Scarcity Brain: Fix Your Craving Mindset and Rewire Your Habits to Thrive with Enough

by Michael Easter

we became able to buy and eat more foods that have an abundance of triggers that make scarcity brain happy and push us into an eating scarcity loop.

“What this analysis showed is that we need to ask, ‘What is going to be the easiest diet for you to adhere to in the long term?’ And you should probably do that.”

It felt like the scarcity loop. I’d think of or see a product that I thought might improve my life. Then I’d search the internet for the right version of it and eventually stumble upon a winner. Then I’d repeat the cycle.

“People naturally yearn for more of whatever material resources are prized within their culture.”

Anthropologists at the University of Texas believe our default is to collect more stuff rather than less.

there are three reasons humans evolved to love material goods.

What are the 3 reasons?

The first is that having stuff help...

Reason 1. Helps us survive

“In the past, owning the right goods at the right quantities provided protection, comfort and greater capacity to trade for other needed goods.” It’s probably best to th...

“Everything I own must earn its weight,” she told me. “It has to serve multiple functions.”

The second reason we like material goods is that they can bring us status. Having the right stuff for our time and place can boost our social ranking.

Reason 2. Brings SOCIAL STATUS

a secondary purpose of telling others about our rank or place in society.

conspicuous consumption.” It’s when we buy expensive stuff over cheaper yet functionally equal stuff to flex our social status.

Describe Conspicuous Consumption

Scarcity and exclusivity are the secret sauce of luxury brands and selling stuff at a premium price.

Tweetable

scarcity cues, the belief that an item is hard to get or limited, outperform popularity cues, like advertising that an item is a best seller.

Scarcity cues vs popularity cues

Third, we can use material goods to feel as if we belong.

Reason 3 To feel like we belong

“The motive for status manifests itself in efforts to be above others within a group, whereas the motive to belong manifests itself in efforts to be with others in a group.”

“brand tribalism.” It’s where we find social meaning from the purchases we make.

Tweetable

“Only in the twentieth century did people begin engaging in the eccentric over-accumulation of random, not terribly valuable stuff.”

First the shoppers look for good opportunities—places with frequent sales or new items.

Next is searching: they enter into the world of stores and malls or online shopping sites.

“Many compulsive shoppers buy in quantity.”

Look deeper into compulsive shopping

part of the reason we tend to collect so much stuff is that we don’t have a biological governor that tells us we’ve overbought.

Here’s a good rule of thumb to help you decide whether to buy something new or donate an old item: decide within sixty seconds.

60 second rule

“Whenever you find yourself taking longer than a minute to make a decision, it’s likely you are trying to find a justification for making an unnecessary purchase or keeping an unneeded item.”

As we’ve become more comfortable and adopted more efficient technologies and stuff, we haven’t necessarily become more satisfied.

Many of these technological shifts are, in fact, causing our malaise. They’re disconnecting us not only from others but also from ourselves and ways of living that satisfy us.

Antler is one of the strongest natural substances on earth for its weight, and well-preserved antlers can be used for knife handles or as decoration on any other item an outdoorsy Etsy seller can dream up.

“Consumerism and over-acquisition have become the order of living and abundance has emerged as the norm, especially in the [developed] world.”

because we have ample access to all kinds of resources, we default to solving problems by buying.

Great insight

when stuff is abundant, we tend to fix any problem with more stuff.

forcing ourselves to solve a problem with what we have—we’ll likely solve it better, more creatively and efficiently. Creativity and efficiency bloom under scarcity.

Reflect

By facing constraints, we often end up accomplishing more.

I really just wanted to experience the entirety of the human condition. The ins and outs, ups and downs, goods and bads of it and just have a really rich experience of living,”

we all fit the mold we cast.

Love this

Zerra said the psychic weight of money was always there. “I noticed that the more people had, the less involved in the moment they seemed to be. They were more involved in the future. Doing and maintaining stuff and everything that came with it.

The psychic weight of money

“Everything would be prearranged and planned and scheduled,” she said. “I describe it as a really expensive Happy Meal. It was a carbon copy of what every other rich person got. Things went exactly as planned. And it was just so different than the experiences I had when I had, like, six bucks and a backpack filled with a few items and I’d go out into the wilderness and have to figure things out myself. Those experiences were so unique, and I just didn’t get them when we had all this money to have everything perfect.”

Fascinating

Money brings more control but also less adventure.

it’s empowering in a sense to know that you’re creating your own experience and that you’re relying on yourself.

then, when it’s over, there’s a greater sense of satisfaction because you’re like, holy shit, I just did all of that.”

humans value things they had to work longer and harder to get,” said Zentall.

they value the grades that were harder to get.”

I’ve developed a motto I now use for any tribulations I face: “No problem, no story.” Every story has a complication. A point where unplanned events make our life uncertain and challenging. If we shy away or pay to eliminate those, we remove challenge and gain certainty. But we also learn less about ourselves and don’t become the hero of our own journey. I

No problem, No story

She’s turned the scarcity loop into a powerful positive habit-building loop. An abundance loop.

Stuff is a possession for the sake of it. Stuff adds to a collection of items we already have. We often use stuff to fill an emotional impulse or advertise to society that we’re a certain type of person.

Gear, on the other hand, has a clear purpose of helping us achieve a higher purpose.

This approach hits all three ways we can get out of a scarcity loop. It takes away the opportunity, unpredictable rewards, and quick repetition of mindless buying.

And the pause of thinking “gear, not stuff” before a purchase reduces how much we buy.

She owns gear: items of utility that allow her to fall into an abundance loop that works her body and mind and leads to deep satisfaction.

“gear, not stuff” can help us get a little closer to having our own metaphorical backpack of items that lead us to live more engaged and meaningfully. Even if our backpack is a house.