Call it a paradigm, a rut, negative self talk, whatever its name it all boils down to…

*understanding what is inside you, holding you back from what you want
*identifying where you want to be in the key areas of your life
*identify and take action to get you were you want to go

You don’t need a lot of self-help books if you can work through these complex questions without them. But just like being in shape, everyone knows what it takes (exercise and less calories in than out), we just are not all willing to DO what it takes.

As for americans and small cars: I guess you forget how chrysler made its turn around. american automakers were pumping out lots of small cars and it was the japanese who were struggling to compete in the late 70s and 80s. i agree, with high oil and gas prices, the big 3 were late and perhaps to their final detriment to the small car market; however, the big 3 ruled the light vehicle, suv, minivan market, which is what they focused on in lieu of small to medium passenger vehicles. I don’t disagree with you that the Big 3 missed this paradigm switch, because they were focused on an unsustainable niche market and because their other products were simply bad.

I don’t disagree with you in general of watch use, however, 17% annual sales increase for mechanicals is by no means indicating that watch use is declining in certain watch segments. you are also basing your argument that people don’t see watches as another accessory or jewelry, which is what watches have become. this is why the mid and luxury watch markets have had such a success. remember Bill Clinton was chastised for wearing a cheap plastic quartz?

I actually love this word/phrase. Of course, it stems from having taken the Franklin Covey 7 Habits seminar and I wrote a series of posts about it over at MYC. You can read them if you like.

http://masteryourcard.com/blog/2009/01/10/the-seven-habits-to-financial-success-part-one/

There are seven parts to that series as they relate to the seven habits.

We all have the ineffective paradigms and it’s simply a matter of turning them around to a positive. Our biggest problem is the negative self-talk – that will get us more than any other negative influence out there. We have to find a way to turn that off, and really focus on the positive thoughts. For me it was a matter of writing down my feelings in a journal and leaving them there, then telling myself the positive stuff. Tell yourself often enough that it’s going to be a good day, and it will be a good day.

Good for you for looking to change your perspective and see the positive side of things.

Would a better example be American automakers and small cars? Probably not because even Toyota and Nissan are posting big losses. I agree just one example can’t explain an entire company or industry downfall, but quartz and small cars was a major technology or product line that could have been predicted as needed if leaders of those companies would have thought just a bit differently, and would have potentially saved thousands of jobs. Time will tell on the Big Three, but history has proven the Swiss fall from power (in volume at least).

However, another example might just be watches in general. Watch use and purchases are continually decreasing as people just use their cell phones as clocks. What will watchmakers do then?

shifting paradigms doesn’t mean going with the flow. You can carve a niche, do it well and change the smaller paradigm.

the biggest challenge people face is focusing on symptoms rather than the fundamental problem. Being fat and being in debt are symptoms not the underlying problem, so focusing on losing weight and getting out of debt isn’t solving the problem of changing lifestyle or changing spending behavior.

Great stuff!