Also by Bob, New York Times best-sellers Gotcha Capitalism and Stop Getting Ripped Off.
Getting Unstuck: Breaking free of the Plateau Effect
A revolutionary book about the most powerful force of nature you’ve never heard of.
Getting Unstuck reveals a powerful law of nature that affects everyone. Learn to identify plateaus and break through any stagnancy in your life, from diet and exercise, to work, to relationships.
Getting Unstuck shows how athletes, scientists, therapists, companies, and musicians around the world are learning to break through their plateaus to turn off the forces that cause people to get used to things and turn on human potential and happiness in ways that seemed impossible. The book identifies three key flattening forces that generate plateaus, two principles to guide readers in engineering a plateau’s destruction, and three actions to take to achieve peak behavior. It helps us to stop wasting time on things that are no longer of value and to focus on the things that leverage our time and energy in spectacular ways.
Anything you want to do better play guitar, make friends, communicate with your children, run a business, you can accomplish faster by understanding the plateau effect.
Getting Unstuck, NOW IN PAPERBACK, is available at AMAZON
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Bob Sullivan and Hugh Thompson are entrepreneurial analysts with 40 years of experience between them researching, writing, and analyzing systems and human nature. Bob spent 20 years an investigative journalist for MSNBC.com and NBC News, where he created The Red Tape Chronicles, and is author of three other books, including the New York Times best-sellers Gotcha Capitalism and Stop Getting Ripped Off. Hugh is a mathematics and computer science professor and speaker who teaches executives how to protect themselves from 21st Century hazards.
PRAISE FOR THE PLATEAU EFFECT
“Sullivan and Thompson have identified a phenomenon that plagues us all, robbing us of energy, delight, and successful results. Poignant stories, intriguing information, and insightful advice make this a must-read for any of us that want easier ways to keep the important fires lit. Warning: they’ve nailed stuff close to home for all of us!” —David Allen, NYT Bestselling author of Getting Things Done
“Uncovering forces like the Greedy Algorithm that create plateaus in our lives is a great service, but Bob Sullivan and Hugh Thompson go much further. Their book is an entertaining and valuable guide that will show you how to quit the struggle and get up off the ground.” —Daniel Pink, NYT Bestselling author of Drive and A Whole New Mind
“The science behind how we can learn to excel at almost anything we care about by retraining our brains. A stimulating and useful handbook.” —Daniel Levitin, NYT Bestselling author of This Is Your Brain on Music
“You already know what the plateau effect is. No matter what the endeavor, we’ve all experienced that feeling of diminishing returns from our efforts. Now Bob Sullivan and Hugh Thompson present the definitive guide for those who believe things can get a lot better and want to rise above their plateaus. Turn your back on the daily grind for good. Read this book now.” —Ori Brafman, NYT Bestselling coauthor of Sway
“The Plateau Effect is smart, bracing, and eye-opening with genuine pay-offs for accomplishing your dreams. It’s also cheerful, funny and greatly entertaining. Use it!” —Amy Chua, NYT Bestselling author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother’
“Why “things work, until they don’t” and what to do about it.
In this brisk book, two “entrepreneurial analysts” examine those times when you plateau (get stuck) in life and stop growing. “Plateaus are a sign—a tangible warning—that your life, your relationships, or your business is clogged,” write NBC News journalist Sullivan (Stop Getting Ripped Off: Why Consumers Get Screwed, and How You Can Always Get a Fair Deal, 2009, etc.) and mathematician and IT security expert Thompson, who draw on research and their own experiences to discuss how people reach a point of numbing sameness in their lives and work, no matter how much they keep trying harder.” —KIRKUS REVIEW
The Plateau Effect is the most powerful force of nature you’ve never heard of. Plateaus are the reason all good things come to an end: why trends fade, relationships fail, people achieve less from doing more. Anything I want to do better — yoga practice, run a business, learn to paint with watercolors — begins with understanding the forces that drive plateau effect. The Plateau Effect is about being able to spot and overcome a plateau for the quickest, most effective way to achieve human potential and happiness.” —Christine Gacharná Photography