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To seize the future, learn to break out of your paradigms

WOULDN'T it be wonderful to know what the future holds? If we knew what would happen tomorrow, we could plan accordingly, avoid danger and make the most of every opportunity. Unfortunately, I can't predict the future, but I can offer some suggestions

By Lois Van Horn-kemper | Updated on January 31, 2005

WOULDN’T it be wonderful to know what the future holds? If we knew what would happen tomorrow, we could plan accordingly, avoid danger and make the most of every opportunity. Unfortunately, I can’t predict the future, but I can offer some suggestions for pre-paring for the changes that are inevitable and using them to your advantage.

To sense and respond to future developments as effectively as possible, you need to understand paradigms. A paradigm is a structure or pattern, a way of doing things and a model for problem-solving. Scientific historian Thomas Kuhn introduced this concept in his book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,” and futurist Joel A. Barker later popularized it in his books and training videos. Barker explains that we have paradigms for almost all aspects of our lives-personal, professional, spiritual and social. According to Kuhn and Barker, people unconsciously create powerful filters through which they sort information. Data that conforms to established paradigms passes easily through the filters, but data that doesn’t is difficult to perceive, if it’s seen at all. In other words, human beings tend to see what they expect to see. Because each person sees the world through a different filter, what is obvious to one person may be imperceptible to another.

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