My first experience with the term ‘Crunch Time’ early in my career was when I was a software tester. Reinforcements for those high-stress periods came in the form of fresh doughnuts from the corner bakery. Having read Rick Peterson’s and Judd Hoekstra’s book titled Crunch Time: How to be Your Best When It Matters Most, I’m relatively certain the doughnuts were a poor substitute for what really works when it matters most. One of the hooks that attracted me to this book is knowing that one of the authors, Rick, is a coach and the other, Judd, is a vice president at the Ken Blanchard Companies. Expecting to learn something valuable, I wasn’t, for a moment disappointed.
The book is organized for easy learning with quick refer backs to practice the principles for yourself. Each chapter ends with a page highlighting what the authors hope you learned followed by a Try-it section to guide the self-motivated reader to make improvements, beginning now.
Peering through the book, I noticed that each chapter title contained the word Reframing. Curiously, I looked for how that term was defined – you know. Just in case my interpretation was far distant from what was intended. I think you’ll like this Reframing approach to getting past hurdles that might be holding you back.
Reframing – The skill of consciously thinking about a situation in a new or different way to change how you interpret the situation, and actions you take, and the results you achieve.
Reframing can be learned by anyone. It’s a cognitive skill you can use to quickly and effectively equip your mind and body to perform well under pressure, anytime, anywhere.
I am a firm believer in how powerful our minds are and how they affect our lives from the smallest moments to the most extensive outcomes. As proven throughout the book, “Thinking differently is the starting point. Change how you act, and change your results.” Put your thoughts into a new frame of reference, new frame of mind, and therein lies the power of reframing.
Here’s how we are going to frame up the content of this book. Each of the chapters tells stories that are totally true, have teachable moments, and are so entertaining you will not be able to choose favorites from those the authors have used to illustrate their points. I can’t even pull out my own favorites because we would be here all night and part of tomorrow. So here we go . . .
Reframing – The Shortest Path from Threat to Opportunity
When you’re under pressure what does your mind say? Does it interpret the situation as a threat or as an opportunity? It might depend on the situation, but here’s a key to getting through a pressure situation. When a situation comes up that makes you feel threatened write down what you’re thinking and feeling. Come up with two ways to reframe and think of it as an opportunity.
Why Reframing at Crunch Time is Necessary
You might wonder why reframing is such a great idea. This chapter is excellent in describing what is going on in your brain when there is pressure to perform. While it’s only a few pages in length, the details of the dialog going on in your brain are fascinating. To capsulize, though, you can train your brain to reframe and change your perspective so you don’t let the pressure times push you into meltdown. Instead, the authors urge you to challenge yourself to think a different way and form a different opinion about what’s really going on. By the way, did you know we all have a Caveman’s brain and it is responsible for our actions and reactions?
Reframing from Trying Harder to Trying Easier
This book is worth the read for this chapter alone. If you have ever been told and retold to try harder, and you wonder how is that even possible – you will unburden from all that in this chapter. From stories about Sandy Koufax, Hall of Fame pitcher, to American swimming prodigy, Katie Ledecky, to award-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, to Magician, Steve Cohen, you will come to learn how their success came from not trying harder, but as the title suggest, trying easier. You will be making your motto: Be extraordinary by being ordinary!
Reframing from Tension to Laughter
“Humor is your Caveman’s Kryptonite.” Humor improves life. It makes us healthier in both mind and body. Humor, the ability to see snatches of goodness, even when it seems like the worst could be happening. The humor spoken of here is not the kind where an individual is roasted in good humor or demoralized in front of an audience. This humor is used to lighten a situation with a funny comment or joke to lighten the dark place at the moment. One of the examples used was how the TV sitcom MASH used humor in the devastation of war. Yes, that was pure fiction, but the idea still holds that finding humor in dark days enhances performance. Humor makes life more bearable. Period.
Reframing from Doubt to Confidence
This chapter was packed with relevance. For anyone who struggles with even minor fears that get in the way of best performance, the tips incorporated into the stories are an asset. Did you know that you don’t have to feel great to perform great? None of us brings our A-game to work every day, every time. We need tactics to figure out how to give ourselves a boost in those times. Here’s an exercise anyone can do to convince your mind that you can perform better than you think possible. It comes with more detail in the book, but the condensed version is: Make a list of your strengths. Make another list of things you don’t do well and need to work on. For each of these items write one to three things you can do to improve or compensate for what you currently lack.
Reframing from Failure to a Learning Moment
If I had to choose a chapter rich with personal development content, this would be it. Nobody would choose adversity as the vehicle to foster growth and professional improvement, but those devastating tragedies-to-triumph circumstances are often the proven catalyst that lead to greater success. Here are a few of the starlight moments that grabbed my attention. Gerry Ridge, President, and CEO of WD-40 says, “When things go wrong, we don’t call them mistakes. We call them learning moments.” In that way, people at that mega company don’t have to fear failure and instead, they are applauded for taking chances to learn and grow.
Baseball is riddled with failure, yes, the metaphor of life. The difference is, if you’re a baseball player, your failures are displayed on the scoreboard for the world to see. It’s the most painful type of feedback, yet we all get feedback in one way or other. Does that feedback make us bitter or make us better? It will make us better if we regard the feedback as learning moments.
The story was told of a business owner, Susan Torroella, whose business went into foreclosure through no fault of hers. At first, she didn’t handle it well, but reframing allowed her to see that “A setback just sets up your next comeback.”
Are you getting the picture of how reframing changes everything? Well, it might not change everything back to what it was. Susan didn’t get that same business back again, but she got something better because she responded to undesirable outcomes with learned optimism.
Reframing from Prepared to Overprepared
So, what is it like to reframe from prepared to overprepared? I was curious about this chapter because I have been accused, relentlessly accused, of overthinking things. This chapter is more like high-quality preparedness, though, not just the overthinking that I am guilty of. The authors put it this way. Everyone knows how to prepare. But if you are not overprepared when you are under pressure, chances are you are underprepared. That is not a good thing.
“Talent doesn’t equal performance. Preparation equals performance.”
When you overprepare you will have more confidence. When you prepare like an elite athlete would prepare you are already confident in your ability – but then you prepare even more. Take it up a few more levels of preparedness. In the process, you develop even more skill and confidence so you can handle anything.
I can’t think of a better way to end this book summary than with one of the quotes used in the book.
“One thing that makes it possible to be an optimist is if you have a contingency plan for when all hell breaks loose. There are a lot of things I don’t worry about, because I have a plan in place if they do.”
