Why Do I Never Feel Like I Have Enough Money?

In an excellent recent LinkedIn article, Money Coach Hendrik Crafford pointed out that “We live in a culture that quietly reinforces scarcity every day”. It’s a classic marketing trick – create false scarcity to persuade people into buying something.

‘Limited edition XX’

‘Only 5 left at this price’

‘New improved Y’

OK, so what? That’s just marketing.

Yes, but the underlying message goes beyond what we need to drive, wear or be seen with. It’s designed to make us feel inadequate – a narrative that we’re not good enough as we are.

Scarcity is not just a fear of running out. It’s also a fear that resources could disappear at any moment, that safety requires constant vigilance.

And if you feel you’re not good enough, that what there is of you is not enough for this world, then scarcity can also drive you to believe that you will never be enough.

In many ways, feelings of inadequacy, insecurity and scarcity are default settings of the subconscious – they keep us watchful and alive. They get us out of the cave.

As David Foster Wallace observed, “This is the water we swim in.”

A world where manufactured scarcity triggers our own existential scarcity dynamic.

And because money runs through every aspect of our lives, dealing with it can spark feelings of inadequacy and insecurity.

If this happens to you, remember that a lot of inadequacy is external – created deliberately to serve the interests of media, advertisers and product providers.

The more internalised side comes from messaging received in childhood – projections of others, and not a reflection of your own worth.

At times of anxiety, I found repeating the following mantra helpful:

I am safe. I have enough. I am enough. And all is well.

Repeat till you feel a sense of ease.

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Not all water is the same.

Changing the internal world is hard but worthwhile. This is the world of coaching.

And when you find the external world projecting scarcity onto you, start by swimming somewhere else.

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If you want to explore your own scarcity dynamic, please book a free chat.