Comments on: Expanding the Pie

By: Trackback from RE

Trackback from RE — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 18:21:57 +0000

[...] Guillebeau has written about it in Expanding The Pie. That was written in February of 2009 and I remember reading it back then and thinking “man, [...]

By: Casey Friday

Casey Friday — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:19:34 +0000

Hey Chris,

I found this post through Karol’s blog, and I’m so glad I did. This is one of my favorite posts of yours. The paragraph about what you want is inspiring and enlightening. I’m grateful for what you share with your readers (including me) so often. Thanks, Chris.

By: Trackback from Nathan Hangen

Trackback from Nathan Hangen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:31:35 +0000

[...] Chris Guillebeau says, think about expanding the pie rather than splitting it up. There is more than enough landscape for all of us. Which means that [...]

By: Trackback from Light Cue 23

Trackback from Light Cue 23 — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:39:16 +0000

[...] What I am interested in and what I am speaking to here is expanding the pie. I am no longer interested in seeking out scarcity and eeking out an existence to pay off debt. Rather I am interested in generating value and wealth to raise the quality of life for the people around me. Be that through creating beauty, donating to charity or taking a friend out to dinner. The scarcity mentality has for too long held me and my loved ones back. From experience I know that embracing an abundance mindset is the first step towards generating true wealth. The days of scarcity are over.[...]

By: Nathania

Nathania — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 01:03:06 +0000

I know you wrote this post a while ago. But I liked in your Twitter stream, the person who wrote to consciously dwell on scarcity for awhile. This is a concept put forth by Viktor Frankl, a late Holocaust survivor and Psychotherapist. If you haven’t, read his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. If that guy can be grateful in a concentration camp, then we can certainly find abundance even during a recession.

By: Trackback from Catalyst Cookbook

Trackback from Catalyst Cookbook — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:19:14 +0000

[...] It’s crucial to distance yourself from this sense of scarcity—it is a limiting idea that fuels unnecessary greed. Chris Guillebeau, of The Art of Nonconformity writes about the two mindsets in his post called Expanding The Pie:

“I want to expand the pie through my legacy project. In short, I want to lose the mindset of scarcity and reclaim the mindset of abundance.”

You can think of the wealth you create like a seed. You can consume it, and you can cultivate it. Consider this carefully.[...]

By: Joely Black

Joely Black — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:12:15 +0000

Thank you for this. Writing this entry reminded me how trapped I’ve been in a mindset of scarcity.

J xx

By: Logan

Logan — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:45:50 +0000

I having found this site a few weeks back I was really excited about it. I read all the January articles, The How to Take Over the World Manifesto and the feedback from comments. And I got started on many of the ideas that I wanted to do. It was great.

Then life didn’t go so great. I found myself getting sick, missing out on commitments that I had stressed over for weeks, and generally feeling helpless. I stopped checking this site. Stopped engaging. I checked the RSS feed and noticed the Expanding the Pie title. I dismissed it thinking it didn’t relate to me. Mostly because I didn’t really take the time to think about it.

Then today curiosity found me wandering over here again. I related to these views. Strongly so. Views of strangers, of people drawn to similar ideas, but along different paths. I found the comments not only helpful, but reassuring.

A reminder that Our reactions are choices.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:59:02 +0000

I appreciate this insight, but I offer a different perspective – I guess. If you write ebooks empowering people to pretty much do the same thing you are doing to earn income, are you really expanding the pie? I see it more as handing out cheap surfboards so that more people can ride the wave. Of course the wave can get over crowded and surfers will start crashing over eachother. Also the wave crashes when it reaches shore. Of course you can paddle out and catch the next one if you have the will.

The purest way to expand the pie, in my mind anyway, is to literally expand resources and products to a wider spectrum of people. Suppose the world found ways of producing food, housing, clothing, healthcare, and efficient travel for approximatley 1% of the current cost. The effect should be LOT more people throughout the world could enjoy more and better food, housing, clothing, healthcare and travel. This is what I consider truly expanding the pie. Of course the effect could be that the same number of people just get have more and better – which would be dissapointing (wait isn’t that exactly what has happened so far?).

So, more total pie equals more pie for more people or bigger pieces of pie for the same number of people or bigger pieces of pie for some people but still moderately more pie for more people. Or something like that.

By: ask the wYman

ask the wYman — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:20:17 +0000

Jennifer,

I hear you. We need more freeloaders to get the entrepreneurial attitude instead of the two chickens in every pot and I’ll vote for you. Take it away from the evil rich boss who pays me for eight hours when I only work 3 of them and goof of the rest of the time.

Wyman