Examine your beliefs of the economy.
The economy is a positive-sum game, a “grow the pie” situation. Those who assume the economy is zero-sum believe the only way to get ahead is by taking things from another.
But obviously the economy today is much, much greater than it was in the past. The economic output per person is massively greater than the past. Obviously the pie has grown, and grown much faster than the population has grown.44
I put a lot of stock in having a grow-the-pie mindset, not a zero-sum mindset.45
When I see people (even some smart people) with a bad attitude or doing things that seem morally questionable, it’s often because they have a zero-sum mindset.
They don’t realize they have a zero-sum mindset, or at least don’t realize it consciously. Those who have a zero-sum mindset believe the only way to get ahead is by taking things from others. Those who believe the pie is fixed believe the only way to have more pie is to take someone else’s pie. This is obviously false.46
In reality, there’s a lot of pie. The economic pie is not fixed. It has grown dramatically over time. Make sure you’re not operating from a zero-sum mindset, especially without realizing it. It will result in you trying to take things from others, which is not good. It won’t benefit you.
It’s much better to work on adding to the economic pie. Create more than you consume.47
