Anatomy of a Breakthrough by Adam Alter

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.

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Why I Picked It Up

I really like Adam Alter. His focus on simple storytelling can sometimes be distilled to the extent that it feels almost condescending, but never quite crosses the line. He's compassionate and thoughtful about factors influencing our society and individuality including unconscious influences, phone addictions, and (in this case) productivity and innovation. He balances cultural factors and individual willpower effectively. There are perhaps stronger researchers out there in terms of studies referenced, but for self-improvement and business organizational reads (which I fondly call my "tech bro" genre), he's appealing and broad without feeling generic.

Subtopics That Interested Me & What I Was Curious About

Recently, I've been thinking through questions and issues like:

• How to schedule myself as a creative and learn my rhythms
• Paying myself "with time" to get long-form projects done
• The benefits of indirect processing and soft-focusing, as explained in reads like Why We Swim, Flow, and even Attached (the last in reference to emotional turmoil and relationships)
• Flow vs. deliberate practice
• The hindsight bias of success, especially in how it's perceived by others (i.e. "You have the perfect life" comments on my Instagram.)
• The proportion of action to rest in order to be most effective (while mitigating burnout or sunk-cost fallacy—)

This year, especially near the tail-end, I've been mentally finishing up the process of completing and preparing my book MOUNTAIN SOUNDS for submission to major publishers. Getting a traditional book deal is one of my biggest life goals—and certainties, really: I will do it no matter how long it takes me (knock on wood) because I know it's what I'm meant to do.

Still, over the last four or so years, I've rewritten my book from "scratch" at least once per year in alignment with new eyes/perspectives working on it and produced 100+ published articles in other magazines, in addition to growing in other aspects of my life. So I'm pretty tired.

As my output has slowed from exhaustion, I've had to consider what's most effective and how to schedule my creativity accordingly; discipline is as much a part of writing as inspiration, and there's a balance in learning how to literally make a living as an artist. At a certain point, dedication takes over for passion.

Knowing what exactly triggers breakthroughs and insights would be great, and Anatomy of a Breakthrough included a mix of intuitive already-knew-that moments, studies and facts I'm already familiar with, and enough fresh sparks to make me appreciate having read the book.

What It's About

Anatomy of a Breakthrough is of course most valuable in the domains of business and productivity, creativity and fulfillment, and habits and scheduling, which feels very relevant to most heading into a New Year. I end up reading a ton of self-improvement and reflection around the turn of the year, as do many others.

The first argument that Adam Alter makes is that we need to really start viewing being stuck as fundamental to the process rather than an obstacle we each somehow are uniquely dealing with in whatever goal we're pursuing. For one, we each have a tendency to assume that our conflicts are greater than others' (which Gen Z would call "main character syndrome") and in studies, people playing mimicked Jeopardy! games remembered others' easy questions and their own hard questions even when difficulty levels remained the same. Summary? We think everyone has it easier than we do, and our martyrdom, pride, etc,. can sometimes make us dwell on the self-pity of a problem rather than functional, universal strategies to get through it. Also, that pulls in the concept of mimetic desire.

“People want plenty they can't have, but are plagued by the should and could have.”

He notes that the most effective people are those who view stress and anxiety as being a challenge rather than a failing or roadblock. Reframing that alone can make you way more confident because then you're a person who "does hard things," which then makes you more prepared to tackle further ones.

“[Positive support] licenses them to fail and to take risks, both of which tend to provoke anxiety, but both of which are critical for the breakthroughs that follow periods of learning and development...What's critical is interpreting anxiety and stress as drivers of rather than detractors from success. Seeing stress as beneficial boosts performance dramatically.”

He talks about the best types of feedback being positive and supportive because the most literal best development we can make for progress is to remove our fear of failure, which makes us all perform better (and focus more on collective benefit rather than the anxiety of self-efficacy) in the long-run. For example, group predictions are reliably more accurate than individual assessments. And that's not just me being sappy, either. The data supports the case for trusting others.

(Tangent: I've been reading a ton about positivity, optimism bias, and how kindness is actually the most rational course of action because glass-half-full mentalities reduce our fear of loss and failure which makes us make better decisions. I'll compile those findings into another post, because I find them beautiful.)

That being said, our focus on negatives and problems makes evolutionary sense because our tunnel vision on possible setbacks makes us more likely to survive. But that's partly why we've developed some anxiety around the best possible paths forward, why individualist American culture and endless choice have actually made us (collectively) each a little more miserable.

What We Can Do to Be More Creative & Productive

While Adam Alter balances the pros and cons of endless pressure to produce, he does of course offer plenty of helpful ideas for getting past our "stuckness."

Put yourself in a box.

This is where the "I knew this intuitively" bit comes in. My art professor in college always said the best way to be creative was to put limits on your work, or else you could generate ideas for forever. (Thank you, Professor Beavers.) It sounds kooky but it works. Limit yourself to one tone word. One layer. One color or medium. Give yourself artificial rules, and you will suddenly fulfill them, and you'd be surprised by the pleasure and expansion that structure gives you.

Alter talks about how perception means we're constantly filtering thousands of bits of information. If we genuinely balanced everything at a given time, we'd be paralyzed (which is kind of the thesis of The Paradox of Choice.) The brain has dozens of unconscious shortcuts including biases and methods of sorting and directing attention, and he ties this into our sense of agency.

“If you don't know where the world ends, it's impossible to gain a sense of control, so you're far more likely to get stuck.”

“Constraints are breakthrough agents in part because they force people to abandon the obvious...this takes insight because you have to embrace the paradox that restriction can be liberating.”

I'm a very creative person, obviously, but I love discipline and ritual for those reasons too; I'm better "in the margins" than unincumbered, which goes along with ideas of lightness vs. significance talked about in works like The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Grit.

Learn what activities throw you into soft-focus mode.

Of course, we know the cliché that we can solve problems while on a walk, in the shower, or before sleep. (I've come up with many lines that way.) Alter praises exercise as a method of this—which it definitely is for me—in a way similar to how Bonnie Tsui praised swimming for its soft-focus qualities in Why We Swim. Your hobbies can spark these breakthroughs, and going too narrow on your daily life can make you feel stifled rather than inspired.

“Dozens of studies have now shown that moving your body is a reliable path to mental unsticking. Both during and for some time after moving, your decisions are more incisive, you're more likely to generate creative solutions to problems that are designed to make you feel stuck, and you're more likely to work well with teams and groups that are trying to solve creativity problems in the workplace.”

I have similar advice for writing books, specifically. While I'm a huge fan of a dedicated focus period and can absolutely go into an intense hermit fugue state (especially at the tail end of a revision), I regularly say that part of what makes me a better writer is reading so much and so widely (expanding my exposure) and having a literal life outside of writing. Part of what's gotten me to cultivate the second is in knowing that it does benefit my pursuit. Diversify your life and your work will benefit, especially if it's creative or reliant on small, concerted bursts of effort and progress rather than a more plodding, linear career. Many of my best lines and moments are inspired by those soft-focus moments elsewhere.

That being said, we do come up with better ideas when focused.

Although balance is good, Adam Alter points out a variety of studies that we vastly underestimate the role of deep focus in coming up with our best and most creative ideas. There are a lot of reasons for this, but he basically makes the case for manufactured luck.

He references books like Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Currey and authors who say things like "Best way to write: ass in chair" or "Inspiration is for amateurs."

“The more you act, the more likely one of those actions is likely to move you forward, and the higher the average quality of those actions is likely to be.”

The more you exercise your creative muscles—like the more time you devote to a specific brainstorm, or writing practice for example—the quantity will inevitably lead to quality. You become better at immediately identifying and discarding the junk too.

(Ira Glass has a speech on this that I've always loved as a writer called "The Gap.") So you need to make more, and protect your ritual.

Keep a journal or collection of curiosities.

Fundamentally, the driving force behind breakthroughs is curiosity, so you need to constantly stoke your curiosity. Instead of the blog sapping my curiosity or energy, it actually is an energy-giver for me likely for this exact reason. In many ways, it's a museum of curiosities that allows me to engage in what Adam Alter notes is idea-linking — building a map of connected ideas.

Like I've said, I've been absolutely on one creatively and been an absolute menace in terms of production, and the new format of Words Like Silver can largely explain why. It's so easy for me to dart around and make dozens of connections between what I'm reading, learning, and thinking about, and everything is constantly feeding everything else. I also did start keeping a literal journal of more book reviews, articles, curiosities, questions, etc,. and that's gone a long way in making me want to write absolutely constantly.

Your identifier propels you.

I learned about this in Drunk Tank Pink, the first book I read by this author, and again in Atomic Habits by James Clear. It's come up in conversations and books discussing what we absorb from groups, how we see ourselves, how independent we really are, how fixed vs. fluid our personalities are, etc,. But basically, Adam Alter establishes something I've been thinking about a lot this year: the words we speak (or in this case, the names we call ourselves) become the house we live in.

If you refer to yourself as a runner who's been taking a break for example, you are more likely to keep up with the habits, practices, and attributes that will make you actually do it. Labeling boosts your pride and sense of self-efficacy and fulfillment and all that. (I also recently read a line I liked, which is that confidence comes from the promises you make to yourself and then keep, which strikes me as similar in sentiment.) Whereas if you refer to yourself as a person who occasionally runs, it's easier to skip that mile or avoid.

I definitely saw myself very differently depending on whatever label I've had or used at a given time, and the shift can also be remarkably subtle. I'm slightly different as a writer versus author versus journalist, for example. In 2019, when I came back to school having danced all summer, I carried myself differently—and received a different reception—as a dancer versus a book blogger.

Within strong group identifiers, that can translate to a fear of ostracization (in-group vs. out-group) that unintentionally means you absorb and intensify more traits from the group. So the power can be harnessed for good and evil.

Ahead of the New Year, if you're looking to build something again, you need to call yourself what you are or want to be—a bit of a case for "fake it 'til you make it." For example, I'm dancing again so I need to call myself a dancer again versus an ex-dancer; it'll make me drive to ballet. We are remarkably good at becoming whatever we say we are, especially if you're a stubborn person. In a sappy way, you are only as kind and capable and strong as you tell yourself you are, which is sort of where woo-woo ideals of manifestation becomes more accurate.

Endure—and don't count your failures.

More on this in my Grit review but of course, a lot of luck is manufactured and statistical. Alter references scientific discoveries based on a whole lot of patience and knowing when to ask the right questions. ("The right questions" is also a theme of my year.) Curiosity and endurance leads to precision and sorting in exactly the right way to lead to a breakthrough.

“Instead of failing less often, those who eventually succeeded were more likely to fail...but winning becomes likelier the longer you've been losing. Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

Similarly, we do know that we're more likely to regret inaction than action. Because if you see something through, you get the closure of knowing you tried a path of action; if you don't, you're more likely to be haunted by the "what if," according to The Power of Regret.

Lines, Bits, & Concepts

• I love the goal gradient, and have absolutely felt that to be true. I'm an animal at the tail end of a revision; when I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I run myself into the ground, and am perpetually figuring out the optimal, most sustainable level of endurance for my goals.
• He talks about mimetic desire influencing our drive.
• I'm going to talk about this largely in another post, but Alter writes a lot about hardship inoculation and how it makes us each more capable. If you think of yourself as a person who conquers fear or can handle challenges—or even reframes conflict as challenges—you are significantly more likely to succeed. It can be small fears, too. You don't need to go skydiving to build your tolerance, but it has an absolute snowball effect in the rest of your life.
• As Adam Alter points out, we're frequently uncomfortable with inaction and tend to associate it with nothingness or laziness, despite the gaps being fruitful and necessary to our process. This reminded me of a concept from You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy, which mentions that American culture is fundamentally uncomfortable with silence and tends to interpret it as disapproval, when in fact built-in silences for processing are proven to boost negotiation satisfaction overall.
• He does make the case for being comfortable with feeling the discomfort of inaction, or the discomfort of emotions overall. It's hard for people who are used to suppressing or doing "nothing" because it requires inaction and can make very active, independent people feel helpless. But it can be crucial for good change.
• In the opposite vein (and there's definitely a balance), I get very frustrated with people I view as passive because I think one of the best things you can do for yourself is to assume responsibility for your own life. Self-sovereignty is really important to me, and Alter agrees that there's pretty much always something to do, a solution, an avenue for agency, etc,.
• The same idea could probably be applied unilaterally across much of our lives. We're quite impatient, which can make us more insecure. I love Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkemann, which talks about this too.
• Side note: My absolute kingdom for a psych book that does not reference the Navy SEALs, dear God! This is quite literally the sixth book I've read that does so and it might totally be a case of frequency illusion or the very similarity in curiosities that made me overlap with the SEALs in the first place, but please. I beg of ye, use another example.

Overall Thoughts

As you can tell by this wordy, wordy review, I enjoyed this one a lot. I don't think I enjoyed the voice and tone as much as Alter's other books—although I adore his proportion and focus as a writer and will undoubtedly read his next—and found a lot of useful, valuable information relevant to my creative career and my personhood overall.

I underlined a ton. Some concepts I knew already, but I appreciated how he put them into words. Other ideas were new to me. He talks about exploration vs. exploitation and when to lean into each, how to capture a "hot streak" creatively, the inherent "lumpiness" of good ideas vs. timing which can either inspire you or make you freak tf out, cultivating curiosity, perfectionism vs. maximizing, beneficial feedback and awareness of it, the case for repetition and habit, groupthink vs. individual decision making, when expertise vs. novelty is more impactful, when to recognize you're wrong, and more.

“If you think back, you'll see that your past is littered with misdirection. Avoiding pivots means never changing your mind—marrying the first person you dated; pursuing the first career you dreamed of as a child; living in the same town your entire life; and so on. Humans develop and mature across the life span, and our preferences and attitudes change as well. We learn and grow, so change is inevitable.”

“When creatives tell you they have creative block, for example, what they're really saying is that they're failing to meet their high standards.”

Of course, it's just broad enough that you can make a dozen connections to every concept, which I personally like.

It may feel a little simple if you're well-versed in similar reads, but I found it a helpful primer for goals and whatnot ahead of the New Year. More to come. I honestly didn't even realize until reading the synopsis just now that he supposedly introduced a formula to help. I just took insights piece-meal, but it is snappy, I suppose.

For fans of:

Grit by Angela Duckworth; The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwarz; Endure by Alex Hutchinson; Atomic Habits by James Clear; Deep Work by Cal Newport; The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell; Daily Rituals by Mason Currey; The Power of Regret by Daniel H. Pink; You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy; Wanting by Luke Burgis; etc,.