Coaching practices for Hand on Heart Practice
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Hand on Heart Practice, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I work on my character all in my own head, by my own standards, and it stays abstract and unproven
- I keep starting this nightly prayer practice and then dropping it the second life gets busy, because I’ve made it this long involved thing
- I’m kind and openhearted with the people I already love and quietly closed off to the ones who get under my skin, and I’m realizing that warmth that only flows toward easy people isn’t really the practice
- When I face where I fell short today I either wave it away as no big deal or I tip straight into hating myself over it
- I sit down to practice for an hour but I’m half on my phone the whole time
Practices that may help
- Embed your virtues in a practice community
The virtues needed for excellence in any serious practice (craft, sport, relationship) are real virtues — find the practice that calls them out.
Virtue Ethics, Made Practical - Practice the Examen daily and briefly
Do a short Examen most days rather than a long one occasionally.
The Ignatian Examen: Five Movements of Daily Review - Always abide by the three principles
Maintain your vow, don’t show off, and practise impartially with everyone — not just the people you like.
Lojong: Tibetan Mind Training - Face shortfalls with honest sorrow, not shame
Name where you fell short today without either minimizing it or spiraling into self-punishment.
The Ignatian Examen: Five Movements of Daily Review - Practice with full, undivided focus
Short blocks of complete concentration beat long blocks of distracted repetition.
Deliberate Practice, Not Just Practice - Use public commitment to close the action gap
Announce a specific next skill-building action to someone who will follow up.
The Confidence–Competence Loop - Live what you study
Make your practice your philosophy — not a separate reading life and a separate daily life.
Philosophy as a Way of Life - Ask for clarity and honest perception
Before reviewing, pause to ask for the capacity to see honestly rather than defensively.
The Ignatian Examen: Five Movements of Daily Review - Connecting phrases to felt warmth
Anchor the practice in the body’s felt sense of warmth, not just the words.
Loving-Kindness (Metta) Meditation - Practising li: ritual propriety in routine
Choose one recurring interaction and treat it with full deliberate attention as a form of practice.
Confucian Self-Cultivation: The Mencius Approach
Related concerns
- Deliberate Practice Not Just Practice As A Caregiver
Deliberate practice, studied by Anders Ericsson, is focused, effortful practice aimed just beyond your current ability, with immediate feedback and constant correction. It is what separates people who keep improving from people who simply log hours — and it is why the popular "10,000 hours" rule is an oversimplification of his work.
- Cultivating Authenticity
Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be and show up as who you actually are.
Cultivate authenticity
- Deliberate Practice Not Just Practice With Friends
Deliberate practice, studied by Anders Ericsson, is focused, effortful practice aimed just beyond your current ability, with immediate feedback and constant correction. It is what separates people who keep improving from people who simply log hours — and it is why the popular "10,000 hours" rule is an oversimplification of his work.
- Deliberate Practice Not Just Practice With My Partner
Deliberate practice, studied by Anders Ericsson, is focused, effortful practice aimed just beyond your current ability, with immediate feedback and constant correction. It is what separates people who keep improving from people who simply log hours — and it is why the popular "10,000 hours" rule is an oversimplification of his work.
- Deliberate Practice Philosophy
Deliberate practice, studied by Anders Ericsson, is focused, effortful practice aimed just beyond your current ability, with immediate feedback and constant correction. It is what separates people who keep improving from people who simply log hours — and it is why the popular "10,000 hours" rule is an oversimplification of his work.
- Examen Opening Prayer
The Examen is a short, structured evening review from the Ignatian tradition: you replay the day with gratitude and honest attention to where you felt drawn toward or away from your values, then carry one resolve into tomorrow. It is a centuries-old contemplative practice; its benefits are best described as mechanistically plausible and widely reported rather than established by controlled trials.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.