Coaching practices for Choosing Role Models
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Choosing Role Models, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I have abstract ideas about the kind of person I want to be, but in a hard moment I freeze because I don’t actually know what that looks like in practice
- Stuck at a hard choice, "can I even do this?" just loops in my head and freezes me
- I stand up and tell my team what we value, but I’ve started to wonder whether my own choices actually match the words
- I’m a beginner holding myself to the standard of the absolute top people in my field
- Some part of me is convinced this is just impossible for someone like me, and watching the polished experts only widens the gap
Practices that may help
- Choose and study role models deliberately
Select a specific person whose character in a specific domain you want to internalize, and study how they act — not just what they say.
Virtue Ethics, Made Practical - Borrow an identity temporarily by asking "what would [person] do?"
Temporarily adopting a role model’s identity in a specific context lowers the friction of acting as they would.
Identity Priming, Made Practical - Model the values you expect (idealized influence)
Become a living example of the values you want your team to hold.
Transformational Leadership, Made Practical - Curate your comparison pool deliberately
Choose who you regularly compare yourself to — peers at a similar stage, not outliers at the peak.
The Comparison Trap - Use vicarious mastery to lower the threat estimate
Before attempting something difficult, watch someone similar to you succeed at it — not an expert, but a peer.
Mastery Experiences - Find living examples of your hoped-for self
Identify real people who embody your hoped-for self — their existence makes the representation concrete and credible.
Possible Selves, Made Practical - Act as if sages were watching — the practice of the philosophical community
Before any action, ask: would a person I genuinely respect — who embodies the values I aspire to — approve of this?
Pierre Hadot’s Spiritual Exercises - Act in ways that might elevate others
Make choices with the awareness that others may be watching and may be lifted by what they see.
Elevation: The Emotion That Lifts You - Choose a character role model and study their biography
Find a person — living or historical — whose eulogy virtues you admire and study how they built them.
The Eulogy Virtues: Building a Life of Character - Learn from credible models (vicarious experience)
Watch someone like you succeed at the thing you fear.
Self-Efficacy: Building the Belief You Can
Related concerns
- Who To Model Yourself After
Select a specific person whose character in a specific domain you want to internalize, and study how they act — not just what they say.
Choose and study role models deliberately
- Imitate Your Heroes
Copy your heroes deliberately as practice — the gap between you and them becomes your style.
Imitate, then transform
- Moral Role Model
Select a specific person whose character in a specific domain you want to internalize, and study how they act — not just what they say.
- Character Role Model
Select a specific person whose character in a specific domain you want to internalize, and study how they act — not just what they say.
- Moral Exemplar
Select a specific person whose character in a specific domain you want to internalize, and study how they act — not just what they say.
- Role Model For Character
Select a specific person whose character in a specific domain you want to internalize, and study how they act — not just what they say.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.