Upon catching the magic fish, Mujo (a popular Joke character) is granted three wishes. As he is thirsty, he first wishes for a barrel of Rakija (an alcoholic beverage popular throughout the Balkans). Then he looks at the river he caught the fish from, and he makes his second wish: Let the river flow with Rakija. Then he starts pondering, so he wouldn’t ruin his last wish by being hasty. The fish becomes impatient and says: Come on, Mujo, faster, I can’t wait all day. Ok, says Mujo, Then give me another Rakija! 

We live in time of crisis and recession. The main resource nobody has enough of is money. At least that’s what the majority of people think. They can’t get the notion out of their heads that there is never enough money, and they behave like Mujo from the joke. Money is the main problem, I want as much money possible - I won’t be able to realize my plans without it, nor be happy and achieve my goals. We don’t seem to realize that money is only the most important secondary thing in the world. It was never economic constraints that made great visions and plans impossible. Our conviction that we have to settle with minor results and the attitude that we don’t have the resources for the big ones made them impossible. Only visionaries who dream big and contemplate great projects can actually realize these dreams and projects one day. If they diminish their dreams with stinginess, caution, fear of taking risks and excessive modesty, they will be able to realize only the small projects. If we aren’t ready to spend, we won’t be able to generate either. If we aren’t ready to take a risk and invest, we won’t achieve anything noteworthy. It’s wrong to believe that the main limitation of our every accomplishment or cause of failure, is lack of money.

Mujo isn’t the only one catching goldfish. In a different joke, a peasant is our main character. The fish he caught promises him three wishes, with a remark that his neighbour will get twice as much of what he wishes for. Our hero first wants his corn to grow to be two meters high. But, his neighbour’s corn grows twice as big. Dissatisfied, he wishes upon a huge house and estate, but his neighbour gets estate twice as big. Disgruntled, he turns to the fish with his third wish: Take one of my eyes out!

The described mentality ˝if my cow dies, may my neighbour’s cow die too˝ is one of the main causes of destructive jealousy, the ˝Croatian envy˝, negative emotions, confrontations and poor interpersonal relations in business systems and the whole society. Such behaviour is especially dangerous in time of crisis.

Have you ever observed Swedish buffets at receptions? If guests estimate that there is plenty of food, nobody pushes around and everybody behaves politely and generously. Abundance mentality reigns. However, if there isn’t much food left, everyone will start running and unscrupulously fighting around the last piece of meat or a cake. Scarcity mentality has prevailed. When we think there isn’t enough of something, that there will be shortage of something, we try to grab the biggest part possible for us, which we won’t even be able to fully spend, consume or use, so it’ll most probably go rotten be ruined.

Similar behaviour can be found at the state administration bodies. When preparing annual budgets of certain ministries, and a general reduction of budget is expected, everyone increases their requests above their real needs. However, if there is a belief that the budget will grow next year, a general feeling of scarcity disappears, so requests of most ministries will be more realistic and modest.  

A scarcity mentality makes us hate all the ones who have more, because we feel like they had taken that from us. That’s why the main goal of activities isn’t creation of something new, but reallocation of the existing. As soon as someone comes to power, to the top of an organization, or to another position of power, they will first take away from the ones that have (responsibility, power or assets) and give it to their own. Instead of being oriented toward mobilizing human and material resources for the purpose of creating new values, we wear ourselves out with the conflicting reallocation activities.

Crisis is opportunity and danger. In time of crisis, success is closely linked with the ability to live in accordance with the logic of abundance. Business and political victories have a long-term perspective if the feeling of generosity and partnership is achieved in so doing, whenever possible. Instead of fighting about how to reallocate the existing ˝cake˝, let’s organize and make an even bigger one together.

An abundance mentality suggests that things like who owns what, shouldn’t bother us, under the assumption that they have acquired it by doing honest work and in a legal way. If others have more, it will be better for me too, they will pay higher taxes, create new jobs, use my products and services, and in such a way improve conditions in which all of us will live and work.

Croatian politician Stjepan Radić used to say that ˝it isn’t important to have a lot but to need a little˝. People with a scarcity mentality tend to be calculative, stingy and unwilling to take a risk, which is unfavourable mental environment for entrepreneurial ventures. An abundance mentality, on the other side, opens up space for creating alliances and partner relationships, it encourages the desire to achieve joint goals and it turns the market game into the game of cooperation and friendship.

If you do good things, good things will happen to you. Generosity makes each one of us a beloved and desired partner, in everything that we do. With such behaviour we’ll teach others that the greatest success and work enthusiasm are created through mutual support, based on the idea of abundance, i.e. on mental and material generosity.

 

Source: www.delfin.com.hr

February, 2012