A New Paradigm

Stephen Covey, in his book The 8th Habit, says:

“If you want to make minor, incremental changes and improvements, work on practices, behavior or attitude. But if you want to make significant, quantum improvement, work on paradigms.”

A paradigm is a perception, assumption theory, frame of reference or lens through which you view the world. It is like a map of a city. If the map is inaccurate, it will make no difference how hard you try to find your destination or how positively you think—you’ll stay lost. But if the map is accurate, then diligence and attitude matter. But not until.

Covey uses the practice of bloodletting in the Middle Ages as an example of a wrong paradigm. It was the wrong paradigm of sickness and health that led the unnecessary death of many. If the paradigm is inaccurate, then the more efficient you are, or the faster you are, the more damage you will do. You could be the best at bloodletting and still be highly ineffective in curing disease. It wasn’t until a new paradigm of sickness and health was discovered, Germ Theory, that modern medicine was able to cure many of the diseases and illnesses that confounded doctors in the Middle Ages.

When we change our paradigm, and then our practice changes. Instead of spending time trying to get people to change their behavior, we should focus on changing their mindset. It takes more effort to do this, but it is much more effective in the long run. Give them an accurate map of reality, then they will be able to find their way through life. Paul said in Romans 12:2, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” It takes more than just getting people to do a few more things better; it takes changing their mindset, so that they see things as God sees them and they think and feel about things as God thinks and feels about them. In this way, the whole person is transformed.