying to get as big a piece of the pie as they can.
Once you know what to look for it is easy to spot the difference, and it’s important to spend time with people with an abundance mentality, rather than scarcity. Not to say that people can’t change, but they say you become the 5 people you hang out with the most, so it’s important to pick who you spend your time with. We are lucky to have an amazing group of people at CrossFit Nashua and Souhegan, and we as a whole have created a culture of abundance, but I know some people struggle to find joy with others success, and some people (whether they know it or not) have even gone to other gyms because they got so frustrated that others were succeeding while they failed.
So nobody is perfect… maybe you have some scarcity mentality traits. The best way to work on changing your mentality to abundance is in the box during WODs. If someone started the same time you did and is putting up better scores and weights than you, how do you feel? Do you think “man they are working hard, that is so great, I am so happy for them!” or do you think, “They must be cheating, how can they get that much better than me? I suck, I got dealt bad genetics.” That’s the first place to start.
The reality is, everyone is different, and some people do progress faster than others, but most of the time that person is working harder than you. Maybe they are eating better, making sleep a priority, more consistent, or gave up drinking beers. Their success doesn’t take away from yours, and there are plenty of results to go around. It’s not as if each month we start out and only 100lbs of fat can be lost amongst all of the athletes at your box or only 100lbs of PRs will be handed out. The pie is infinite in this case, so why not get pumped when others have huge success?
More importantly, you can also apply it to situations outside of the gym. Scarcity mentality is when you think things like “How come they are so lucky to have landed such a high paying job. If only I could get a job like that.” Or “they are so happy together, that is so annoying.” It’s not like there is a set amount of happiness allotted to people in the world, there is an endless amount.
Same thing applies to money. When you think about it, money isn’t really limited, and what does money even mean? It’s just a useless piece of paper or a number in a bank account that we use to represent value. Value is the true measure of worth, so go create value, and the money will follow. There is an endless amount of value out there, you just have to create it, whether for an employer or as an entrepreneur.
Imagine how this carries over to everyday life. There are so many examples where this idea of a limited amount of pie is accepted, when in reality there is plenty to go around, and the pie can always get bigger. Make the mental shift that the pie of success is infinite, and apply it in the box, and outside the box and I guarantee you will be much more successful and happy!”
: Eric Fasciani is an extremely educated coach and the owner of CrossFit Nashua in New Hampshire. He found CrossFit in 2008 and loved that it was health focused rather than physical appearance focused. Eric opened his box in 2010 and has never looked back.
