About Breakthroughs

Breakthrough Technology leverage comes from the idea of making distinctions.
Like the word paradigm, the word distinction has a definition for breakthroughs that is quite different. Some word was needed to describe this important factor in a more narrow way and distinction fits the need. Paradigm as was discussed is a great word because it inherently lacks good agreement in its meaning and thus conveys lack of precision which is needed in breakthrough technology. As you begin to understand breakthrough technology you may also better understand the importance of our definitions.
First lets define distinction using a dictionary definition:
dis·tinc·tion (d-stngkshn)
n.

1. The act of distinguishing; differentiation.
2. The condition or fact of being dissimilar or distinct; difference: “the crucial distinction between education and indoctrination” (A. Bartlett Giamatti). See Synonyms at difference.
3. A distinguishing factor, attribute, or characteristic.
4a. Excellence or eminence, as of performance, character, or reputation: a diplomat of distinction.
4b. A special feature or quality conferring superiority.
5. Recognition of achievement or superiority; honor: graduated with distinction.

In this case the definition of the word distinction is carries the general idea we will be trying to convey in Breakthrough technology. However, distinction as we will use it has certain characteristics that are critical to recognizing breakthroughs.

In one of the sections of this Blog one of the pages (permanent) is called, “Breakthroughs List.”
This list contains quite a number of breakthroughs and within each section there are literally in some cases many breakthroughs. It may not be obvious if you review these materials on a wide range of subjects such as:

• Life’s Purpose
• Marketing on the internet
• Advice for business

BUT, all very innovative material will contain something involving a distinction. However, a great deal of the material on the Internet is just re-phrasing what is already known. Great content is rare but admittedly good content is common but poor content is the most common. Even if copied, if the content is correct it is good as it is getting good information to the reader and thus it will be useful.

NOW, please bear with me as we define some characteristics of distinctions. This is where we will lose some people. Distinctions cannot be taught ……….. and that is what we need in any breakthrough, innovation system. We need to get you to see things differently and learning to understand that distinctions cannot be taught is just one of many things to bring you in that direction. I will mention some distinctions and you may say you get it, that you have learned it and in some cases you indeed you might internalize it. Some light went on in your head but maybe not others. The most important distinctions are the ones you will make in the future – you will make them or maybe someone else will do some research and reach certain conclusions but in your examination of the same information you make a distinction. Your distinction is something very powerful that changes everything. Quite often the distinction is quite simple but very profound.
I am putting together this discussion on distinctions over a series of blogs to bring you to understand this important part of the technology. My favorite example of a distinction that portrays the characteristics of distinctions is training someone to ride a bicycle. You can easily tell the person you are training to get on the seat and show them the pedals and how they operate, the brakes and so-on. However, getting them to ride the bicycle is more difficult ……….. you can tell them to start then balance themselves. What do you mean balance? I do not think I can do this, children often feel this way. Once you as the rider make the distinction balance – you have it. That is also a characteristic of all distinctions, namely once the “light goes on” you will never lose the distinction. Its yours for life. You may have learned riding a bike when you were four years old but at ninety-five years old you still retain the concept of balance. So two of the characteristics of distinctions are:

1. Distinctions cannot be taught
2. Distinctions once realized can never be lost

We will have much more to say about distinctions in future blogs as we will show you in substantial ways how powerful they can be and their essential nature in the overall breakthrough process.

Most, many, really all truly valuable Breakthroughs involve a Paradigm Shift

First, we define a paradigm. Paradigm actually is a word that fits well with breakthrough technology because it is difficult to define. Why is that good? If you were to look at my website called Breakthrough Technology (Breakthrough Consulting) you can get a reasonable understanding of the role of paradigms. It is a good thing not to understand because there is a certain quality associated with breakthroughs that needs to be found in your own enlightenment as the subject is discussed. A light goes on and you are never the same in this particular area. Take for instance Thomas Edison, his breakthrough was not the light bulb but something before that. It might be the confidence he had in his methods or it might be a realization from something he learned from his experiences that made him believe there could be a sustainable source of light. It might be what he learned from his early testing that there had to be an optimum material, set of conditions. After that is was just hard work or as he used to say, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” “In any case, “the light went on.” Of course, it was literal in this case. Edison’s quote can be misleading because of his modesty you may think that hard work resulted in the breakthrough and in fact it played a part but the light went on before the light literally went on. Somewhere as suggested there was a paradigm shift. He began to see this subject differently and in a unique way and that was what drove him to the final result.
Finally, we will define Paradigm (as best we can): The following is complicated …….. GOOD – a great word to have for breakthrough Technology – This you will come to understand shortly!

Paradigm Defined: The definition below may just confuse so don’t try to understand it just realize for the moment that lack of clarity for the word paradigm is a good thing in finally coming to grips with breakthrough technology.
n.
One that serves as a pattern or model.
A set or list of all the inflectional forms of a word or of one of its grammatical categories: the paradigm of an irregular verb.
A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline.
[Middle English, example, from Late Latin paradīgma, from Greek paradeigma, from paradeiknunai, to compare : para-, alongside; see para-1 + deiknunai, to show.]

USAGE NOTE Paradigm first appeared in English in the 15th century, meaning “an example or pattern,” and it still bears this meaning today: Their company is a paradigm of the small high-tech firms that have recently sprung up in this area. For nearly 400 years paradigm has also been applied to the patterns of inflections that are used to sort the verbs, nouns, and other parts of speech of a language into groups that are more easily studied. Since the 1960s, paradigm has been used in science to refer to a theoretical framework, as when Nobel Laureate David Baltimore cited the work of two colleagues that “really established a new paradigm for our understanding of the causation of cancer.” Thereafter, researchers in many different fields, including sociology and literary criticism, often saw themselves as working in or trying to break out of paradigms. Applications of the term in other contexts show that it can sometimes be used more loosely to mean “the prevailing view of things.” The Usage Panel splits down the middle on these nonscientific uses of paradigm. Fifty-two percent disapprove of the sentence The paradigm governing international competition and competitiveness has shifted dramatically in the last three decades.

We will use the term paradigm shift frequently so we need to define it. This definition often helps people to better understand paradigms.

Paradigm Shift Defined
A dramatic change in methodology or practice. It often refers to a major change in thinking and planning, which ultimately changes the way projects are implemented. For example, accessing applications and data from the Web instead of from local servers is a paradigm shift.

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Breakthroughs Leading To Better Relationships
To A Career You can Enjoy
Happiness Is Possible

This is the first post on Relationships and falls under Breakthroughs In Life category. So you may want to read the previous two posts in this category.
Relationships is one of four key categories that define us. You can use these four categories to define the type of work to which you are best suited. Some people do well in several categories but there is still normally one of these that each person prefers. Most people do not even realize this about themselves but in conversations and discussing their life’s it is pretty easy to determine which category best fits them. Why is this important? Well, it is important for your happiness. Doing things that best fit you, we might say things you like to do or even love to do will not only obviously make you happy but it allows you to be most productive.
Now, before we go further on this subject let me point out the relationships being discussed apply to your most personal relationships, your customer relationships, your relationships within your business group or team and really to any person to person or person to group relationships.
Starting with the four relationship categories that we often consider related to business we also should be able to relate these to all the other relationships we have in life. In this first discussion on relationships the focus will be on the type of work you do and how it fits you. You will see shortly why you may not be happy (or why you are happy) with the nature of the work you do. You may quickly also realize the type of life partner which would fit best with you. The categories that define us especially regarding the work we do include:

Relationships

Tasks

Strategic

Creative

Every person has one of these areas where they excel and they enjoy at least more than the others. It turns out matching the person to a certain type of work provides for the best productivity and greatest possible satisfaction. Normally each person may be doing several or in some cases all of the types of work listed above. Placing a task person in a relationship job, for instance managing people can be a large mistake and hurt many people. Even though the person may know that they are poor with relationships, they want the position because it pays more and is a position of more authority.
The top salesperson is great with customers (Relationships) but hates doing the reporting (Tasks) and finally becomes so frustrated with the manager (like the one above who has no relationship skills) that he quits.
Dating is an interesting area where people really do not consider a great deal of the deeper things about someone who may be their future partner. It turns out that any of the types above can be compatible with each other and have a great marriage. That is true because, “love conquers all” but that is only true if love has as its basis something a great deal more than “attraction.” If two people both despise tasks, you can hire a maid or live in a messy home. There are endless possibilities and taking some time to determine if your vision of the future matches would be a good thing. Of course, at this time getting complete honesty from each other may be hard. There is no good answer here except that in all marriages there will be conflicts and in this blog I am more interested in helping people to deal very well and in quite a different way with those situations.
Strangely, if businesses were able along with the employee to get the employee into the right position this carries over to family life. I have a friend who is a steelworker – works on skyscrapers and walks across narrow steel beams hundreds of feet above the ground doing all sorts of work. He loves his job and continues to do it after 29 years even though he has had several serious accidents. He tells me he enjoys the work (tasks) and fears being placed behind a desk for the next 10 years. He has done a great job up in the air but will not be effective behind a desk.
There are ways you can determine which category is the one that is YOU. It can be very important if you are young and trying to determine what to do with your life. You might say, I just want to make money, lots of money. Two things:
1) You may not succeed if you really do not like this type of work – odds are you will not succeed.
2) In any case you will not be happy and will always be thinking about doing some other thing. It will be something in one of the other categories listed above.

It is interesting how many people do not know themselves. It usually only takes about an hour (or two) discussing their life going back to some of their earliest memories and asking the right questions and the “light” goes on. It is a breakthrough. In addition to pinpointing their prime category (which is essential) we can usually go deeper and be somewhat more specific. This subject will be covered in this blog but even in more detail and in some cases more personally (as many as I can help) to those who sign up below and receive routine (also free) messages.

Quite a bit of what we will talk about in this blog has to do with your mind. After all that is what is holding you back from achieving your goals. It might be a lack of confidence, it might be a lack of skills or a hundred other things. It might be that you need to talk to someone, maybe someone you trust who knows you well enough to help you. You may know that people get both good as well as bad advice from friends. So one of the things that we often have to face up to is that we need to stand on our own two feet and make decisions but make good decisions.
How are we going to do that?
1) We are going to think and we will need some quiet time and consider our options. This is something you need to do each day. Find at least ten minutes everyday to consider what is important in your life and what you are going to do about it. Keep a log book if possible otherwise you will not keep on tracking always going forward.
2) We are going to always act in a principled manner. Things like honesty will be important.
3) We are going to act unselfishly.
4) We will define our goals and how to achieve them. Your goals can change but at least we set a course.
> We will use the principle of Steven Covey in setting goals, that is, “Start with the End in Mind.” Where do you want to end up?
> Ask yourself are the things you do each day contributing to your goal or are they just activities, efforts that are needed but not progress leading to your goal? The first blog spoke of the paradigm where you live and how that limits your possibilities. One of the characteristics of such a paradigm is the day-in-and-out activities that are not bringing you closer to your goal. We all have this problem but how do you escape?
5) Life is a process and you can go through life following a “go with the flow” process or you can bring some order to your life. Actually most people do some of both depending on the situation but your primary goals need direction and some planning.

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Would you like to significantly change your life for the better?

There is only one way this will happen and it will require YOU to do something. If you do not have a strong path leading to where you wish to go, then YOU must do something different. You need a breakthrough in your life. When I consult with companies in business I point out how they become stuck in a paradigm (or we might say culture) such that no matter how hard they try they cannot improve. This is because they live in a paradigm that controls or limits them. They need to break out of that paradigm. Its interesting as they begin to understand the characteristics of their paradigm they begin to understand how that paradigm is limiting them. All is solved! No! The paradigms are usually deeply embedded in organizations or leaders of organizations. Change does not come easy because it is usually difficult.

The same is true of individuals as it is with organizations. You want to improve your life. Maybe your life is pretty good but you have higher expectations, how do you get to the next level? The paradigm you live in keeps you from growing. Its interesting how YOU want to grow and the thing keeping you from growing is YOU!

There are some really significant helps for you as well as for businesses that are stuck, sort of swimming against the current. Most people I have shared this material with have been amazed at its simplicity and its value. All the things in this blog exist to help you to achieve your breakthrough.