Creating Scarcity in a World of Abudance

Bitcoin has become so popular as it has programmable, fixed supply in a world of uncontrollable, endless money printing. In other words, Bitcoin is scarce in a world of abundance.

If there is one idea to strive for in the current world of endless content, millions of people in competition for our limited attention, and the huge variety of options at our fingertips every minute of the day; it's scarcity.

So we want to become our own, human version, of Bitcoin.

Scarcity Defines Human Life

Whatever way you look at it, whether it's thousands of years ago when humans roamed the Savannah's or with economic theory that turbo-charged growth in the 20th century, at its heart of so many areas of life is the idea of scarcity. Scarcity essentially determines the value of something.

And looking at a lot of the problems in todays world, they are defined by a problem with scarcity. Whether it be water supply, education, limited land for housing and agriculture, increasing demand for food, the list goes on.

Therefore we live our day to day lives without fully appreciating the impact scarcity is having on us. It very much controls our decisions, determines the cost of our food, and is going to be a key factor in solving future global issues.

And the ultimate source of scarcity that we all experience, all the time. Is time. Our years on this Earth are finite and limited. Leading to our lives essentially having to grapple with working out what to spend our scarce number of hours on.

Scarcity seeps into all aspects of our life. Let’s see how we can use it to our advantage.

Becoming Scare Yourself

Scarcity means something is limited or one-off. When something is in short supply. And this is exactly what we need to do. Become a one-of-a-kind, unique, super differentiated person.

The easiest way to do that is to be different. And the easiest way to be different, is to market yourself on the eclectic mix of skills, interests and experiences that you only you do. If you can merge, mix, intersect and collate a mix of these that no-one has ever seen before. Then you become unique. Which makes you scarce.

We all eat, sleep, go to work. Many play football, watch TV etc. You need to dig deeper into your intrinsic pursuits and weird, random, completely strange things you do, that everyone thinks you are bonkers for, and start combining them together.

Steve Jobs mixed his love for creativity with technology and software to generate a product that revolutionised the world.

Ali Abdaal combined his love for teaching people, self-development, books, career in medicine and video editing skills to become one of the fastest growing YouTubers.

Bear Grylls used his presenting abilities, love for the wild, experiences in tough terrains to become a world renowned TV personality.

Within you, there are a set of unique traits that only you have. Find them. Combine them. Use them.

Benefits of Scarcity

If you are the only one doing what you're doing, you create your own market. People have to come to you. This puts you in a great position of endless, high-value work. You get to explore your true interests as you essentially life a life only you can live.

Final Thoughts

I'm applying this idea of scarcity to my own life. I pivoted from finance into social media. Am writing my own book. Manage over one million followers on Instagram. And want to continue collecting a diverse range of experiences that are unusual and unique in their very nature. I want to become a human version of Bitcoin. You can too. Scarcity controls our lives. But you can make it benefit you and in doing so change your life.