Coaching practices for Emotions and Values
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Emotions and Values, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- My mood keeps making my decisions for me
- On paper this is the obviously rational call, but there’s a gut unease about it nobody will say out loud because we can’t justify it logically
- Something big happened and I feel two opposite things at once
- A feeling slams into me and I have no idea where it came from or why it’s this big
- The very drive I’m proud of
Practices that may help
- Walk your why — act from values, not from mood
Choose your response based on what matters to you, not on what the emotion is demanding.
Emotional Agility, Made Practical - Red hat: name the emotions without justifying them
Give feelings a legitimate place in the discussion — the red hat makes emotional data explicit so it stops running covertly.
Six Thinking Hats, Made Practical - Notice and name mixed or contradictory emotions simultaneously
When something significant happens, look for two or more emotions that coexist — even contradictory ones.
The Feeling Wheel: Building Emotional Vocabulary - Understand the function of the emotion
Every emotion evolved because it does something useful — learn what yours is trying to do.
DBT Emotion Regulation Skills, Made Practical - Distinguish healthy from unhealthy expressions of each level
Every vMEME has a healthy and a pathological form — know which you’re expressing.
Spiral Dynamics, Made Practical - 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 - The forced-rank sort
Write your top 20 candidate values on cards, then sort them ruthlessly until you have a ranked top five.
Values Card Sort - The values–behavior gap check
Audit the last week: which of your top values did your actual decisions honor?
Values Card Sort - Rank your top values
Force a strict order among your finalists so conflicts resolve in advance.
Values Clarification, Made Practical - Radical Honesty About Emotions, Made Practical
Naming and honestly expressing what you feel — rather than suppressing, masking, or performing emotions — is linked to lower physiological stress, better relationships, and more effective self-regulation. Decades of research on expressive writing and emotional disclosure support the general principle, though effects are modest and depend heavily on how disclosure is done.
Related concerns
- Authentic Emotions Work
Recognize when you’re masking emotions at work or in relationships, and find low-cost outlets for what you actually feel.
Stop surface acting
- Core Values List
Write your top 20 candidate values on cards, then sort them ruthlessly until you have a ranked top five.
The forced-rank sort
- Core Values Operational
Use core values in hiring, recognition, and decision-making — not just on the website.
Make core values operational, not decorative
- Decide By Your Values
Force a strict order among your finalists so conflicts resolve in advance.
Rank your top values
- How Can I Find What My Personal Values Are
Identify 3–5 core values — not what you should value, but what actually matters when life is stripped back.
Values clarification: what matters most to you?
- How Do I Figure Out My Values
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.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.