The Power of the Paradigm

Key Points:

• A paradigm is a model, theory, perception, assumption, or frame of reference. It is the way we "see" the world- not in terms of our visual sense of sight, but in terms of perceiving, understanding and interpreting. Suppose you wanted to arrive at a specific location in central Chicago. A street map of the city would be a great help to you in reaching your destination. But suppose you were given the wrong map. Through a printing error, the map labeled "Chicago" was actually a map of Detroit. 
• You might work on your behavior-- you could try harder, be more diligent, double your speed. But your efforts would only succeed in getting you to the wrong place. 
• You might work on your attitude-- you could think more positively. You still wouldn't get to the right place, but perhaps you wouldn't care. Your attitude would be so positive, you'd be happy wherever you were.
• The point is, you'd still be lost. The fundamental problem has nothing to do with your behavior or your attitude. It has everything to do with having the wrong map.
• If you have the right map of Chicago, then diligence becomes important, and when you encounter frustrating obstacles along the way, then your attitude can make a real difference. But the first and most important requirement is the accuracy of the map.  

Each of us has two main maps on our head: maps of the way things are, or realities, and the maps of the way things should be, or values.

To try to change outward attitudes and behaviors does very little good in the long run if we fail to examine the basic paradigms from which those attitudes and behaviors flow. 

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