Almost every form of media, in some way, revolves around cultivating desire for things you don’t have, which is a key element of the scarcity mindset.

Advertisements are particularly nasty in this regard, but that is just the first piece of the equation.

Quite often, the programs themselves [or the articles, if you are looking at written media like websites and newspapers and magazines] are written in a way to cultivate desires.

You watch TV, you get to see things you don’t have, the scarcity mentality then sets in and you know what you want to buy the next day.

TV is like one long cat-walk stage. You watch Suits or The Fixer, you already know what you need to buy at month end, a suit or smart formal dress.

You are bombarded with adverts on your way to work, billboards trying to sell you something, adverts on social media selling you something, adverts everywhere at the Gautrain while waiting for the train, at the airport, in newspapers, radio, friends selling you something.

The best way to battle that onslaught is to simply reduce your media consumption.

Take an hour where you might have watched television or browsed the web and instead spend it doing something outside with your hands.

Use that time to do something to improve yourself in some way.

Media drives the scarcity mentality.

Peace of mind is the joy of not being sold anything.