Changing your behavior is hard. Changing the way you behave around other people is even harder. But if you can understand why you’re not always the best version of yourself, you can put yourself on the path toward being a better partner, parent, colleague, or friend.

In Triggers, Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter explore the environmental and psychological triggers that trap us in negative or unproductive patterns of behavior, and they reveal strategies for breaking the cycle. Goldsmith is an executive coach who has worked with more than 200 CEOs who have the same problems as the rest of us with staying calm, patient, and present in their relationships.

In this guide, we’ll compare Goldsmith and Reiter’s main insights to other popular theories about habits and routines. We’ll also look at the research on how our decisions play out in the real world and explain how that research supports and challenges the theories in Triggers.