The Hidden Power of Paradigms - and How to Shift Yours

Do you ever find yourself thinking, “Why do I keep ending up in the same situations, no matter how hard I try to change?” Whether it’s struggling with money, repeating relationship patterns, or just feeling stuck—there’s usually something deeper going on.

Enter: paradigms.

Paradigms are those invisible mental programmes that quietly run the show. They are the beliefs, habits, and assumptions you picked up from your childhood, culture, and education. And the crazy thing? Most of them aren’t even yours. They were passed down, absorbed, repeated until they became “truth.”

Bob Proctor spent most of his career helping people understand this. He said, “A paradigm is a mental program that has almost exclusive control over our habitual behaviour.” Translation: if your life feels stuck, you don’t need more willpower — you need a new operating system.

Think of paradigms like a thermostat. You might want change, but unless you reset the internal settings, you’ll keep drifting back to what feels familiar—even if it’s uncomfortable.

So how do you shift them?

First with awareness.  Start paying attention to the patterns. Do you avoid risk? Undervalue yourself? Get uncomfortable with abundance? Martha Beck calls this your “inner GPS” — it alerts you when something’s out of alignment. Don’t judge it. Just notice what you are noticing.

Secondly, by disrupting the loop.  This is where tools like Mel Robbins’ ‘5 Second Rule’ or John Asaraf’s brain training exercises can help. The moment you notice a limiting belief pop up — like “I’m not good enough” or “this always happens to me” — pause. Challenge it. Ask yourself, “Do I know that this is really true? Or is it just familiar?”

Finally, choose a new belief and live like it’s real.  Not someday. Now. This is where the rubber meets the road for Brave Thinkers. Chase Jarvis talks about “creating your reality through creativity” — which includes how you think. So, what if, today, you acted like the version of yourself who already had what you wanted? What would they say? Decide? Do? How would they show up?

If this is sounds a bit ‘woo’ or too much like fake-it-until-you-make-it advice - it isn’t. This is brain reprogramming. Neural rewiring. The same way you learned your current paradigm — through repetition and emotion — you can learn a new one.

One of my favourite thoughts about this reprogramming process comes from Mary Morrissey: “You can’t get to your dream. You must come from it.” That means embodying your vision now — not waiting until the outside world changes.

And the best part? You don’t have to shift everything overnight. Paradigm change is a process, not a performance. Every time you choose a new thought, take a new action, or say “no!” to an old story, you’re reshaping the operating system that shapes your life.

So, if you’re feeling stuck, it doesn’t mean you’re fundamentally flawed or lacking in ability or willpower. It just means there is likely an old paradigm trying to keep you safe, while your soul is trying to grow. And the space between the old and new? That’s where transformation happens.