
Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most

Being stuck complicates your life, and often the best way to move forward is to simplify the problem, to identify opportunities to deviate from an existing path, and to recognize that input from many brains is often—but not always—better than your own ideas alone.
Adam Alter • Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
Technology, for better and worse, funnels us toward searching. The analog world, in contrast, rests on browsing. When you walk through a physical library or a bookstore, for example, you’re likely to find books on topics that interest you already, but you’re also likely to stumble on entirely new topics. Browsing fosters curiosity by sketching the
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that there’s no such thing as genuine originality; there are only degrees of overlap.
Adam Alter • Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
One way to ensure you don’t respond to every setback with anxiety is to expose yourself to stress tests that steel you against setbacks. This
Adam Alter • Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
That shift from yes to no is a sure sign that you’ve shifted from exploration to exploitation. The
Adam Alter • Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
To move the needle—or to convince people to ask whether the needle might need moving in the first place—few tools are as compelling as experiments.
Adam Alter • Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
On good days you might tolerate a higher error rate, and on days when you’re discouraged or tired, you might prefer to avoid error altogether.
Adam Alter • Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
Here’s a script that worked particularly well:
Adam Alter • Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
What’s critical is interpreting anxiety and stress as drivers of rather than detractors from success.