by Robert Middleton

I’ve spoken about shifting paradigms in this eZine before. These days this is the main thing I’m thinking about – both as it relates to my life and to my marketing and business.

We’re seeing a lot of change these days, but a paradigm shift isn’t just about change. Change is the end result of a paradigm shift. A real paradigm shift is about transformation.

Change is about doing things differently; transformation is about thinking and perceiving differently. Change results in different methods and different technology. Transformation results in different attitudes and different mindsets.

Change rarely leads to transformation, but transformation always leads to change. That is, all real paradigm shifts start with the way we think, what we believe, and our underlying assumptions.

And so it is with marketing our businesses. We think that a paradigm shift in marketing would mean things like the Internet, smart phones, blogging and social media.

And if these changes, these new tools help us grow our business, that’s fine, but it’s no big deal. There will always be new tools that change the way the game is played.

“The more things change, the more they remain the same.”

But transformation happens in the mind and in the heart.

That’s the paradigm shift that really counts. And if you don’t have a paradigm shift or transformation in your marketing, you’ll be caught in the same old struggles as before. Your business will be stagnant and your efforts will yield meager results.

What would this transformation look like?

Something I used to say at the beginning of talks was, “Does anybody here wake up in the morning, excited and enthusiastic about connecting with total strangers about what you have to offer in your business?”

I didn’t get a lot of hands!

But THAT is what transformation would look like.

You’d have no fear, you’d be excited about getting the word out.  You’d find the time and you’d take the risks. You wouldn’t be obsessively concerned about being rejected or making mistakes; you’d be fascinated about how to communicate your value in ways that got your prospects’ attention.

This would be a paradigm shift from “dreaded activity” to  “exciting adventure.”  It would feel like a fun and challenging game, not a distasteful chore.

And with that transformed mindset, you’d find all kinds of ways to do things differently. You’d embrace change, adopt technology, and apply new strategies and techniques. And your marketing would take off in unexpected, exciting directions.

You’d actually apply all those marketing techniques and strategies I’ve been talking about for the past 25 years! There’s nothing really hard about these techniques and strategies. But your mindsets MAKE them hard.

It’s not just one mindset you want to transform. In working with clients over the past few years I’ve identified these FIVE that give us the most trouble:

Fear – perfectionism – scarcity – overwhelm – impatience

And they manifest in these ways and more:

Fear – “I’ll be rejected, I’ll do it wrong, I’ll be ridiculed.”

Perfectionism – “I can’t start until I know exactly what to do.”

Scarcity – “I don’t have enough time or money or skills or…”

Overwhelm – “There’s so much to do, I don’t know where to start.”

Impatience – “I want it now, and I want things to be different.”

Transforming these isn’t that hard. In fact, like everything else, it’s easy if you know how. What would your business, your marketing, your life be like on the other side of these five mindsets?

Copyright 2009 Robert Middleton
All Rights Reserved

By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert’s web site at www.actionplan.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional service businesses.

personal development, motivation, productivity