The document discusses the significance of understanding personal paradigms and their transformative power, drawing on insights from notable figures such as Stephen Covey and Thomas Kuhn. It presents paradigms as frameworks through which individuals interpret their experiences and emphasizes the necessity of recognizing and shifting these paradigms for personal growth. The talk suggests techniques for improving paradigms, such as engagement in therapy and critical self-reflection, to navigate life's uncertainties and enhance psychological flexibility.

1. Personal
Paradigms
Yackademia January 2018
Amy Hua
(Questions: ask throughout)

2. Talk about the importance, and power of assessing our perspective.
Stephen Covey and Thomas Kuhn’s model of paradigms and
paradigm shifting (system transformations from the inside-out).
Using a coherent framework that utilizes philosophy, scientific
thinking, history, and empirical evidence.
Main Sources
1. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey
2. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn
3. How Did I Get Here?, Barbara de Angelis
4. The Myths of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky
5. Sapiens (A Brief History of Humankind), Yuval Noah Harari
6. Personal Experience, other sources… etc
Purpose

3. Disclaimer
This is a talk about the nature of transformation.
Not a direct how-to guide. I don’t have the power to
tell you how to transform your own life.

4. Some Assumptions
The existence of absolute principles (sorry, relativists)
Principles are proven, enduring guidelines for human conduct. There are certain universal and timeless
principles that govern human effectiveness. Objective principles govern human growth and happiness.
“You reap what you sow”
“You cannot have trust without being trustworthy”
“Actions are more important than words”
E.g., the truth of the Law of Gravity (and other laws) is not relative to the subject.

5. What is a paradigm? Definitions & Examples
How are paradigms powerful? How are they limited?
Paradigm Shifts
Some Frameworks
Agenda

6. Agenda
What is a paradigm? Definitions & Examples
How are paradigms powerful? How are they limited?
Paradigm Shifts
Some Frameworks

7. Paradigm
Borrowed term from The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions (1962), as it applies to the progress of
science. Later adopted by Stephen Covey.
A paradigm is a set of assumptions, concepts,
values, and practices that constitutes a way of
viewing reality, both in terms of:
● the way things are
● the way things should be
Synonyms: ways of thinking, models,
frameworks

8. Central Thesis of Thomas Kuhn’s book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Big progress comes from revolutionary breakthroughs.
Science has advanced not through the steady collection of new ideas but
through occasional revolutionary explosions of new knowledge.
(aka, the Kuhn Cycle)

9. Heliocentrism
Natural Selection
The Atomic Theory
Special Relativity
Magnetism & Electricity
Cell Theory
Quantum Theory
Game Theory
Plate Tectonics

10. The Kuhn Cycle

11. The kuhn cycle applies not just to science, but to any body of
knowledge whose use is critical and whose construction is
evolutionary.

12. (Stephen Covey) If science gets closer to the true laws of
nature through the Kuhn cycle, then human beings get closer
to the true laws of human nature, happiness, and growth
through a similar cycle.
As a result, we are also capable of explosive shifts in personal
transformation.

13. Think of a map
You are heading to New York on a road trip
You grab a map
The map says New York but it’s actually a map of the state of Pennsylvania
...but you don’t realize this

14. “How can i improve my trip?”
Change your behavior
Change your attitude
Go faster, cut corners, find shortcuts, triple-check the map
Stay positive no matter the obstacles you encounter

15. You’re still lost

16. If the ladder is not leaning
against the right wall, every
step we take just gets us to the
wrong place faster.
-- Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

17. Improving your behaviors or
attitudes doesn’t matter if you are
using the wrong paradigm
You’ll still end up lost.
Bad opinions are very costly.
-- Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

18. Accurate paradigms is a prerequisite to
the importance of better behaviors & attitudes
ATTITUDES BEHAVIORS & HABITS
PARADIGMS

19. We’re inherently biased…
and limited…
from seeing beyond our maps
“The map is not the territory”

20. The map is not the territory

21. The map is not the territory

22. The world’s most accurate
map (2016, Japan)
Also see: This funny West
Wing Clip (Mercator
Projection vs Peter-Gahls)

23. People are seldom aware that they have paradigms
“We don’t know what we don’t know” (blind spots, the unknown unknowns)
Being told we are wrong isn’t pleasant; can feel invalidating & accusatory (the ego) when one’s
sense of self importance is wrapped up in one’s paradigms

24. Blind Men & an Elephant
While your subjective
experience of something can
be true, our experience is
inherently limited
- Inability to account for other truths
- Inability to view the whole truth
- Mistake in assuming that the way we see
things is the way they really are or should
be

25. We do not see the world as it is,
but we see the world as we are
each of us looking through the unique lens of
our own experiences, positions,
predispositions, and biases

26. Only when we recognize our
relative perspectives can we
begin to shift from thinking
about right & wrong to
thinking in terms of
conflicts of paradigms

27. The problem with experience is that
we think we’ve seen it all.
when we stop growing

28. Thinking in terms of conflicts of
paradigms leads us to transition from...
“But that can’t be true...” → “I feel that…”
Giving advice → Giving our perspective
Listening with the intent to reply → Listening with the intent to understand
Fearing diversity → Embracing diversity
Viewing challenges as an attack → viewing challenge as a learning opportunity

29. Your Identity Your ideas
This distance

30. How we identify ourselves (who we think we
are) as Democrats/liberals versus
Republicans/conservatives was the largest
predictor of social distance -- more than
where we stand on the issues.
- The substance of the issues themselves
- What it says about a person
“the identity-based elements of
ideology are capable of driving
heightened levels of affective
polarization against outgroup
ideologues, even at low levels of policy
attitude extremity or constraint.”

31. What is a paradigm? Definitions & Examples
How are paradigms powerful? How are they limited?
Paradigm Shifts
Some Frameworks
Agenda

33. . ParadigmShift .
A profoundchange in a fundamental model or perceptionof events
(Kuhn) A revolutionoccurs when [one] encounters anomalies that cannot be
explained by the accepted paradigmswithin which progresshas been made.

34. Examples of Paradigm Shifts
Work harder
Work smarter
The “80/20 rule”: “80% of the results come from 20% of the effort”
Best way to motivate people is extrinsically
High performance comes from satisfying intrinsic human
needs
The rise of Wikipedia over MSN Encarta
Satisfying needs of autonomy, mastery, and purpose > carrot-and-stick

35. Like a frog boiling in water
“death by a thousand cuts”
aka, creeping normality
A major change can be accepted as the normal
situation if it happens slowly, in unnoticed
increments, when it would be regarded as
objectionable if it took place in a single step or short
period (Wikipedia)
● (Military) “Divide & Conquer”
● (Ecology) Climate change,
economic degradation
● (Technology) Cyberattacks;
privacy erosion

36. Breaking down
Paradigm Shifting

38. We experience a gap between what where we thought we’d
be, and where we actually are. We meet the question, “are
you really happy being where you are right now?” with
feelings of daunt/ uncertainty/ sadness, instead of
enthusiasm, energy, gratitude.
- Expectations of what we hoped would happen versus
what actually happened
- We find ourselves in a toxic relationship that we feel painful
staying in and leaving
- A job we counted on vanishes, we feel lost and purposeless
- Our health or the health of a loved one turns for the worst
- Seeing our life for what is really is instead of what we want it to
be.. (impending) quarter-life, mid-life crisis
We no longer recognize the landscape, emotions, or
circumstances we find ourselves in.
…we eventually have to ask ourselves, “How did I get here?”

39. Understanding that you are lost.
We acknowledge this by asking ourselves...
“How did I get here?”
We begin to seek
autobiographical coherence.
Sources: How Did I Get Here? by Barbara de Angelis, The Myths of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky

40. -- László Babai’s favorite response to students in my undergraduate math class (who were
answering questions wrongly)
László Babai is a renowned mathematician. Has authored over 180 academic papers, was cited in
an episode of Stargate Atlantis, teaches math to 19-year-olds
“I do not understand!”

41. “By simply writing about the past, people are able to
gain a sense of meaning and order about their
significant life events, thus affording them the chance to
come to terms with these events and reconcile
themselves to their regrets”
-- The Myths of Happiness
autobiographical coherence

42. Two ways to react to asking the question, “How did I get here?”
Reject Accept
Short-term
Long-term
● Inconvenient
● Discomfort
● Experience uncertainty, loss of direction
● The number of questions outweigh the
number of answers
● Convenient
● Sense of comfort (familiarity)
● Conflict management
"There cannot be a crisis next week.
My schedule is already full.” (Henry
Kissinger)
● Tremendously taxing, ongoing energy
○ Addiction
○ Distracting ourselves with work, exercise,
caretaking others
○ Magical thinking
● We do not have access to inner peace
→ irritability, depression, anger, exhaustion
● We disconnect and turn off in every sense
→ unable to discern what we’re feeling / why
→ emotions as mysterious, uncomfortable
● We gain the skill of self-deception
● We open ourselves to insight,
revelation, and healing
● We gain greater access to inner peace
● How we are thinking is more connected
to how we are feeling
● A clear highway between our inner
self and our outer expressions (inner
peace, authenticity)
→ our emotions are friendly
compasses
● We gain the skill of changing more
easily in the future
● Greater interpersonal ease

44. -- Jerzy Gregorek
62-year-old Olympic Weightlifter
“Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life.”

45. Psychological flexibility is
foundational to learning
anything quickly.

46. Behaviors & Attitudes
Paradigms

47. Behaviors & Attitudes
Paradigms
120 lbs body
...with a 160 lbs brain

48. CtA study:
#1 predictor of career success is “our ability to make
meaning from our experiences”
“Have strong opinions, weakly held”

49. “We must ponder on our forsaken goals, we must do it,
and we must admit that we have lost a cherished part of
ourselves, and at the same time, not be consumed by it.”
-- The Myths of Happiness

50. Persevere and endure a (long) process of questioning and
contemplation
Asking “How did I get here?” guides us to explore new
paradigms
You are somewhere. Where is it?
Finding out where you are, makes you no longer lost.
“Dig deep enough and you will hit something”. You’re going
to discover something you didn’t expect and could have
never known… without digging
“We know who we are when we know who we are not”
STEP TWO

51. It’s a hard science.
M&E: Monitoring and Evaluation
Management Consulting Methodology.
● Ask key questions.
● Identify pivotal sub-issues.
● (M&E) Collect enough relevant data over time.
Produce good routine data.
● Evaluations should be cheap.

52. Name your experience
Allows you to step back from your experiences to begin to
observe it more objectively.
By naming, we can
● Identify our experiences as something that others have
gone through before us (and have faced before).
● Identify key questions to ask, and sub-issues to drill
down to.
● Enable you to draw a new roadmap, and start the
process of evaluation and improvement.
Regain a grasp of stability: “I am here”
STEP THREE

53. “If you came to class only to leave without having
experienced anything unexpected... then did you really
accomplish what you came here to do?”
-- An old college professor

54. Taking actions with our new
paradigm in mind.
STEP FOUR

55. + We feel lost less often!
+ Less wasted energy
+ Can focus savored energies on other
things
+ Exploring new lands we didn’t know existed
on our newly refined maps
+ Profound cascading changes in your
attitudes and behaviors
STEP FIVE: PROFIT!
ATTITUDES BEHAVIORS & HABITS
PARADIGMS

56. Paradigm Shifts are a cycle
Observing anomalies that do not fit our existing
models for how things work
Shakes our faith in our paradigms
The problem is seen from different perspectives
and alternative paradigms are explored
Various alternative paradigms compete. A winner
emerges.
We return to routine. The transformation becomes
invisible

57. The map is not the territory

58. The map is not the territory

59. Our minds are wired to deceive us.
"Beware the fallacies into which undisciplined thinkers
most easily fall--they are the real distorting prisms of
human nature."
-- Francis Bacon
Father of the Scientific Method; author of the quote “knowledge is power”
Responsible for linking technology to science (which were separate fields)

60. Our blind spots grow like
moss.
When we aren’t looking at
them, attending to them,
they grow from our neglect.
Improving the accuracy of
our paradigms requires
constant prudence

61. Increasing psychological flexibility
One Solution: Participating in therapy
Having a (trained) objective third party to reflect and
work with.
Different tools in clinical psychology:
● Psychoanalytic Therapy
● DBT/CBT: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy /
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
● ACT: Acceptance and Commitment-based
Therapy
Improving our paradigms by…
CBT Model
Order of model emergence
in the field of clinical
psychology
(less to more empirically
backed methods)

62. Increasing psychological flexibility
ACT (Acceptance and
Commitment-based Therapy)
- Developed within a coherent theoretical and
philosophical framework
- empirically based psychological intervention
- uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies, together
with commitment and behavior change strategies, to
increase psychological flexibility
Improving our paradigms by…

64. ● Remaining wary about being overconfident (assessing
your ego). #behumble
● “The Map is Not the Territory”
○ Recognizing the heavy cost of bad opinions, the
foundational importance of truth (accurate
paradigms). #seektruth
○ Critically questioning and evaluating other people’s
truths (most people are wrong)
● Stress-testing your paradigms: having smart people
challenge you, giving you feedback
Improving our paradigms by

65. Time for some
frameworks!*

66. We can run out of emotional energy
“I need to allocate this more wisely”
(watch where I spend. Invest early)
emotional “bank” model
May 2010. See article from The Economist

67. Happiness as an
ecosystem
Ecosystem: “A community of separate yet
interacting organisms”.
A model for how robust, self-sustaining
systems can come to be
Made of many mutually reinforcing parts.
Example:
Exercise...
...and Social relationships
...and Sources of Mastery (Job, Projects)
...and Meditation
....and Financial Wealth
...and Dancing & Listening to Music
A self-sustaining system of happiness

68. ✓ Mutually Exclusive
✓ Collectively Exhaustive
aka, MECE (“me-see”)
Some examples...
What makes a “good”
framework?

69. “Is that a Main Dish or a Side Dish?”
If it’s a side dish… don’t make it
your whole meal.

78. Thanks!