Coaching practices for And Then What Technique

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

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

• I tend to lock in on a decision the moment the first result looks good and just stop there, and I want to actually keep going
• When I’m this far gone no single trick is enough
• I make perfectly sensible plans but they sit there feeling optional, with no real fire behind them
• One part of this calmed down and I thought I was through it, but then a different angle of the same thing flared right back up
• I’ll finally get a move down, then move on to the next thing, and when I come back weeks later my hands have forgotten it and I’m basically relearning from scratch

Practices that may help

1. The Feynman Technique, Step by Step
   The Feynman Technique is a four-step loop: pick a concept, explain it in plain language as if teaching a beginner, notice exactly where the explanation breaks down, and go back to fill those gaps. It works because explaining forces you to generate and retrieve the material, which exposes the difference between recognizing an idea and actually understanding it.
2. If–Then Planning, Made Practical
   If–then plans (also called implementation intentions) specify in advance how you will respond to the specific situations that typically derail your goals: "If situation X occurs, then I will do Y." A meta-analysis of 94 studies found a medium-to-large effect on goal attainment — one of the most reliable single techniques in goal-setting research.
3. Ask “and then what?” three times
   Don’t stop at the first consequence — follow the chain at least two steps further.
   Second-Order Thinking: And Then What?
4. Combine TIPP components into a crisis sequence
   For very high arousal, run TIPP as a full sequence — temperature first, then exercise, then breathing, then relaxation.
   TIPP: DBT’s Crisis Skill for Rapidly Lowering Emotional Intensity
5. Attention Training Technique (ATT), Made Practical
   The Attention Training Technique (ATT), developed by Adrian Wells, is a structured auditory exercise that rebuilds voluntary control over where attention goes — directly countering the self-focused, threat-locked attention that sustains anxiety and health anxiety. Randomised trials support its effectiveness as a standalone and as part of Metacognitive Therapy.
6. Combine mental contrasting with an if–then plan (MCII)
   Fantasize about success, then vividly imagine the key obstacle, then write the if–then — the sequence matters.
   If–Then Planning, Made Practical
7. Work on specific aspects, not global emotions
   When EFT stalls, you have probably hit a different aspect of the problem — target it specifically.
   EFT Tapping: What It Is, How to Do It, and What the Evidence Shows
8. Schedule retrieval and re-challenge with spaced repetition
   Return to a skill just as it starts to fade — the spacing effect makes consolidation stick.
   Growth-Edge Training: Practicing at the Edge of Your Ability
9. Distinguish technical problems from adaptive challenges
   Separate problems you can solve with existing expertise from those requiring you to change.
   Kegan’s Subject-Object Theory, Made Practical
10. Second-Order Thinking: And Then What?
    Second-order thinking, a discipline associated with investor Howard Marks, means tracing the consequences of your consequences — asking "and then what?" past the immediate result to the reactions, side effects, and feedback that follow. It is a reasoning heuristic rather than a trial-tested intervention, but it counteracts the well-documented human bias toward judging a choice only by its first, most visible outcome.

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