title: The Slow Fix: Solve Problems, Work Smarter, and Live Better in a World Addicted to Speed
author:  Carl Honore 
description: Journalist Honor observes that our society is hooked on the quick fix as we seek the maximum return for the minimum effort. He offers a practical and entertaining guide to what he calls the slow fix for problem solving: hard work requiring humility to admit we do not have all the answers and we need time and help. The self-help industry encourages the quick fix, and Honor acknowledges the medias role, too, as it immediately leaps into a crisis and demands instant answers and remedies. Steps in the authors slow fix for solving complex problems include taking time to admit mistakes and finding what is really wrong, focusing on details, thinking long, building holistic solutions, seeking ideas from others and sharing the credit, acquiring expertise while remaining skeptical of experts, tapping emotions, enlisting a leader, consulting those closest to the problem, treating problem solving as a game, following hunches, adapting by trial and error, and embracing uncertainty. This is a sound, thought-provoking book. --Mary Whaley
zlib_text: **THE SLOW FIX**
  
   _ **Solve Problems, Work Smarter**_ **,**
  
   _ **and Live Better in a World Addicted to Speed**_
  
  CARL HONORÉ
  
  ![](Images/image00150.jpeg)
  
  DEDICATION
  
   _To Miranda, Benjamin, and Susannah_
  
   _You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You
  must learn to see the world anew_.
  
   **Albert Einstein**
  
  CONTENTS
  
  Dedication
  
  INTRODUCTION: PULLING THE ANDON ROPE
  
  ONE WHY THE QUICK FIX?
  
  TWO CONFESS _The Magic of Mistakes and the Mea Culpa_
  
  THREE THINK HARD _Reculer Pour Mieux Sauter_
  
  FOUR THINK HOLISTIC _Joining the Dots_
  
  FIVE THINK LONG _Tackling Tomorrow Today_
  
  SIX THINK SMALL _Devil in the Details_
  
  SEVEN PREPARE _Ready for Anything_
  
  EIGHT COLLABORATE _Two Heads Are Better than One_
  
  NINE CROWDSOURCE _The Wisdom of the Masses_
  
  TEN CATALYZE _First Among Equals_
  
  ELEVEN DEVOLVE _Self-Help (in a Good Way)_
  
  TWELVE FEEL _Twiddling the Emotional Thermostat_
  
  THIRTEEN PLAY _Solving Problems One Game at a Time_
  
  FOURTEEN EVOLVE _Are We There Yet