The older you get, the more you like to tell it like it use to be.

If you never climb a hill, you will never know it is different from a plain.
- Texas Bix Bender

We see the world as WE ARE not as IT really IS.

Almost every significant breakTHROUGH is a breakWITH.

A large ocean liner was headed across the Atlantic from Portsmouth to New York. As it neared its destination at night, a lookout on the wing of the bridge reported "Light, bearing on the starboard bow." "Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out. The lookout replied, "Steady, captain," which meant that that they were on a collision course. The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: We are on a collision course, advise you change course 20 degrees." Back came a signal, "Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees." The captain said, "Send, I'm a captain, change course 20 degrees." "I'm a seaman, second class," came the reply. "You had better change course 20 degrees." By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send, This is the mighty ocean liner, HMS Franconia. Change course 20 degrees." Back came the flashing light, "This is a lighthouse, suggest you change course 20 degrees." Needless to say, the ocean liner changed course!

The old system has two advantages over the new one: it is established and it is understood.
- Colton

Point-of-view: Traveling thru New Emgland, a motorist stopped for gas in a tiny village. "What's this place called?" he asked the station attendant. "All depends," the native drawled. "Do you mean by them that has to live in this dad-blamed, moth-eaten, dust-covered, one-hoss dump, or by them that's merely enjoying its quaint and picturesque rustic charms for a short spell?"

The real problem is that PERCEPTION is all there is. There is no reality as such. There is only perceived reality, the way each of us chooses to perceive a communication, the value of a service, the value of a particular product feature, the quality of a product. The REAL is what we PERCEIVE.
- Tom Peters & Nancy Austin

You see best what you think you are SUPPOSED to see.
- Joel Barker

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind there are few.

We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.
- Anais Nin

To illustrate how easy it is for a group of people to get "locked in" to a certain way of looking at things, try this experiment with a group: (Good exercise to illustrate Group Think)
1. Pick a number between 1 and 10.
2. Multiply it by 9.
3. If your number is two digits, add them together to make one number.
4. Subtract 5.
5. If your number is 1, remember the letter "A", if 2, remember "B", 3 = C, 4 = D, etc.
6. Think of a country that starts with that letter.
7. Think of the second letter of that country and then think of a mammal whose name starts with that letter. Now think of the color of that mammal.
Chances are pretty good most of the group picked a gray elephant from Denmark!

It's always easy to see both sides of an issue we are not particularly concerned about.

It's not reality that's important, but how you perceive things.

The difference between a mountain and a molehill is your perspective.
- Al Neuharth

One person's constant is another person's variable.
- Susan Gerhart

You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
- Mark Twain

Houdini was imprisoned in a specially designed new prison cell, and was challenged to escape. Using a small metal strip he had concealed in his clothing, he struggled for 2 hours to open the lock. He started to get weary and frustrated, finally slumping against door, which swung open! It had never been locked! We mentally create our own locks and limits.

Titles tend to lead to mentally imposed restrictions. "I'm a ________, and therefore I don't know anything about _________ . (or "therefore, that's not my job.)

To see ourselves as others see us, It would from many a blunder free us.
- Robert Burns

I like my tailor. He takes my measurements anew each time he sees me, whereas others expect me to fit old measurements.
- G.B. Shaw

Mental Scotomas: "holes" in your consciousness that prevent you from "seeing" different viewpoints and perceptions. If you're not looking for something you probably won't find it!!

The fish only knows that it lives in the water, after it is already on the river bank. Without our awareness of another world out there, it would never occur to us to change.

Live your live with conscious choice rather than through unconscious programming. The observing consciousness is the vantage point from which we see our life from an objective point of view. Anytime you are experiencing a situation that doesn't seem to be working for you, exercise the observing consciousness:
Exercising the Observing Consciousness:
1. Observe your emotions; what am I feeling?
2. Observe your thoughts; what are the thoughts, judgments, attitudes or perspectives I have that are causing these emotions?
3. Look at your only options:
- change the situation
- change your thinking about the situation
- leave the situation
- stay stuck

Too see your drama clearly is to be liberated from it.
- Ken Keyes, Jr.

The President Paradigm:
Name the five American Presidents NOT buried in the United States.
What is your paradigm? What are you visualizing? Re-examine the problem, break it down.
1. We are looking for five American Presidents
2. These five are not buried in the United States - which means:
a) They are buried in foreign countries
b) They are living!
The five Presidents are: Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford and Clinton.

Your attitude and behavior are a function of your paradigm. For example: It's Sunday morning, you are enjoying a quiet ride in the subway - no crowds. A man with several children gets on. The children act rowdy, shouting, disturbing others. You become irritated and finally say "Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people, I wonder if you couldn't control them a little more." The reply comes slowly: "I guess I should...We just came from the hospital...Their mother just died about an hour ago and I guess...I don't know what to think...I guess they don't know how to handle it either..." You have just experienced a paradigm shift that puts the situation in new light.
We all see things differently. Similar to putting someone else's glasses on. See things distorted, but they don't see things that way.

My reality check just bounced.

Man's mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimension.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Let me dispel a few rumors before they fester into facts.
- Robin Williams, from "Dead Poets Society"

A farmer once went to the county fair with a pumpkin that was the exact size and shape of a two-gallon jug. His pumpkin won the blue ribbon. When someone asked him how he grew a pumpkin to look like that, he said, "It was easy. As soon as it started to grow, I stuck it inside a two gallon jug - and here it is!" In the same way your life situation, your view of the world around you is shaped by the container you hold it in. Such beliefs can put a lid on potential. You might be a golfer who averages 90 for 18 holes. One day you're on your way to a 70 at the 16th hole. You say to yourself, "This isn't like me!" Hearing that, your subconscious makes sure you put the next ball into the woods or the sand. At the end of 18, you have your usual 90 average. "That's more like me" you say to yourself. Your subconscious will work hard to match whatever you believe on the inside with what you see on the outside.

POINT OF VIEW: Two guys were sitting around the campfire when one of them spotted a grizzly bear approaching. He immediately got up and went in his tent. The other guy followed him in and notice that he was putting on his running shoes. "What are you doing that for," he asked. "You know you can't outrun a grizzly!" "That's true," the first guy replied, "but in this case, all I have to do is outrun you!"

Russian Olympian Vasily Alexeev was trying to break a weight-lifting record of 500 pounds. He had lifted 499 but couldn't, for the life of him, lift 500. Finally, his trainers put 501.5 pounds on his bar and rigged it so it looked like 499 pounds. He lifted it easily. Once he had created this new reality, other weight lifters went on to break his record. Why? Because they now knew it was possible to lift 500 pounds. The limits we set for ourselves exist in our minds. Sometimes, if we let our hearts do the talking and believe in our ability to overcome past perceptions, we can create another reality.

People who are only good with hammers see every problem as a nail.
- Abraham Maslow

Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.
- Nobel Laureate, Albert Szent-Gyorgys

Habits are like a cable - we weave a strand of it every day and soon it becomes very difficult to break.

Habits are like gravity - they pull on us. Just like a rocket, once it escapes earth's pull, it floats free, but it requires a lot of initial energy to break free. So we can break free of bad habits if we put enough energy into it.

Ancient maps and the symbols on them can be used to demonstrate the "paradigm" of the times - the thinking of the people and civilizations that drew the maps.

The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.
- Albert Einstein

FOUR LEADERSHIP PARADIGMS:
PARADIGM MANAGEMENT STYLE MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES
1. Stomach Scientific/Authoritarian Fairness
2. Heart Human Relations Kindness
3. Mind Human Resources Contribution
4. Spirit Management by Principles Meaning

He who is good with a hammer tends to think that everything is a nail. - Maslow
Some people who think that everything is a nail, are down on themselves because they are not a hammer. They tend to deprecate their own unique talents and capacities to use a chisel or a pair of pliers.

While driving along, a man noticed a woman driving behind him waving her arms and acting kind of oddly. Finally she passed him and shouted out to him "Pig". He leaned out of the window and shouted madly "Sow". Immediately after that the man hit the pig.

Framework of reference: A woman conducting a survey into sexual behavior was questioning an airline pilot. She asked him, finally, when he had last made love. He replied, "1956." She was most surprised, pilots being what they are. "Nineteen fifty-six?" she asked. "Well it's only 2216 now," he replied, looking at his watch. A joke involves a sudden switch from one framework of reference to another. This sudden switch of frames of reference is the kind of lateral thinking that can often generate creative ideas.

People hear and perceive exactly what they WANT to hear. This was illustrated by a speaker trying to convince a group of alcoholics the evils of alcohol. On the platform he had what appeared to be two identical containers of clear fluid. He announced that one contained pure water and the other was filled with undiluted alcohol. He placed a small worm in the container while everyone watched as it swam around and headed for the side of the glass, whereupon it simply crawled to the top of the glass. He then took the same worm and placed it in the container with alcohol. The worm disintegrated right before their eyes. "There," said the speaker. "What's the moral?" A voice from the rear of the room said quite clearly, "I see that if you drink alcohol, you'll never have worms!"

Sometimes we complain about the resistance we sometimes encounter when trying something new or learning a new skill. Remember, however, that the kite flies highest when it faces the stiffest winds. Working against and overcoming such resistance will result in superior performance.

Some people steer by the light from the stars, while others steer by the lights from each passing ship.

Some of the most crucial steps in mental growth are based not simply on acquiring new skills, but on acquiring new administrative ways to use what one already knows.
- Seymour Papert

Societies need rules that make no sense for individuals. For example, it makes no difference whether a single car drives on the left or on the right. But it makes all the difference when there are many cars!
- Marvin Minsky

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.
- Kurt Vonnegut

Your family recently moved to a new neighborhood. Next to you lives another family who had a rabbit for a pet. Your family owns a dog who loved to chase rabbits. One weekend the neighbors went skiing. That Saturday, your dog shows up on your doorstep with the neighbor's dead rabbit. Oh no, what shall we do? So, you wash it off, blow dry it and put in back in it's cage. The next week you see your neighbor. "Hi! how was skiing?", you ask. "Fine," your neighbor replies, "But you know a strange thing happen to our rabbit while we were gone." "Oh," you ask innocently, "What happened?" "Well, our rabbit died last Friday and we buried it before we left, but when we came back we found it all cleaned up and lying in its cage!?"

A bank teller cashed a paycheck for a customer. The customer took 3 steps, then stopped, and said, "Excuse me, a think you made a mistake." The teller immediately responded "I'm sorry, but I can't do anything for you. You should have counted it. As soon as you walk away we are no longer responsible." Whereupon the customer replied, "Well, okay. Thanks for the extra $20."

POINT OF VIEW: Hold up a quarter to someone else so s/he can see the head side and you can see the tail side. Ask them to describe what they see. When they say "George Washington", etc. get a puzzled expression on your face, then eventually disclose: "No, its not. Its an Eagle", etc. reflecting what you see on your side. Dramatically demonstrates how we view things differently.

RULES OR GUIDELINES?:
The RULE book for baseball defines - 9 players, role of pitcher and catcher, other 7 can be anywhere on field. GUIDE lines define 1st, 2nd, 3rd basemen; shortstop; right, left and center fielders. However, care should be exercised that GUIDELINES don't become RULES! Be flexible. Example: switching shortstop to right side for left handed batter.

Use a GYROSCOPE to demonstrate how, over time, we become fixed in our ways, personalities, and, as a mature person, psychologically resistant to change. With EFFORT, however, we can make changes. We are not today exactly what we were yesterday. We are almost imperceptibly different. We do change with time and we can control to an extent the direction of the changes.

The lives of many of us could be compared to the making of a clay vase. When the clay is soft, the potter shapes, molds and throws it. The potter then puts it into a kiln and fires it. It is then no longer possible to re-shape it. We are "shaped" by our experiences as we go through life. Unfortunately, many of us allow the fires of prejudice to harden us so that it becomes very difficult for us to re-shape our thinking or try to understand someone else's point of view.

A white man was unsuccessful in trying to catch monkeys. Native took a narrow mouth pot and placed cookie at bottom. Monkey reached in grabbed cookie, but couldn't remove hand. Was stuck didn't think of letting go! We don't want to get trapped into fixed methods of doing things to the point where we can't see any other way. Babies tend to do the same thing (grasping reflex) "lock-on" to finger, can't let go.

In an experiment, a scientist place a number of fleas in a glass jar. They quickly jumped out. He then replace the fleas back into the jar and placed a glass plate across the top opening. The fleas began jumping and hitting the glass plate, falling back down into the jar. After a while, the fleas, conditioned to the presence of the glass plate, began jumping slightly below the glass plate, so as not to hit it. The scientist then removed the glass plate as it was no longer need to keep the fleas in the jar. Do you create your own "glass plates" that keeps you restricted?

We tend to gather information to support our dominant beliefs (whether they be right or wrong!).

MENTAL CONDITIONING: A barracuda was starved, then put in large tank. A glass pane was inserted and a mackerel placed behind it. The barracuda banged itself into the pane five or six times, then conditioned itself to stop just short of glass pane. The glass pane was then removed. The barracuda continued to stop just short. A second barracuda was placed in tank - it quickly caught the mackerel thus "blowing" the first barracuda's mind!

COMFORT ZONES:
Zones that correspond to our current self-image in any particular area of life, within which we effectively and efficiently perform tasks & exercise skills.
We feel very uncomfortable outside of that comfort zone.
Example # 1: $100 bill at end of 14' board, 14" wide, laying on floor. We would have no problem walking to end of board and retrieving $100. However, if board was extended from the edge of a building, 50 stories up in air, most of us would not attempt to retrieve the $100!
Example # 2: Driving across a bridge over a canyon. Bridge has railings along side, yellow lines showing lanes, etc.- we feel comfortable. What if we remove the yellow lines and take down the railings. We now feel uncomfortable and probably would not drive across bridge - BUT WHAT HAS CHANGED? It is all based on our mental perceptions.
Sometimes "rules" and "guidelines" can present a false sense of security. When taken out of their comfort zones, people tend to recreate their old comfort zone.
Example: Tear down slums and put up high-rise; high-rises become high-rise slums!

BELIEF creates the actual fact.
- William James

It's easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out of date.
- Roger von Oech

Whatever you resist, persists.

Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.
- Aristotle

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
- Aristotle