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A Six-Step Process for Tapping into Your Own Creativity and 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:
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. WhenFaster-Harder-Smarter Is NotEnough presents a clear-cut process for categorizing and accomplishing essential tasks while 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 world or you that 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:
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 energized instead of overwhelmed by 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 attributes reclaiming a life that is rich,deep,and wise.
| How to Read This Book | v | |
| Acknowledgments | vii | |
| Introduction: Richer, Deeper, Wiser | 1 | |
| The Premise | ||
| The Promise | ||
| The Prescription | ||
| Step 1 | Take Your Blinders Off: How to See What You Don't See | 27 |
| Question Reality | ||
| Feel What You Feel | ||
| Step 2 | Be Outrageously Optimistic: How to See Potential, Not Problems | 75 |
| Scout for Opportunties | ||
| See the Glass as Half Full ... with a Pitcher of Water on the Way! | ||
| Step 3 | Make the Future Happen Inside You: How to Walk Your Talk | 115 |
| Think Big, Think New | ||
| Be the Change You Want to See | ||
| Step 4 | Get Others on Board: How to Speak and Act from Your Heart | 155 |
| Build Strong Alliances | ||
| Communicate to Motivate | ||
| Step 5 | Stack the Odds in Your Favor: How to Build Momentum | 201 |
| Overcome Obstacles | ||
| Have Courageous Conversations | ||
| Step 6 | Celebrate Every Victory, Large and Small: How to Leverage Your Success and Wake Up to What's Next | 247 |
| Don't Go Back to Sleep | ||
| The Best Is Next! | ||
| Bibliography | 265 | |
| Index | 271 |
Anonymous
Posted September 10, 2001
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 allocat
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Overview
A Six-Step Process for Tapping into Your Own Creativity and 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...