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How to Identify Your Triggers

Marshall Goldsmith | Methods of Behavioral Change

There are many types of triggers, and by better understanding each of them we gain insights into the forces that control our behavior.

Preview

“In the last chapter I ended right as I was going to tell you how to control your environment so that it could trigger desirable behavior in you before you can achieve that. I must first clarify the term trigger. Remember, a behavioral trigger is any stimulus that impacts our behavior. Within that broader definition, there’s several distinctions that I’d like to make in order to bolster your understanding of how triggers influence our behavior. Behavioral triggers can either be direct or indirect. Direct triggers are stimuli that immediately and obviously impact behavior with no intermediate steps in between the triggering event and your response to this event. For example, you see a happy baby, so you smile. On the other hand, indirect triggers take a more convoluted route before influencing your behavior. For example, you see a family photo that initiates a series of thoughts which then compel you to call your parents. The trigger can be internal or it can be external. External triggers come from the environment, flooding our five senses in our minds. Smelling a pie at the market and then remembering how your grandmother’s pie tasted. That’s a trigger. Conversely, internal triggers come from our thoughts or feelings that are not necessarily connected with any external stimulus, a sudden epiphany or inside that pops into your head when you’re alone. Triggers can either be conscious or they can be unconscious. This might sound a little weird initially, but you know why your finger recoils when you touch a hot plate, conscious triggers require awareness. In contrast, unconscious triggers shape your behavior beyond your awareness. For as much as people talk about the weather, they’re usually very unaware about the influence the weather has on our personal…”