About the book
A “captivating…constructive” (Adam Grant) guide to breaking free from the thoughts, habits, jobs, relationships, and even business models that prevent us from achieving our full potential.
Almost everyone feels stuck in some way. Whether you’re muddling through a midlife crisis, wrestling with writer’s block, trapped in a thankless job, or trying to remedy a fraying friendship, the resulting emotion is usually a mix of anxiety, uncertainty, fear, anger, and numbness. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Anatomy of a Breakthrough is the “deeply researched and compelling” (Cal Newport) roadmap we all need to escape our inertia and flourish in the face of friction.
Adam Alter has spent the past two decades studying how people become stuck and how they free themselves to thrive. Here, he reveals the formula he and other researchers have uncovered. The solution rests on a process that he calls a friction audit—a systematic procedure that uncovers why a person or organization is stuck, and then suggests a path to progress. The friction audit states that people and organizations get unstuck when they overcome three sources of friction: HEART (unhelpful emotions); HEAD (unhelpful patterns of thought); and HABIT (unhelpful behaviors).
Despite the ubiquity of friction, there are many great “unstickers” hidden in plain sight among us and Alter shines a light on some exceptional stories to share their valuable lessons with us. He tells us about the sub-elite swimmer who unstuck himself twice to win two Olympic gold medals, the actor who faced countless rejections before gaining worldwide fame, the renowned painter who became paralyzed and had to relearn to paint with a brush strapped to his wrist, and Alter’s own story of getting unstuck from a college degree that made him deeply unhappy.
Artfully weaving together scientific studies, anecdotes, and interviews, Alter teaches us that getting stuck is a feature rather than a glitch on the road to thriving, but with the right tweaks and corrections, we can reach even our loftiest targets.
Key Praise & Reviews
“Rooted in science and enlivened by stories, Anatomy of a Breakthrough offers insight after insight and the rallying cry of ‘action above all’ as an antidote to enemy #1: inertia.”
“This book is something special: it’s as captivating as it is constructive.”
“A brilliant detective story about the sources of human creativity. I loved it.”
“Anatomy of a Breakthrough is important, entertaining, practical, and timely.”
“Adam Alter is simply one of the best science communicators at work.”
Press & Reviews
Publishers Weekly
“NYU marketing professor Alter delivers a useful guide to getting past barriers to progress… Alter’s advice is solid and confidence boosting, with a heartening message that’s grounded in clear scientific research. This is persuasive and practical.”
AudioFile Magazine
“Business and psychology professor Alter offers a seamless array of stories from art, technology, music, and sports to illustrate the specific ways creative people can overcome roadblocks to breakthrough achievements… the audiobook delivers insights and suggestions that sound truly groundbreaking.”
