When Faster-Harder-Smarter Is Not Enough: Six Steps for Achieving What You Want in a Rapid-Fire World [Hardcover]

Kathryn D. Cramer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 20, 2001

Do you ever feel over-extended and that the demands on your attention exceed the amount of time and energy you have to cope with them? How does your in-box look? Do you receive over thirty e-mails a day - even on weekends? We are living in a time of unprecedented stress. In order to accomplish more, we try to do things faster, harder, and smarter, using our intelligence, organizational skills, and determination. But our responsibilities accumulate faster than we can work! There's hope! When Faster-Harder-Smarter is Not Enough by Dr. Kathryn Cramer, shows how to turn stress into success by activating our inner creativity and resilience. Her six-step process shows how to tap into inner resources of creativity, intuition, imagination, innovative thinking, resilience, collaboration, and optimism to achieve a new kind of mastery of our lives. In her 25 years of studying how people thrive under pressure, Cramer found that responding creatively is a necessity to achieve effectiveness and to avoid burn-out. Cramer's approach is not about changing one's behavior, nor is it a typical how-to self help book you've read before. Instead this is about developing a creative mindset. With every challenge or dilemma, there is a defining moment when we decide whether we are going to conquer the task at hand with faster-harder-smarter techniques, or engage it with ingenuity and resourcefulness. To put this another way: should we be reactive or creative? When Faster-Harder-Smarter is Not Enough reveals why our reliance on speed, intensity, and control has blinded our foresight, and tells us how to reclaim a life that is rich, deep, and wise. She tells us how to pursue our most important priorities with optimism, ingenuity, and stamina. Using this book, readers will learn how to: Tap reservoirs of resilience during periods of intense pressure; Maintain energy and stamina during episodes of peak demand; View everyday demands as opportunities to pursue short- and long-term priorities; Face uncertainty with courage and confidence; Capitalize on mistakes to reveal unexpected alternatives; Stay optimistic and creative, even during major setbacks; Turn anxiety into ingenuity, and stress into success; This book will help high-achievers become energized--instead of drained - by the pressures of life.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Cramer, a psychologist who works as a coach, consultant, and trainer, presents a six-step program employing analysis, creative thinking, and communication skills to proactively accomplish more. The book is filled with detailed charts, stories, and quotations of well-known people who explain the process and how to use it. Cramer believes that by approaching issues with creativity and a positive frame of mind, successful solutions can be achieved. Her points make interesting but not quick reading. Every step requires self-analysis and planning, and an action plan for overcoming obstacles, which asks readers to check "attitude" at the door and adopt a realistic perspective on themselves and their outlook. Good, practical guidance for those ready to make changes. Eileen Hardy
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Back Cover

A Six-Step Process for Tapping into Your Own Creativity­­and Transforming Stress into Strength

For over 20 years, Dr. Kathryn Cramer has studied the secrets of success, and how successful people have a seemingly innate ability to reach their goals consistently. Her research and experiences have revealed a remarkably consistent process that, in one form or another, is followed by virtually every successful person to make the complex seem simple, the out-of-reach achievable.

"If you ask people living successful yet crazy, fast-paced lives, what they would like most to have more of, they often say time. But they'd be wrong. What they really need is ingenuity. Instead of being tired, overwhelmed, and uncertain of how to get it all done, they could have been enthusiastic about creating ways of capitalizing on the demands, challenges, and debacles each day brings," says Cramer.

In When Faster-Harder-Smarter Is Not Enough, Dr. Cramer explains that the real key to personal and professional success is not to simply work harder and longer hours, but instead to tap into the deep, unseen reservoirs of creativity lying deep within you. She then describes a revolutionary six-step process that you can use to: *
Respect and work with pressure and stress­­instead of against it­­to get what you want out of every day and out of your life *
Maintain energy and stamina during periods of peak demand, and feel that excitement of winning and being "on" even during times of unprecedented stress

We all have long-term goals that, in the heat of today's high-stress world, are often set aside to meet short-term obligations. When Faster-Harder-Smarter Is Not Enough presents a clear-cut process for categorizing and accomplishing essential tasks­­while recognizing and drawing on your inner strength and creativity to pursue long-term personal and professional happiness.

"This book is a practical guide to staying fully engaged; using pressure to our advantage instead of running away from it; recognizing strong, energizing relationships and learning how to replicate their power; and gaining benefits when none are apparent. It leads us out of the reactive traps of faster-harder-smarter, and into the profoundly rewarding world of richer, deeper, and wiser. This book is your wake-up call, a reminder that life, as they say, is not a dress rehearsal. Get ready to meet your new life."
­­From the Introduction

Faster-harder-smarter has become the accepted mantra for achievement in today's hard-charging, globally-wired atmosphere. It's almost worn by some people as a badge of honor. So why is it that the harder you try to get ahead, the further behind you get? What is wrong with this world?

Maybe it's not the world­­or you­­that has to change. Maybe you must simply change how you approach the world.

When Faster-Harder-Smarter Is Not Enough is a book written for successful executives, professionals, and individuals who want to be energized instead of drained by the pressures of life. It shows you how to be creative instead of reactive, and rely on your inner resources of intuition, imagination, and optimism to conquer short-term tasks as you remain focused on achieving long-term goals.

Most of us are reactors. Faster turns into harried, hurried, frazzled, and busy beyond belief. Harder gives way to frustration, exhaustion, and even resentment over time. Smarter spawns overload, confusion, and even guilt over not "knowing it all."

Now, you can be a creator instead of a reactor. Being a creator offers you power and influence and a strong sense of direction, which can be impossible to derive from the reactor position. Being a creator enables you to thrive on the excitement of new beginnings, of enlightenment, of what's just over the horizon. Creating enables you to rescue victory from defeat and gives you that adrenalin rush that makes you feel invincible in the short term while staying true to what's important to you in the longterm.

Dr. Kathryn Cramer's six-step process for transforming stress into success will show you how to: *
Imagine the best possible outcome, goal, or solution­­and become energized by its power *
Make a concrete, yet flexible, plan for achieving your goals as you set aside shortsighted ideas or bad, destructive habits *
Implement your plan, and learn the secrets to overcoming obstacles and capitalizing on conflict and stress *
Achieve your goals...and enjoy and share your achievements

When Faster-Harder-Smarter Is Not Enough won't supply you with breathless tips for squeezing 25 hours out of each day, or provide you with no-nonsense guidelines for achieving what you want no matter what the cost. Instead, this enlightening, life-affirming book discusses the many ways in which you can learn to succeed and grow amidst the worry, stress, and pressure of today's rapid-fire world, and become energized­­instead of overwhelmed­­by the pressures and anxieties of life. It shows you how to unlock the optimism, ingenuity, and stamina that exist deep inside you, and use this newfound power and creativity to cultivate a new set of capabilities, skills, and attributes­­reclaiming a life that is rich, deep, and wise.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 258 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Trade (August 20, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071376712
• ISBN-13: 978-0071376716
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,239,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accessing Creative Solutions Under Intensive Pressures, September 10, 2001

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: When Faster-Harder-Smarter Is Not Enough: Six Steps for Achieving What You Want in a Rapid-Fire World (Hardcover)

What happens to enormously capable people when they are vastly overloaded with work? In too many cases, these individuals will focus all their energies on work, while building intense stress loads that reduce their effectiveness. The result is either failure to get the job done or eventual burnout. The personal lives of those involved are often left in total disarray in the process.

Dr. Cramer instead suggests that you step back and find a new solution that does not rely on working faster, harder and smarter. For example, ask yourself whether the task needs to be done at all. Often, the overwhelming task is a waste of time. A good example would be marketing programs that primarily bring in unprofitable customers.

In this interesting book, Dr. Cramer emphasizes ways to manage your psychological state that will help you step outside the day-to-day tasks to establish an effective strategy for accomplishing what you really want. When Faster, Harder, Smarter Is Not Enough is intended to be your coach and personal guide to "enlarge our capacity to be creative under fire." As a result, you will turn "stress into success" and be "energized rather than drained."

Her advice is supported by case histories from her executive coaching practice over 20 years, and exercises to help you build awareness and skills for being more creative. One of the most interesting ones is building a life map to see your patterns for getting into and out of overload situations. The book contains a continuing case history of a CEO who got out of touch with his real goals, and wanted to change. This example also shows the many ways that these methods can be employed throughout an organization.

She emphasizes 6 elements:

(1) " . . . see the big picture (externally) and . . . be aware of your emotional landscape (internally)." To do this, she encourages you to be curious and committed, while being intuitive and aware.

(2) " . . . imagine the best possible outcome and . . . become energized by how excellent it is."

(3) " . . . concrete yet flexible plan for achieving your goal, and . . . give up any counterproductive ideas or habits that might sabotage your efforts." This requires being imaginative, visionary, observant, and innovative.

(4) " . . . involve in your game plan those you love and those you need." Here you need to be influential and collaborative, articulate and persuasive.

(5) " . . . implant your plan, watch your progress, overcome the obstacles that present themselves, and learn to capitalize on conflict." Here, you are trying to be resilient and resourceful, fearless and authentic in your actions.

(6) "Enjoy your achievements . . . and do it all over again!" To do this, be passionate, proactive, inspired and confident.

You start with developing a list of long-term personal and professional goals, " . . . then connect the dots." You will do this by becoming richer in mental and emotional resources, deeper in your thinking, and wiser in your choices. You will also become better at avoiding your deepest habits of harmful blind reaction.

Having co-authored a book on developing better decision-making and action habits, I found this approach to creating the right psychological environment for such changes to be very interesting. I thought that points two and four above are important, and are often forgotten in the rush to accomplish. I suspect that the best use of this book is in combination with any of the many excellent books about how to become more creative, to add more focus into the psychological space that this book creates. Without more specific content on the technology of creating these solutions, those who employ this book will create better solutions . . . but ones that I suspect are much less than their full potential to achieve through their organizations.

After you finish exploring these more resourceful states, I encourage you to think about how you allocate your time. Breaking patterns of where you spend too much time that is not supportive of your real intentions is a great way to get started!

Always spend time to think through the questions of whether the work needs to be done, how it can be done vastly better, and how you can get enormously greater results from the same effort. The more overwhelming the situation seems, the more important it is to do this!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best self and group improvement book I've read in years!, April 13, 2002

By 

J. Grant (Columbia, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: When Faster-Harder-Smarter Is Not Enough: Six Steps for Achieving What You Want in a Rapid-Fire World (Hardcover)

This is the best book about self-improvement, group facilitation, and business that I have read in years, going all the way back to Covey's "7 Habits... Book."

Dr. Cramer exhibits unbridled optimism grounded by realism, and expects the same from those following her advice. The constant themes of creativity, resilience, and constructive growth over reactivity, despair, and corrective discipline make a lot of sense.

My only reason for not giving this 5 stars is I would have preferred a shorter book... though I am hard-pressed to recommend what should be cut. On that note, the book is very well-organized, and you can quickly find the main points and exercises if you wish.

I heartily recommend this to anyone facing insurmountable obstacles and not enough resources, especially someone in an organizational setting.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When the going gets tough, the tough get creative!, November 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: When Faster-Harder-Smarter Is Not Enough: Six Steps for Achieving What You Want in a Rapid-Fire World (Hardcover)

Somebody once told me that when the clothes washer was invented, it freed up an enormous amount of time for women, who then did...more laundry! They ended up right back where they were, only with larger piles of clothes to wash.

These days we use our Palm Pilots and Day Planners and cell phones and multi-tasking skills to squeeze more productivity out of each day. And with each precious minute we save, we do...exactly the same things.

Now Dr. Cramer has come along to wake us up. Faster, harder, and smarter sometimes works in the short term, but for the long haul we need to rethink our whole agenda. Tackling the world's largest "to do" list is not really a life plan. Using Dr. Cramer's six steps, we can shape a compelling vision of what we want to achieve, so that everything we do fuels - and is fueled by - this greater purpose. Instead of faster, harder, and smarter, we learn to live richer, deeper, and wiser.

Dr. Cramer shows us how to recognize our deepest desires and how to tap into our greatest capabilities. By infusing our lives with meaning, we can let go of frustration and irrelevant tasks, and intead focus on what we need to do to achieve a future that will bring us joy and satisfaction.