I Accidentally Bought a Mindset for Christmas

Last Christmas, I gave my heart to something new.

Instead of leftovers and holiday doomscrolling, I enrolled in a free webinar series by Sigrun called 12 Days of Masterclasses. Starting December 25, every morning from 10:00 to 11:30, I sat in front of my computer listening to a very energetic Icelandic lady talk about online business.

Yes, I know.

The obvious purpose of the whole thing was to sell her signature course. And yes, I genuinely loved the idea of it. At the same time, there is no universe—parallel or otherwise—in which I can realistically afford it right now.

Despite that, I kept showing up. Coffee in hand, brain only partially online, curiosity fully engaged. And somewhat unexpectedly, that decision turned out to be worth it.

The Two Things That Drove Me a Little Bit Mad

The experience wasn’t without its flaws. There were two things in particular that tested my patience. First, every single day began with roughly twenty minutes of organizational housekeeping: where to find which materials, how to promote the masterclass, what you could win, where to click, what not to miss, and repeated reminders to share everything on social media.

The second challenge was the chat itself. An endless loop of the same questions appeared day after day—people not receiving emails, broken links, missing worksheets, confusion about recordings.

To be fair, Sigrun has a whole team of genuinely kind and helpful people who handled this chaos with saint-like patience, answering the same questions and posting links to worksheets, infographics, and other materials mentioned during the sessions.

And to her credit, Sigrun herself started every session—right after the same organizational warm-up—by answering questions from the previous day and briefly recapping the main idea before moving on.

What surprised me most was how much I actually started to look forward to these mornings. Not in a productivity-guru, “5 a.m. miracle” kind of way, but in a quieter sense of noticing that something was shifting internally.

Uncritically and honestly, this free masterclass series gave me more than any paid online course I tried throughout 2025. Not because of strategies, or pricing formulas, but because of a slight shift in mindset that landed deeper than I expected.

I Thought I Already Had a Growth Mindset

Years ago, I read Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck and walked away fairly convinced that I leaned toward a growth mindset. The core idea is simple: people with a fixed mindset believe abilities are static, while those with a growth mindset believe skills and intelligence can be developed over time. I agreed with it, nodded along, and mentally filed it under “things I already know and mostly live by.”

Sigrun, however, framed a similar concept using slightly different language: abundance mindset versus scarcity mindset. On the surface, it felt like a rebranding of the same idea, but in practice it hit a different nerve.

And suddenly, something clicked.

Scarcity vs. Abundance (Not the Instagram Version)

Scarcity mindset sounds like this:

• There’s not enough—time, money, opportunities.

• If someone else wins, I lose.

• I need to be careful, small, quiet, prepared for disappointment.

Abundance mindset sounds like:

• Opportunities aren’t limited.

• Someone else’s success doesn’t block mine.

• Growth creates more growth.

Scarcity mindset is driven by the belief that there is never enough, and that someone else’s success somehow diminishes your own chances.

Abundance mindset, on the other hand, assumes that growth creates more growth, that opportunities aren’t finite, and that another person’s success doesn’t block your path.

On paper, this looks suspiciously similar to growth vs. fixed mindset.

In practice, it hits a different nerve—especially if you’ve spent years being cautious, broke, burned out, or all three.

This is where things became more complicated, especially when money entered the conversation. I’m still not entirely sure whether part of this abundance narrative was meant to encourage participants not to think too hard about the price of Sigrun’s signature course.

There is a real difference between consciously investing in your education and making high-stakes financial decisions fueled by hope alone. There were people openly talk about using family savings with the expectation that it would all work out, and while I genuinely believe some of them will succeed, that approach simply didn’t work for me.

Not because I don’t believe in investing in myself, but because “too much money, too fast” isn’t a mindset issue—it’s a logistical one. You can’t realistically walk into a bank on January 2nd and ask for an entrepreneur loan on the promise that clarity will arrive within a few days.

And Yet—It Helped Me Anyway

Despite all of this, the experience helped me. A lot.

Not by convincing me to buy something I couldn’t afford, but by gently reshaping how I think about timing, possibility, and self-trust. The version of abundance mindset that stayed with me isn’t about reckless optimism or pretending financial limits don’t exist. It’s about not pre-rejecting yourself before reality even gets a chance to respond.

I didn’t buy the course. I didn’t even buy the downsell—an email list–building course priced like an all-in-one software subscription. It was, objectively speaking, a solid deal, but in my situation it was still more than I was comfortable spending.

I walked away with something arguably more valuable: the quiet confidence that growth doesn’t require permission, only consistency and a slightly wider mental frame. As far as Christmas gifts go, that’s a surprisingly solid drop.