During a recent meeting with a bright young man, excited about his first sales job out of college, I heard him express a common paradigm.  We were talking about his goals and he said, “I have to be realistic.”  I responded, “Actually you don’t need to be realistic.  In fact, you really don’t want to be realistic.”

What exactly is realistic?

You see, our paradigms tell us what is logical or realistic.  The sad truth is that those controlling paradigms are not even our own.  They come from what other people have told us and we accepted those beliefs as true.  You can decide what is true for you.  Consider all the aspects of our lives that are controlled by paradigms:

• Our perception
• Our use of time
• How creative we think we are
• How effective we can be
• How productive we can be
• Our logic
• Our ability to earn money

Paradigms can be changed, however most people cannot change paradigms without some help.  Paradigms are very strong and seductive.  When you decide to change some aspect of your life, your paradigm will try to keep where you are.  You stay in your comfort zone.

Just remember, there can be no permanent change until you change your paradigm.