Take the ‘What triggers you off?’ diagnostic

Let me start by saying you are better at giving feedback than responding to it. Well, most of you anyway.

We all know that feedback matters. It’s the content and your intent that makes the biggest difference.

But what we are less aware of, is the role we play when we are receiving it.

One of the reasons why our fear of giving feedback has increased is because the reactions we receive from others are becoming increasingly complicated. I’m talking about the emotional reactions. The defence, the tears, the shutdown, or the put down. We are coming up against more heightened reactions. And this is not ‘other people’ this is most of us.

Yes, we can put it down to people being more stressed and overwhelmed. Yes, it can be generational. Yes, sometimes the delivery can be downright poor. But it’s an essential skill to be able to navigate life with. Work and home.

We need to get better at sitting with content that is different from how we view things. Otherwise, we just become echo chambers and everything stays the same. That’s not realistic. That’s not how life plays out.

We don’t have to agree with people. Learning to be with people, and all their dysfunction and opposite views is a leadership and life skill. Blaming them for what they say and how they say it will create an internal angst that harms you in the long run. I don’t want that for myself and I don’t want that for others.

So understanding what triggers us before we are in these challenging experiences can become a game changer. A game changer to manage our own reactions (self-awareness) and ultimately to understand how we can move through them (self-evolution). So we don’t allow other people to steal our joy and sense of self. Who doesn’t want that?

So I have created a diagnostic to help us understand what triggers us. The things that can send us into emotional reactions, whether others are aware of it or not. We know. We can feel it. It’s based on my research when I wrote Flawsome: The Journey to being whole is learning to be holey.

Once we identify our triggers, we build awareness to better anticipate challenging moments. When we can see our triggers we can learn to rewire in the moment, and beyond. It’s like having a personal guidebook to help you navigate your own emotions and relationships better.

Think of this diagnostic like a peek into your emotional backpack. It helps you unpack why you feel the way you do, especially when you’re hanging out with other people. It’s like having a magnifying glass on your feelings. This tool is super handy because it shows you what buttons get pushed and what you tend to let go of.