Two Triggers
Daily Chase #249
Most of us think we have a long list of triggers.
We don’t.
When we actually sit with it — when we get past the surface stuff, the hangriness, the exhaustion, the small daily friction — most people have one or two real triggers. Maybe three.
A real trigger is the thing that consistently, reliably knocks us off center. The thing with a specific shape and a specific emotional signature that we’d recognize in any context.
When we find those — and they are worth looking for and finding — you have entered the mental dojo.
Because a trigger we’ve identified is a trigger we can prepare for. We can write down what we want to do instead of what we usually do. We can rehearse the response before the stimulus arrives. We can build the tool before we need it.
Michael Phelps prepared for his goggles filling with water. Not because it was likely. Because it was possible — and because an unprepared reaction would have cost him the race.
We all have our version of water-in-the-goggles.
The question isn’t whether the trigger will happen. It will. The question is whether we’ll have a plan for when it does.
Identify the trigger. Write the plan. Rehearse the response.
That’s the whole practice.
📍 We’re kicking off our first-ever Chase Challenge today. If you want to work on lowering the impact your triggers have on your life, we’d love you to join us.
→ Join us inside the Chase Club (price goes up at midnight!)
→ Do it solo inside the ChaseTracker app (start a 7-day free trial)
Download the Substack app and say more in the comments. 💬

