ACT Therapy and Values: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For ACT Therapy and Values, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Practices that may help

1. Values-Based Action (ACT), Made Practical
   Values-based action in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) means choosing behaviors that are consistent with what matters most to you — your values — rather than behaviors driven by avoidance of pain or approval-seeking. ACT distinguishes values (directions, ongoing) from goals (destinations, finishable); the emphasis is on the quality of action in the present rather than outcome attainment. ACT has robust meta-analytic support; values-based action is identified as a core mechanism.
2. Defuse from thoughts that block values-based action
   Identify the specific thoughts that stop you from acting on your values, and apply defusion rather than argument.
   Values-Based Action (ACT), Made Practical
3. Values Clarification, Made Practical
   Values clarification is the work of naming what matters most to you, sorting the genuine priorities from the inherited ones, and using them to guide real choices. The methods — card sorts, ranking, value-consistent action — draw heavily on values work in acceptance-and-commitment therapy (ACT), which has clinical support; living in line with your values correlates with wellbeing in observational research.
4. Map your values across the four life domains
   Write one core value statement for each domain — work, relationships, personal growth, leisure — before touching the bullseye.
   Values Bullseye, Made Practical
5. Values clarification
   Name the directions you want your life to move in, distinct from goals you can check off.
   Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Made Practical
6. Values clarification: what matters most to you?
   Identify 3–5 core values — not what you should value, but what actually matters when life is stripped back.
   Values-Based Action (ACT), Made Practical
7. Review the bullseye weekly to track real movement
   Re-mark each domain every week and compare — small outward or inward shifts are your feedback loop.
   Values Bullseye, Made Practical
8. Values Bullseye, Made Practical
   The values bullseye, developed by Tobias Lundgren within the ACT framework, is a visual exercise in which you rate how close your current behavior is to the bullseye in four life domains — work, relationships, personal growth, and leisure. It converts abstract values into a concrete gap-analysis, making it easier to choose one committed action that moves you toward the center. The exercise is part of the established ACT toolkit; direct evidence for the instrument is limited but the underlying ACT framework has substantial support.
9. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Made Practical
   ACT teaches you to stop fighting difficult thoughts and feelings and instead take committed action toward what you value, even while they are present. Its core processes — defusion, acceptance, contact with values, and committed action — have a substantial and growing base of randomized-trial support across many conditions.
10. The Absent But Implicit: What Problems Reveal About What We Value
    Every problem story implies a violated value — surfacing that value reveals the person’s strengths, not just their struggles.
    Narrative Therapy: Rewriting the Stories That Define You

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• Every time I go to do the thing that matters to me, this wall of thoughts shows up→
• I pour everything into one part of my life→
• I’m busy chasing things but half of them feel like what I’m supposed to want, not what I actually do→
• If someone asked me what I actually care about, I’m not sure I could answer honestly→
• Working on my values feels like an endless aspiration with no scoreboard→

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.