Overview

Stop pushing harder. Start choosing smarter. When slow and steady no longer wins the race, what do you do next? “Grit” is celebrated as the gold standard of success — but in a world that changes faster than our plans, pushing harder can quietly work against us. The Short Cut challenges the myth that perseverance is always the answer and introduces a smarter, science-backed alternative: flexible goal setting. Instead of never giving up, Courtney Clark offers a bold reframe. Drawing on rigorous studies and hard-won personal experience, she presents “quitting” as a strategic choice that preserves resources, reduces burnout, and leads to better outcomes. The book opens with a modern reimagining of The Tortoise and the Hare, asking a timely question for today’s fast-changing world: what happens when staying the course is no longer the winning strategy? From there, readers are guided through a practical framework for stopping with intention: why stubborn persistence can backfire, when it’s time to stop forcing progress, and how to pivot without giving up on what truly matters. In The Short Cut, you’ll learn how to: Recognize when grit becomes a hidden barrier to achievement   Differentiate between a true goal and a rigid plan   Redesign goals to stay adaptable as conditions change   Respond faster to change without losing momentum or morale Courtney Clark is a globally recognized change resilience strategist and four-time 9/11-related cancer survivor. An in-demand international keynote speaker, she blends evidence-informed strategies with powerful storytelling to help individuals and teams thrive through uncertainty. If the old rules of success no longer apply, are you ready to choose a smarter way forward?

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9781640957220

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Courtney Clark is the luckiest unlucky person in the world. After a series of major struggles beginning in her mid-20s, she has built two successful businesses and is the author of two books, including her most recent book The Successful Struggle: Powerful Techniques to Achieve Accelerated Resilience. She works with people who want to adapt faster and achieve more, and has spoken worldwide to organizations like Procter & Gamble, Dell, S&P, Humana, Cisco, and Cardinal Health.   Courtney’s resilience work has been called “practical,” “powerful,” and “empowering” by industry leaders, and she’s been featured in Forbes, Psychology Today, USA Today, and The Chicago Tribune. If she wasn’t writing and speaking about resilience, Courtney would have wanted to be a tap dancer. Thankfully for her audiences, she wasn't very good at it.  

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