December 12, 1980. Apple Inc. goes public.
Shares open at $22. The company’s valuation explodes overnight. Silicon Valley history is being written in real time.
Inside the celebration, fortunes are being created instantly.
And somewhere in the middle of all that excitement, dozens of early employees discovered they were getting left out.
Not random people. Early engineers. Support staff. Loyal contributors who had helped build the company before it was obvious Apple would become Apple.
Some employees received stock.
Others received nothing.
And what happened next became one of the clearest real-world examples of scarcity mindset versus abundance mindset I’ve ever seen.
The Decision That Revealed Two Different Operating Systems
Steve Wozniak disagreed with Apple’s decision to exclude certain early employees from the IPO rewards.
So he did something unusual.
He created what later became known as “The Woz Plan.” He offered excluded employees up to 2,000 shares each at $5 per share from his own holdings. The IPO price was already $22. He was voluntarily giving away stock worth millions—roughly $10 million of his personal shares.
Not because he had to.
Not because a PR consultant told him it would look good.
Not because there was a strategic advantage.
He simply believed the people around him deserved to participate in the success they helped create.
One recipient was Chris Espinosa, who remains Apple’s longest-tenured employee. Through decades of stock splits, those shares eventually became worth an extraordinary amount.
Meanwhile, Steve Jobs did not distribute his own shares.
And before anyone rushes to turn this into a simplistic “good guy versus bad guy” story, that misses the deeper lesson entirely.
I use Jobs and Wozniak as metaphoric examples. I was not in the room and can only use my assumptions to illustrate their motivations. That said, I’ve coached more than 10,000 people over the last 30+ years, and I’ve witnessed versions of this story many times.
This isn’t about morality.
It’s about psychology.
It’s about two completely different internal operating systems running inside two brilliant human beings under the exact same circumstances.
Scarcity and Abundance Are Invisible Filters
The scarcity mindset rarely announces itself directly.
It disguises itself as:
Prudence
Control
Caution
Strategic thinking
Protecting what’s yours
Underneath it all is one central assumption:
“There may not be enough.”
Not enough resources.
Not enough opportunity.
Not enough future security.
Not enough certainty.
That mindset changes how people lead, build, negotiate, share, collaborate and even love.
An abundance mindset operates from a different assumption:
“There is enough.”
Enough opportunity to create.
Enough value to share.
Enough possibility that someone else succeeding does not diminish you.
For illustrative purposes only, Wozniak’s behavior implied abundance.
Jobs’ behavior implied protection.
And here’s the important nuance:
Both approaches can create success.
Scarcity often creates intense drive, focus and control. In fact, some of the most financially successful people in the world are fueled by deeply ingrained survival programming.
But there’s a hidden cost, and I’ve seen it firsthand over and over.
Scarcity Creates Success…Then Steals Peace
In my work with entrepreneurs, executives, investors and high performers, I’ve noticed something fascinating:
Many people achieve extraordinary external success while internally living in a constant state of defense.
The money grows.
The stress stays.
The achievement expands.
The fear remains untouched.
Why?
Because scarcity is not fundamentally about money.
It’s about perceived safety.
The survival mind continuously scans for threats, loss, exclusion, embarrassment, failure or future collapse.
When scarcity dominates:
Creativity narrows
Collaboration weakens
Relationships become conditional
Generosity feels dangerous
Overwork becomes normalized
Peace feels irresponsible
People stop building from inspiration and start operating from defense.
And eventually, the nervous system forgets how to relax.
Abundance Expands More Than Wealth
An abundance mindset is not naïve optimism.
It does not mean pretending risk doesn’t exist.
It means you no longer emotionally collapse in the presence of uncertainty.
You stop treating life like survival.
That shift changes everything.
Research in positive psychology consistently shows that elevated emotional states increase cognitive flexibility, resilience, creativity and problem-solving ability.
A calm mind sees more options.
An abundant person becomes more adaptable because fear is no longer consuming mental bandwidth.
That’s why abundance often creates what appears to be luck.
People operating from openness:
Connect more deeply
See more opportunities
Take healthier risks
Recover faster
Inspire greater trust
Build stronger networks
In other words, abundance creates conditions that multiply possibility.
The Real Question Isn’t Financial
This story is not really about Apple stock.
It’s about the emotional relationship you have with life itself.
When success arrives…
Do you tighten?
Do you defend?
Do you fear losing it?
Or do you expand?
Do you trust your ability to create again?
Do you believe there is enough?
That internal context quietly shapes every major decision you make.
How To Build an Abundance Mindset
Abundance is not something you buy.
It’s something you practice.
A few places to start:
1. Notice Where Fear Is Running Your Decisions
Scarcity often sounds rational.
Pay attention to moments where your mind becomes overly protective, controlling, reactive or defensive.
Awareness is the beginning of freedom.
2. Separate Present Reality From Imagined Futures
Most stress comes from projected futures, not current conditions.
Ask:
“What is actually true right now?”
That question alone interrupts survival thinking.
3. Practice Being “Committed But Unattached”
One of the healthiest mental states is caring deeply while remaining emotionally flexible.
You can pursue greatness without psychologically depending on a specific outcome.
4. Stop Treating Other People’s Success as a Threat
Abundance expands through collaboration, contribution and inclusion.
Scarcity isolates.
5. Reduce Resistance to Life
One of the most powerful principles I teach is:
“What you accept will transform. What you resist will persist.”
Acceptance is not passivity.
Acceptance removes unnecessary internal friction so intelligent action can emerge.
The Difference Wasn’t Intelligence. It Was Context.
Wozniak and Jobs sat in the same room.
Same company.
Same IPO.
Same opportunity.
Same moment in history.
Two completely different emotional operating systems.
One approached success with a closed fist.
One approached it with an open hand.
And that difference matters far beyond money.
Because eventually your mindset stops shaping your business…
…and starts shaping your entire experience of being alive.
Featured image from hanohiki / Shutterstock.com
