Anatomy of a Breakthrough

How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most

By: Adam Alter

Narrated by: Adam Alter

A “captivating…constructive” (Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again) 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, New York Times bestselling author of Digital Minimalism) 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.

Critic reviews

"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. He narrates smoothly, speaking with the steady tone and pacing of someone who’s comfortable with his ideas. Buoyed by this almost perfect marriage of careful thinking and a relaxed performance, the audiobook delivers insights and suggestions that sound truly groundbreaking."

Actionable Ideas

Great collection of actions one can take to accelerate growth and accomplishments. Think short high intensity workouts! Nobody likes them but they work!

Good review of how humans can wind in up stuck

Good summary of the different reasons why we stuck. He has a short list at the end that will be useful to keep handy for a checklist if you wind up in that situation

great, Practical read

Enjoyed it and I recommended to a few people. Thank you for this book.

really helpful

I was not expecting that much useful content from this book, but it proved to be well written, concise, full of examples and advices. I may consider relistening to it or ordering hard copy as I see a lot of value in coming back to this advice.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book

The author does a great job of keeping this book interesting with the examples and data. There is a lot of wisdom to be taken from this book.

I will listen to this again.