Think of paradigms as maps of certain territories. Don’t you think navigating that territory would be much easier if you had a map? Doesn’t it make so much sense to have an accurate, updated map?
In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey describes paradigms as “a pattern or a model; the generally accepted perspective.” He further explains that, "Paradigms are powerful because they create the lens through which we see the world... If you want small changes in your life, work on your attitude. But if you want big and primary changes, work on your paradigm."
In 2013, my entire family moved from the Washington D.C. area to Pensacola, Florida. The GPS software in our minivan was at least four years old. We never really needed to do any updates because we were pretty familiar with the DC area. Just a couple of weeks before driving to Pensacola, I didn’t even think it was necessary to update our GPS, but Amy, my wife, wanted to make sure that we did that. She was right. Though we were able to find our way through the main roads and interstate highways to get to Pensacola, many of the new neighborhoods in the Pensacola area were not in our four-year-old software update. Without the updated maps in our GPS, we would not have found the new neighborhoods where we ended up buying the home we live in now.
As leaders, we need to continuously learn and shift our paradigms or mindsets for continued learning. If we don’t make adjustments to our paradigms, we’ll get blindsided by certain situations, and worse, we’ll miss things completely—making us ignorant of certain opportunities what could take our organization and the people we lead to the next level.
Pride or Cowardliness?
Many of us, most definitely including me, miss the mark in having the right paradigm in the right moment. The deliberate denial of this fact can be caused my two things: pride and cowardliness. I want to say that, for the most part, I fail to embrace the right paradigm because of pride because I’m pretty set with my own mindset—knowing that the things I used to do already works.
In reality, it’s mostly my cowardliness that impediments me from taking on the right paradigm in order to move forward. Excuses like, “I have a family to feed,” “I have the kids’ tuition to pay,” or “I can’t risk my family’s survival,” seem noble and understandable, but are they really the reason? Am I just simply scared to fail, point blank? Or scared to be uneasy, uncomfortable—-fear to be challenged? I found out that there are ways to inch my way through paradigm shifts.
There are ways to make these changes without risking the loss of the life that I have now. Small iterative shifts are enough to move forward. Of course, bigger risks equates to either bigger wins or bigger loses.
This year, I started blogging more, reading more, and speaking more. My goal is to publish a book, my first of many, in the next 12 months. Inching away by publishing content, creating a platform, and improving my craft, altogether represent my small paradigm shifts to achieve that goal. My goal is that these side-hustles can eventually (and passively) fund some of my “excuses” so I can take bigger leaps.
Insanity
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
In 2018, I wanted to start losing weight. I stopped putting sugar in my coffee and I stopped drinking regular sodas. Those immediate actions plus exercise and “somewhat” watching the food I eat, helped me lose around 40 lbs. Before 2018, I tried working out a lot—vigorously and relentlessly. I got tired. Didn’t lose weight. So I gave up. Simply adding an activity did not change the results. Changing my lifestyle did. Though I still have ways to go, and many instances of falling back one or two steps in this journey, I know what needs to be done.
Crowdsourcing FTW.
What goals do you have that requires some paradigm shifts? Can you share some of the challenges you face(d) in doing so, and how you overcome them? Please share in the comments below.