What Lies are You Believing that Are Stopping You From Making Lasting Change in Your Life?

I recently started reading Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith after listening to CGP Grey and Mike Hurley’s discussion of the book on a Cortex episode. The basic premise of the book is to teach you how to make lasting change in your life. I’m only three chapters in but so far it has been quite helpful.

In chapter two, Goldsmith talks about false beliefs that we tell ourselves that don’t allow us to make changes. He says that yes, these are obvious, but too many people don’t actually take these to heart and truly believe them. So below is just the 15 lies that we believe and what this tiggers in us. I’ve also added a couple extra notes that I found helpful.

What is a belief trigger?

“An excuse explains why we fell short of expectations after the fact. Our inner beliefs trigger failure before it happens. They sabotage lasting change by canceling its possibility. We employ these beliefs as articles of faith to justify our inaction and then wish away the result.”

1. If I understand I will do - this belief triggers confusion
2. I have willpower and won’t give into temptation - this belief triggers overconfidence
3. Today is a special day - excusing our momentary lapses as an outlier event triggers a self-indulgent inconsistency
4. “At least I’m better than…” - this belief triggers a false sense of immunity
5. I shouldn’t need help and structure - this belief triggers an unappealing exceptionalism
   • This is a natural response that combines three competing impulses
     1. Our contempt for simplicity (only complexity is worthy of our attention)
     2. Our contempt for instruction and follow-up
     3. Our faith that we can succeed all by ourselves
6. I won’t get tired and my enthusiasm will not fade - this belief triggers depletion
7. I have all the time in the world - Faith in time’s infinite patience triggers procrastination
8. I won’t get distracted and nothing unexpected will occur - this belief triggers unrealistic expectations
   1. You have to realize the high probability of low-probability events. We don’t plan for low-probability events because, by definition, any one of them is unlikely to occur…yet the odds of at least one event occurring is high
9. An epiphany will suddenly change my life - this belief triggers magical thinking
10. My change will be permanent and I will never have to worry again - this belief triggers a false sense of permanence
    • Even when we get there, we cannot stay there without commitment and discipline
11. My elimination of old problems will not bring new problems - this belief triggers a fundamental misunderstanding of our future challenges
12. My efforts will be fairly rewarded - this belief triggers resentment
13. No one is paying attention to me - this belief triggers a dangerous preference for isolation
    • When we revert to our previous behavior, people always notice
14. If I change I am “inauthentic” - this belief triggers stubbornness
15. I have the wisdom to assess my own behavior - this belief triggers an impaired sense of objectivity
    • We are notoriously inaccurate in assessing ourselves

What “belief triggers” are you falsely believing?

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