In a good book the best is between the lines. –Swedish Proverb
I like Triggers because it acknowledges—even emphasizes—that adult behavioral change is hard. And that most of us are pretty bad at it.
Just think about something you’ve been wanting to change in your life. How successful have you been?
Have you wanted to lose weight, change careers or be more patient with your spouse? Have you wanted to eat more healthfully, spend less time on social media or start exercising regularly? Have you wanted to start journaling daily, spend more time with family or stick to a budget?
You can probably think of a change you’ve been wanting to make, but haven’t gotten much, if any, traction on.
Author Marshall Goldsmith would say that’s because you’re being triggered all day long—whether you realize it or not.
People are triggering you. So are events and circumstances. Your environment, in particular, is a significant trigger.
Which means you set goals and make plans, but then your environment is constantly intervening—and often not for your benefit.
Goldsmith says, “We are superior planners and inferior doers”. This happens because our environment exerts its influence throughout the day, depleting our discipline and making us forget our intentions.
And so we fail to change.
That’s why the part of you who plans for change often seems disconnected from the part of you who has to execute those plans.
Triggers answers the question, “Why don’t we become the person we want to be? Why do we plan to be a better person one day—and then abandon that plan within hours or days?”
I highly recommend this one.
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