RealityCharting e-book .pdf - SERC Home Page

1
Paradigm Shift
It becomes obvious that if we want to make relatively minor
changes in our lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on
our attitudes and behaviors. But if we want to make significant
quantum change, we need to work on our basic paradigms.
—Stephen R. Covey
In every human endeavor, a critical component to our success is our ability
to solve problems. Unfortunately, we often set ourselves up to fail with our
various problem-solving strategies and our inherent prejudices. We typically
rely on what we believe to be common sense, storytelling, and categorizing
to resolve our problems. Conventional wisdom has us believe that problem
solving is inherent to the subject at hand—the doctor solves medical problems,
the mechanic fixes our car, etc. Using the strategies most of us have learned
in our lives typically leads to conformity, which brings complacency and
mediocrity. This chapter will expose the ineffective strategies that prevent us
from being effective problem solvers.
16