Your Triggers Are Your Teachers: Turning Emotional Gut Punches into Leadership Gold

What if the moments that make you want to shrink or disappear are actually your greatest opportunities for growth?

In this solo episode of Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors, host Erica Rooney gets real about the power of triggers. She reveals a truth that can transform your career: the discomfort, the hot face, and the gut punch you feel when challenged is not just an emotion—it's valuable data. When you learn to read and understand this data, you unlock one of the most powerful leadership tools in your arsenal.

Erica shares a personal story about a high-stakes training session and the feedback that initially triggered her deepest fears. By breaking down her own reaction in real-time, she illustrates how to turn those moments of discomfort into profound self-awareness, resilience, and unshakeable leadership presence.

Inside the Episode:

• The Trigger as Data: Understanding why your emotional reactions are not weaknesses to be suppressed, but powerful "post-it notes" from your brain telling you what matters.
• The "What If" Sticky Floor: Erica's personal story about a client feedback session that revealed her fear of "not being enough," and how she turned that vulnerability into strength.
• The SNAP Method: A powerful, step-by-step framework for turning gut-punch moments into gold:
  • Stop and Notice: The importance of pausing to observe your body's physical reactions.
  • Name the Trigger: How giving a voice to your fears—such as "not being enough"—helps you regain control.
  • Ask and Answer: The critical step of digging into the "why" behind your trigger.
  • Pivot: How to reframe the narrative from a perceived attack into a moment for growth.
• Building Unshakeable Presence: The link between self-awareness and better performance under pressure, faster professional growth, and handling feedback with grace.
• The Invitation to Grow: A call to action to see your triggers as invitations to grow, not signs of weakness.

If you're ready to stop suppressing your reactions and start using them as a roadmap for your growth, this episode is a must-listen.

🔗 Resources:

• Join Erica's private community, Her Collective, to get more tools like the SNAP method.
• Connect with Erica Rooney on LinkedIn.

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