From 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
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.
The more aware we are over our basic paradigms, maps, or assumptions, and the extent to which we have been influenced by our experience, the more we can take responsibility for those paradigms, examine them, test them against reality, listen to others and be open to their perceptions, thereby getting a larger picture and a far more objective view.
In other words our view of certain things, certain behaviors, certain people, our paradigm, may not be exactly correct because we are only seeing those things through our filter. Making decisions about situations or people before we even meet and talk with them can really hold us back. Our paradigm says “No one likes to do this so no reason to ask them, they will just say no.” “I have been told I would not be good at that so I’ll just stay where I am and keep doing what I am doing.” Be careful letting your voice, filtered through past experiences – your paradigm, hold you back from what your new reality could be. Not easy, but we can begin to try. Take small scary steps and try it.
Trying to change outwardly does not really last unless we change inside first. Why do we think that? Why do we feel that? You must try to understand and then maybe you can make a new decision, take a new direction. Let’s get all the facts first. Let’s try to see things from several sides before we jump into our judgement seat and tell someone their paradigm is wrong. Maybe our paradigm is stuck. Maybe what we think may happen, will never happen. We just need to try. Break through that wall into something you were sure you might never be able to do.
You got this! Break through that old paradigm wall this week! Go ahead and jump and then grow your wings. Have a little faith, you might be ( and probably will be) pleasantly surprised of what you CAN do!