Churchill’s Paradigm Shift

Towards the end of 2017 I saw the movie ‘Darkest Hour‘, which documents the days before the battle of Dunkirk in 1940.

Winston Churchill

In ‘Darkest Hour’, we see Winston Churchill coming to power as Prime Minister of Great Britain, and trying to deal with the appeasement strategy of his predecessor Neville Chamberlain and his political rival, Lord Halifax.

The situation at that time is very grim for the UK. Most of Europe has fallen, with Belgium and France about to fall, and with British forces stuck in Europe and surrounded by the German Army. No matter what Churchill tries, he is faced with obstructions both from a military and political perspective: he is truly at a perceived dead end.

Then one day Churchill is being driven to a meeting and gets stuck in a traffic jam. In his haste to get to his meeting, he jumps out of the car in the sleeting rain and rushes to the nearest ‘Underground’ (subway) station.

Having never used ‘The Tube’ before, he stumbles down the steps and on to a train, where he is confronted by ‘ordinary’ people who are in awe that the Prime Minister is right there in the carriage with them.

He then has an idea (paradigm shift): he asks the people in the carriage – ‘what would you rather have – a future where your life is totally controlled by a ruthless dictator who wants to totally eliminate the British way of life, or at least have the chance to fight and remove Hitler and all he stands for’.

The answer was a resounding ‘Fight ON’.

The rest of the story is History. In Parliament soon afterwards, he gives one of the most famous speeches ever given, of which the following is the best known bit:

Now whether the above anecdote is true or not, the lesson to be learned is clear. As far as the quality of life is concerned, are you prepared to go on not getting what you want, or are you prepared to change your paradigm and fight for a better life?

Churchill had to change his own paradigm numerous times in his life – he had great problems as Lord of the Admiralty, particularly with the disastrous 1915 Gallipoli campaign (where Aussies and New Zealanders were left for dead on the beaches in Turkey), and he was kicked out of Parliament.

Additionally he was a sufferer of chronic depression, or ‘Black Dog’, as he called it.

But ultimately he returned to Parliament, and was successful, not only for himself, but for the British nation as a whole.

Years later he was quoted saying the following:

So are you prepared to change your paradigm to meet with success?

If so, click here to find out about the next ‘Paradigm Shift’ Live Stream Webinar presented by Bob Proctor and Sandy Gallagher.