A few posts earlier, I penned an article highlighting how the contribution is a cornerstone in the fortress of success. It got me thinking about the idea of the “creator” versus the “consumer”. This is all about developing a creator mindset. 

Consider this: are you solely a consumer, or are you also a creator? Whether tangible like wealth and employment, or intangible like thoughts and ideas, the resources you consume can be created by you. You may not be a creator right now, but adopting the creator mindset may transform you into an active participant in the personal growth journey.

Scarcity vs Abundance: Shift Your Perspective

If you’re fixated on the belief of scarcity, you’ll focus solely on fairly distributing limited resources. Instead of striving to carve up the existing pie, we need to put our efforts into baking a larger pie that all can enjoy. This simple shift in focus from consumption to resource creation is essential to prevent depletion and enhance economic stability. 

Some tips to shift your perspective from scarcity to abundance are:

• Practice Gratitude: Start and end your day by acknowledging the good things in your life. This could be something as simple as having a roof over your head or having good health. Practising gratitude helps to focus on what you have instead of what you lack, promoting a sense of abundance.
• Reframe Your Thoughts: Pay attention to your thought patterns and catch yourself when you start to think in terms of scarcity. For example, instead of thinking, “I don’t have enough time,” reframe it to, “How can I make the most of the time I have?”
• Invest in Personal Growth: Invest time and energy into learning new skills, self-improvement, and expanding your horizons. This reinforces the belief that there’s always room for growth and improvement, cultivating a mindset of abundance and possibility.
• Visualize Abundance: Take a few moments each day to visualize what an abundant life looks like to you. This could involve envisioning success in your personal or professional life, solid relationships, or robust health. The act of visualizing can help make the concept of abundance more tangible and attainable.
• Share with Others: When we share our resources with others, whether it’s time, money, or skills, we affirm the abundance in our lives. This act of giving creates a positive feedback loop that reinforces our belief in abundance. It’s a powerful reminder that there’s enough to go around.
• Surround Yourself with Positive Influences: The people you interact with can greatly influence your mindset. Surround yourself with individuals who embody the abundance mindset. Their optimistic outlook and approach to life will inspire you to shift your perspective from scarcity to abundance.

Remember, humanity has been gifted with the ability to create resources, not just use them.

From Student to Creator: Developing a Creator Mindset in College

As a student, you’re already on your way to cultivating this creator mindset. You use financial resources from your parents or your own earnings, academic resources from your faculty, and infrastructural resources from your college. By leveraging these resources, you’re creating a professional version of yourself, competent and ready to contribute to society. 

Here are some tips from experts on how college students can nurture themselves to become creators:

1. Embrace Curiosity: As Steve Jobs once stated, “Stay hungry, stay foolish.” This quote encourages us to maintain a sense of curiosity and not be afraid of making mistakes or asking questions. When we foster curiosity, we open ourselves up to new ideas and perspectives, thereby nurturing our creative potential.

2. Develop a Growth Mindset: Carol Dweck, a renowned psychologist, suggests that having a growth mindset – the belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed – is crucial for success. This perspective encourages us to view challenges as opportunities for learning rather than as obstacles, fostering a spirit of creativity and innovation.

3. Foster Resilience: Resilience is the ability to bounce back from failure and continue trying. Brene Brown, a research professor and author, asserts that failure is an essential part of creativity and innovation. College students should see failure not as the end but as part of their creative journey.

4. Engage in Diverse Experiences: College is a great time to explore different courses, clubs, internships, and study abroad programs. According to Dr Robert Epstein, former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today, exposure to different experiences can boost creativity because it gives us a broader repository of information to draw upon when generating new ideas.

5. Practice Mindfulness and Reflection: Mindfulness practices such as meditation or yoga can help cultivate a state of relaxed alertness beneficial for creative thinking. Taking time to reflect on experiences and learning can also help to deepen understanding and stimulate creative insights. Dr Scott Barry Kaufman, a humanistic psychologist, suggests that mindfulness can help “quiet the mind” and allow for the emergence of “subtle, barely formed ideas and impressions to come forth and develop.”

6. Collaborate with Others: The late Sir Ken Robinson, an internationally recognised authority in creativity and innovation, believed that collaboration boosts creativity. He said, “You’ll never come up with anything creative unless you’re prepared to be wrong.” By working with others, you’re exposed to different perspectives and ideas, sparking more innovative thinking.

Remember, the process of becoming a creator is a journey. Take small steps each day to nurture your creativity, and over time, you’ll see transformational results. Once you graduate, your knowledge and competencies become resources that can be utilised to create products, services, and, indeed, economic growth.

Beyond Contribution: Embracing the Entrepreneurial Spirit

It’s good to contribute to the larger system and create resources, but what if you have the creator mindset seed sown within you? With this attitude, you might find yourself wishing to go beyond being a mere cog in the machine. Instead, you aspire to become the machine itself, using other valuable components to create jobs and generate wealth. In short, you evolve into an entrepreneur.

With a creator mindset, individuals approach challenges from a place of opportunity and invention, which is crucial in entrepreneurial ventures. Here’s how it can help you:

1. Fosters Innovation: A creator mindset encourages constant learning and exploration. Entrepreneurs with this mindset are constantly thinking of new ways to solve problems or improve processes, leading to innovative products, services, or business models.

2. Encourages Risk-Taking: Creators are comfortable with uncertainty and risk. This is essential in entrepreneurship, where starting a new venture always involves a level of risk. Being able to navigate this uncertainty and continue moving forward can often be the difference between success and failure.

3. Develops Resilience: Entrepreneurs face setbacks and challenges. A creator mindset enables them to view these not as failures but as valuable learning experiences that contribute to their growth and development. This resilience helps them to persevere and remain optimistic in the face of adversity.

4. Inspires Resourcefulness: With a creator mindset, entrepreneurs are skilled at making the most of the resources they have. They can see opportunities where others see limitations, and can creatively leverage resources to achieve their goals. This can be a significant advantage in the often resource-constrained world of startups.

5. Promotes Value Creation: At its core, entrepreneurship is about creating value for customers. With a creator mindset, entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to better serve their customers and meet their needs, leading to the development of products or services that truly provide value.

6. Facilitates Continuous Growth: A creator mindset embraces the idea of growth and evolution. Entrepreneurs who cultivate this mindset are committed to personal and professional development, always looking for ways to learn and improve. This continuous growth can lead to long-term entrepreneurial success.

By cultivating a creator mindset, individuals can significantly increase their chances of success as entrepreneurs. Not only does it encourage innovation and resilience, but it also instils a continuous desire for learning and growth.

Rich Consciousness vs Poverty Consciousness: The Key to Abundant Thinking

There are two types of people in this world – those with poverty consciousness and those with rich consciousness. The poverty-conscious are under the misconception that resources are limited, leading to a zero-sum game mentality. On the other hand, those with rich consciousness, or a creator mindset, understand that resources can be created through hard work and the correct application of skills.

Breaking the Cycle of Poverty Consciousness

Unfortunately, the concept of poverty consciousness has led to the idea of limited resources and jobs that need to be reserved for people, regardless of their abilities or competencies. This backward belief has bred irresponsible consumers who feel entitled to resources but have no obligation to create or produce anything in return. This poverty consciousness often generates a race to the bottom, where entitlements and handouts are valued over merit and capability.

Breaking poverty consciousness involves shifting your mindset from scarcity to abundance. It’s about reframing your thoughts and beliefs about money and wealth so that you are open to the opportunities and prosperity that exist around you. Here are some ways to break the cycle of poverty consciousness:

1. Set Financial Goals: Having clear, tangible financial goals can give you something to strive towards. Goals create a sense of purpose and direction, encouraging you to take steps towards improving your financial situation.

2. Educate Yourself About Money: Lack of knowledge often perpetuates poverty consciousness. By learning about personal finance, investing, and wealth creation, you can empower yourself to make informed decisions and break the cycle of financial struggle.

3. Practice Affirmations: Positive affirmations can help reshape your beliefs about money and wealth. Regularly affirming that you are deserving and capable of achieving financial prosperity can help break down negative thought patterns.

4. Seek Professional Guidance: Sometimes, professional help is necessary to overcome deeply ingrained beliefs about money. A financial advisor or a coach can provide valuable guidance and support as you work to change your financial outlook.

Remember, breaking poverty consciousness is a process that takes time. It involves making consistent changes in your thoughts and actions over time. But with commitment and patience, you can shift your mindset and open yourself up to greater financial prosperity.

Learn Rich Consciousness from the Leaders of the World!

Two figures who exemplify this creator mindset are Abraham Lincoln and Narendra Modi. Both faced challenging circumstances in their early lives, yet they remained positive, inclusive, and creative due to their rich consciousness or abundance mentality. Their stories remind us that wealth and abundance are mindsets, and with enough grit, determination, and hard work, we can achieve our objectives.

Abraham Lincoln Manifested Abundance through Adversity

Abraham Lincoln’s life serves as a testament to the power of rich consciousness. Despite experiencing numerous setbacks and hardships, his unwavering belief in abundance and the power of human potential shaped his life and leadership style.

Born into a humble frontier family with limited access to formal education, Lincoln took his learning into his own hands. He would walk miles to borrow books, reading everything he could lay his hands on, including law books. His insatiable appetite for learning was driven by an innate belief in the abundance of knowledge and its transformative power – a clear sign of rich consciousness.

He faced a multitude of setbacks and failures in his political career. He lost his bid for a seat in the Illinois legislature, failed in business, suffered the death of his sweetheart, had a nervous breakdown, was defeated in his run for Congress, and lost two U.S. Senate races. Yet, Lincoln’s rich consciousness was evident in his relentless persistence. He saw these failures not as a scarcity of success, but as stepping stones to eventual victory.

Perhaps one of the most profound demonstrations of Lincoln’s rich consciousness was his Emancipation Proclamation. He firmly believed in the abundance of human rights and equality, which led him to fight for the abolition of slavery. Even in the face of fierce opposition, he was unwavering in his belief that freedom was a fundamental right for all people, regardless of their race.

In one of the most iconic speeches in American history, Lincoln expressed his belief in the abundance of democracy, stating that government should be “of the people, by the people, for the people.” This reflected his rich consciousness and commitment to ensuring that power and freedom were not scarce commodities reserved for a select few, but abundant resources available to all citizens.

Even amidst the tumult of the Civil War, Lincoln demonstrated a deep sense of empathy and compassion. His famous letter to Mrs Bixby, who had lost five sons in the war, reflects his recognition of the abundant capacity of human beings for love and suffering. Rather than being consumed by the scarcity and loss brought about by the war, Lincoln chose to focus on the abundance of shared humanity and compassion.

Abraham Lincoln’s life is a powerful illustration of how a mindset of rich consciousness can shape one’s life and leadership. His belief in the abundance of knowledge, opportunity, human rights, democracy, and compassion guided his actions and left an indelible mark on history.

PM Narendra Modi: A Testament to Abundance Mentality

Narendra Modi’s journey from humble beginnings to becoming the Prime Minister of India is a stirring example of the rich consciousness mindset. Born into a poor family, Modi started his career as a tea seller, a reality that seems a world away from the leader of the nation he would eventually become.

One vivid example of his rich consciousness is his initiative, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, launched in 2014. This scheme aimed to provide access to financial services to the poorest citizens of India, thus creating a resource previously out of reach for many. This was not about redistributing existing wealth but creating a new one, empowering the citizens of India to move from a mindset of scarcity to one of abundance.

Another testament to Modi’s creator mindset is his Mudra Yojna initiative, which aimed to provide loans to small businesses and entrepreneurs without access to traditional banking services. Rather than focusing on dividing a fixed resource, Modi turned his attention to creating new resources and opportunities, displaying a distinct creator mindset.

His Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India campaign, also reveals his rich consciousness. The initiative wasn’t merely about cleanliness; it was about improving the quality of life and health for millions of Indians, creating a resource that is often taken for granted – a clean and safe environment.

These anecdotes showcase Narendra Modi’s deep-rooted belief in abundance and his focus on creating resources rather than merely distributing them. His life journey underscores the power of a rich consciousness in driving personal growth and societal change.

The Creator’s Role: Giving Back to Society

Those with the creator mindset or rich consciousness see opportunity even in scarcity. They know that they can create wealth, and in doing so, they can improve the lives of others. They view their businesses not merely as profit-making enterprises, but as platforms to give back to society. Regardless of the size of their venture or the amount of money generated, they’ve transitioned from consumers to creators.

Some top examples of creators giving back to society are:

• Elon Musk: The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla has been at the forefront of the green energy revolution. Musk has always been vocal about his vision for a sustainable future. With Tesla, he’s transforming the automotive industry by making electric cars mainstream, contributing significantly towards reducing carbon emissions. SpaceX is pioneering the private space travel industry, sparking a renewed interest in space exploration and science.
• Bill Gates: The Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist has dedicated his fortune and efforts to solving global issues through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They work towards improving healthcare, reducing extreme poverty, and expanding educational opportunities and access to information technology.
• Sir Tim Berners-Lee: The inventor of the World Wide Web has fundamentally transformed the way society communicates, accesses, and shares information. His invention has empowered individuals worldwide, contributing to a global society that is increasingly connected and informed.
• Jack Ma: The co-founder of Alibaba has revolutionized e-commerce and has a significant impact on small and medium-sized enterprises in China and beyond. Through his Jack Ma Foundation, he’s committed to fostering future generations of leaders, especially in rural China, by improving education standards and offering entrepreneurial training.
• Oprah Winfrey: Apart from being a media mogul, Oprah has used her platform for uplifting society. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa is one of her many philanthropic ventures aiming to provide education to underprivileged girls and prepare them for future leadership roles.
• Mark Zuckerberg: Through Facebook, he has democratized information sharing and connectivity. His philanthropic endeavour, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, focuses on advancing human potential and promoting equal opportunity through technology, education, science, and energy use.

These creators have shown how creative thinking and resourcefulness can be harnessed for the greater good of society. Their impact transcends their initial creations, embodying the spirit of giving back and fostering societal growth.

Nurturing the Seeds of Creativity

Empowering people to create resources and jobs for themselves and the economy requires an abundance mentality or rich consciousness. When given the right resources, the seeds of creativity can germinate and grow. It’s not about the scale of the business; it could be a small tea stall or a tech startup. The crucial point is that resources are generated and employment is created, not just consumed.

At SMS Varanasi, we foster the creator mindset through the following initiatives:

We Promote Entrepreneurship.

We help our student entrepreneurs to think creatively and develop business ideas. We provide resources such as mentorship, networking opportunities, and startup incubators to support them.

We Encourage Innovation and Creativity.

At SMS Varanasi, we emphasize creative thinking, problem-solving, and innovation. We provide platforms for students to showcase their innovative ideas, such as hackathons, project fairs, and competitions.

We Offer Hands-on Learning.

Our courses offer a lot of opportunities for experiential learning, such as internships, co-op programs, and project-based courses. These experiences allow students to apply their knowledge in real-world situations, develop practical skills, and learn how to create valuable products or services.

We Support Research Opportunities.

By offering undergraduate and postgraduate research opportunities, we stimulate curiosity, creativity, and innovation in our students. Our research scholars learn to ask meaningful questions, develop new ideas, and contribute to their field of study.

We Foster Collaboration.

Working in teams on projects, in study groups or in clubs and organizations, can help students to learn how to effectively collaborate with others – an important skill for creators. It also stimulates innovative thinking as students combine their diverse perspectives and ideas.

We Have a Proper Counseling Facility.

We offer supportive academic advising, mental health resources, and workshops to help our students overcome the fear of failure, learn resilience, and master skills that can help them succeed in all aspects of their lives.

Celebrate the Success of Others: A Trait of the Creator Mindset

The more we nurture an abundance mentality, the more we love to share power, profit, and recognition. We genuinely rejoice in the successes, well-being, and achievements of others because we understand that their prosperity is linked to ours. This is the ethos at the heart of the creator mindset.

At our college, we celebrate the success of our students and faculty members through:

• Public Recognition: We recognize the achievements of students publicly, whether it’s in class, during a student body meeting, or through an announcement on the college website or social media pages. Public recognition not only celebrates the individual’s success but also inspires others.
• Host Awards Ceremonies: We host awards ceremonies to celebrate various forms of success. This could be academic achievement, leadership, volunteer work, or even personal growth and resilience.
• Wall of Fame: We dedicate a space on campus and on the college’s website, where we post students’ achievements along with their photos.
• Organise Celebration Events: For larger achievements such as winning a competition, graduation or securing a significant grant, we organise celebratory events. This could be a dinner, a party or even just a small gathering with refreshments.
• Promote Storytelling: We encourage students to share their success stories. This could be in the form of presentations, blog posts, or interviews. Storytelling not only celebrates success but also provides learning opportunities for other students.
• Mentorship and Guidance: We encourage students who have achieved something significant to offer advice and support to others who are trying to reach similar goals.

Conclusion: Stay Active, Stay Creative

This is your journey towards personal growth and the creator mindset. It’s time to move from just consuming to actively creating. Keep this in mind: Stay active, stay creative, and embrace a future full of opportunities and prosperity.