Paradigms change you to the core – Bob Proctor
A few years ago I attended a seminar with Bob Proctor and the following are some of the thoughts he shared that day. These notes were reviewed as a part of a class at Warren County College due to a number of questions raised by students concerning how they might become more successful.
Organizational culture is founded on habits, work practices, attitudes, beliefs and expectations otherwise known as paradigms. Armed with paradigms, we approach and react to the world around us, interpreting what we see and experience according to our shared understandings and those culturally determined guidelines. A paradigm, in a sense, tells you that there is a game, what the game is, and how to play it successfully. A paradigm shift then, is a change to a new game, or a new set of rules. And when the rules change, the whole world can be appearing to change.
Ideally, any changes to an organization should be implemented simultaneously with a change in attitude of the members. In other words, the people’s paradigms should be shifted at the same time the organization begins its transformation. It’s unfortunate that most of the organizations in the world are not preparing their people to make the personal paradigm shifts that are necessary. There are numerous individuals who lack the understanding required to adapt to the changes that are being forced upon them.
Think of how the world has changed. There are hundreds of thousands of people walking the street today who went to school, worked hard, studied long hours, graduated at the top of their class, secured employment with a major blue-chip company and bought into the promise that just about every major corporation offered: “If you give us loyalty, we will give you security.” Twenty years later, as these loyal and misguided individuals stood proudly near the top of their corporate ladder, shouldering responsibility for big mortgages and small children, the corporate paradigm shifted. The ladder was yanked out from underneath them and they found themselves standing on the street, bruised, demoralized, unemployed and in a state of total shock.
Is there a problem? An enormous problem! It’s called paradigms.
Now, I know most people would say, “The problem is the corporation’s lack of loyalty” … but this is not the case. A job doesn’t owe you anything. People work at a job or for an employer in a mutual sort of relationship, but that doesn’t mean that one or the other party is utterly responsible for the other party’s livelihood.
Ninety-some percent of the population keeps getting the same results—year in, year out! This is as true for students in school as it is for the person in business. If there is an improvement in the performance of most people, it’s generally minimal—just a blip on the screen and not enough to make any substantial difference in a person’s life-style. Is there a problem? An enormous problem! It’s called paradigms.
Paradigms can be likened to a program that has been installed in your brain. But you can change that software! The same infinite power flows to and through each one of us, and if we had been taught to develop our higher faculties in the first place, we would understand how and why all things are possible.
You are going to be delighted to learn that just changing a very small part of the old paradigm can make an enormous difference in the results you can enjoy in every area of your life. Think of the areas in your life that money affects. Imagine shifting your paradigm there to substantially increase your income before year’s end. If you have difficulty meeting people and you alter the paradigm so that it’s easy and enjoyable to meet people, this could have quite an impact on your life.
These are just two examples of hundreds that could be done in YOUR life. Today! There will be no permanent change in your life until the paradigm has been changed. Choose one or two limiting ideas that are part of your paradigm and replace them with ideas that represent freedom to you. Consciously keep those new thoughts in your head, and act as if those thoughts are already imbedded in the foundation of your life. Before you know it – you life will begin to change – and dramatically!
The vision represents the total journey that you are taking. Goals are the progressive stepping-stones that help you realize your vision, keeping it crystal clear. You could say the vision represents what you are doing with your life, the goal represents the various aspects of how you’re doing it and your purpose explains why.
Becoming aware of your purpose helps you connect with the higher side of your life, and will uncap a fountain of inspiration. With a definite purpose, loneliness and separation fade away and disappear. You become a necessary part of something much larger. To get in touch with your purpose in life, it is suggested that you find a peaceful environment—a place where the spiritual essence of you will shine. Because many people find it difficult to decide on their life’s purpose, I will share something of a personal nature that you may find helpful.
“Where there is no vision, the people shall perish.” The Bible—Proverbs
Solomon’s wisdom is as accurate today as it was centuries ago. Your vision that you are mentally entertaining must always be clear, larger and more magnificent than the conditions or circumstances which you presently find yourself surrounded by in your material world. It is the vision in your mind … harmonizing with your purpose which creates the inspiration that causes you to stretch. The vision you hold also determines the frequency of your thoughts. The larger and clearer the vision, the bigger, better and more effective the ideas will be that flow into your consciousness.
You must have a goal that will excite and scare you at the same time. Your goal must be something you WANT … and you must really want it. The goal will excite you because it is something you really want … it will scare you because it is not in harmony with your old conditioning (paradigm). Your goal comes from a totally different dimension of thought. When the goal and the old conditioning come together it creates the emotion of fear. This is precisely what keeps people stuck in their tracks, producing the same results year after year. You must face the thing you fear. Proceeding in the face of fear and remaining emotionally involved with the higher ideal is the process that alters old conditioning.
“You will either step forward into growth or back into safety.” Abraham Maslow
“Before you can do something, you first must be something.” Goethe
If you want to have more, you must do more and if you’re going to do more, you have to be more. This is how people improve the quality of their lives. You are stepping out of the box, wandering into an area you have never been before. Understanding enables you to keep on going in the face of fear. You will ultimately realize that when you face the thing you fear, fear leaves you. You don’t have to know how to reach your goal, that is not important. It is, however, absolutely essential that you are able to visualize yourself already in possession of the goal. Your goal must fit into your vision, it will be a stepping stone in the materialization of your entire vision.
Lastly, but certainly not least, your goal must be in complete harmony with your purpose.
When thinking about our Isshin-ryu training, it is recommended that each person has a notebook in which to write what is done in each session, explanations of new parts of kata as well as sparring and self-defense techniques. Create a section to keep a record of events attended and promotions received. Create a section for the purpose of your training (one’s purpose may change the longer one continues) and for goals to be created and recreated when the previous one is reached. Create a section to write questions that come from personal training, otherwise the questions are generally forgotten by the next time in the dojo.
