Map the stories that drive you.
In Transactional Analysis, drivers are learned, often compulsive patterns of behaving that once helped us to cope or belong, and now run automatically outside our awareness. Injunctions are deep “don’t” messages about who we are allowed to be, what we may feel, and how visible we may become. This exploration invites you to notice these patterns with curiosity – not judgement.
How it works
You’ll move through three short stages:
- Drivers – five common compulsive “pushes” such as Be Perfect or Please Others.
- Injunctions – early “don’t” messages like Don’t Feel or Don’t Be You.
- Your map – a narrative summary you can download as a PDF for reflection or coaching sessions.
This is not a diagnosis. It is a starting point for loosening patterns that were once protective, so that more choice becomes possible now.
Which automatic “pushes” feel familiar?
Drivers are compulsive habits of behaving – ways you find yourself acting almost on autopilot, even when another response might fit better. Read each card and use the slider to rate how often this feels true for you in everyday life.
Many people carry more than one strong driver. You are not looking for the “right” answer – just a felt sense of what most often takes over.
Which unspoken rules feel familiar?
Injunctions are early messages about what is safe, allowed, or forbidden – often absorbed without anyone saying them directly. Notice which of these “rules” quietly live in the background of your life.
Some may only feel like a slight pull rather than a loud voice. That is enough – you do not have to be certain.
A narrative snapshot of your patterns.
Below is a coaching-friendly summary of the drivers and injunctions you rated most strongly. Use it as a starting point for reflection, journalling, or conversation with your coach.
Key Drivers (compulsive pushes)
Key Injunctions (early “don’t” messages)
How this pattern may show up
Your narrative summary will appear here once you’ve moved through the previous steps.
Reflection prompts
These patterns are understandable responses to earlier contexts. In coaching, the work is not to blame them, but to notice when they take over – and to grow a more spacious, choiceful way of living.
Next steps
You can bring this map into coaching, therapy, supervision, or your own journalling practice. You might explore questions like:
- Where do these patterns most often pull me into automatic behaviour?
- What discomfort or risk do they protect me from?
- What would “5–10% less driven” by these patterns look like in daily life?
If you are working with an Optimal Life HQ or Eudaimonia-trained coach, they may use this map alongside other tools such as your Egogram and values work.