Name: Xavier Roy's review of Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith
Item: Triggers
Rating: 5
Author: Xavier Roy

Marshall Goldsmith

Mark Reiter

In business - as in life - the right behaviours matter. But getting it right is tricky. Even when we acknowledge the need to change what we do and how we do it, life has a habit of getting in the way, upsetting even the best-laid plans. And just how do we manage those situations that can provoke even the most rational among us into behaving in ways we would rather forget? Triggers confronts head-on the challenges of behaviour and change, looking at the external factors (or 'triggers') - both negative and positive - that affect our behaviours, our awareness of when we need to change, our willingness (or otherwise) to do so and our ability to see the change through. Drawing on his unparalleled experience as an international executive educator and coach, Marshall Goldsmith invites us to understand how our own beliefs and the environments in which we operate can trigger negative behaviours, or a resistance to the need to change. But he also offers up some simple, practical advice to help us navigate the negative and make the most of the triggers that will help us to sustain positive change.

Sparking positive change and making it last

Triggers

Arm E

A renowned executive coach and psychologist shows readers how to recognize and overcome the emotional and psychological triggers that set off a reaction or a behavior that often is detrimental so that they can achieve meaningful and sustained change.

Creating Behavior that Lasts-- Becoming the Person You Want to be

Xavier Roy

This was an interesting take on one part of the habit-building or behavioral change process. This book brings a bit of understanding how and why triggers plays a major part in building/breaking habits and some mitigation steps to improve our responses to triggers.
> “Fate is the hand of cards we’ve been dealt. Choice is how we play the hand.”

If you're in the process of looking to make a new habit or break an old one, this book definitely gives you a process to do that. I find the Daily Questions process very interesting and I'm looking forward to implementing it.

Patrick Arminio

This is one of the first book that it’s not about the classic clue -> routine -> reward when it comes to habits. It forces you to think about the triggers that make your behaviours. Definitely worth reading  

Lance Willett

I mostly skimmed this one, and have marked it for a future re-read. It combines good advice with real-life examples to illustrate how to put changes in your life into practice. One new concept for me that I haven't seen in other business management or self-improvement books is the idea of measuring your effort within a goal; in other words, it's not good enough just to have a goal planned — you need to do it, and measure how much effort you put into doing it.

I love the idea of "magic moves": apologizing, asking for help, optimism, and asking active questions. These are moves you can make any time you need to influence a situation with positivity.

Goldsmith also calls out engagement and awareness as precursors to making improvements. Measuring our progress, asking for and giving feedback, and being open to change in our lives (the last chapter is titled "The Hazard of Leading a Changeless Life."

Quote about engagement: "To increase our level of engagement we must ask ourselves if we're doing our best to be engaged. It's a self-fulfilling dynamic; the act of measuring our engagement elevates our commitment to being engaged and reminds us that we are personally responsible for our own engagement. And employee will be more engaged at work if she consciously tries to be more engaged, and rigorously measures her effort."

The best quote I found (about creating change yourself): "This is the ultimate blessing of not settling for good enough. When we drive all the way into adult behavioral change — with 100 percent focus — we become an irresistible force rather than the proverbial movable object. We begin to change our environment rather than be changed by it. The people around us sense this. We have become the trigger."

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Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith

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Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith