Coaching practices for How to Get Out of Your Own Way
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For How to Get Out of Your Own Way, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I always blame the lack of time or the circumstances, but honestly something in me keeps stopping me
- Whenever I think about why I never get there, I reach for no time, no money, other people
- The reason I keep leaving myself an out is that deep down I’m not sure I can actually do this
- I keep chasing my own happiness head-on and it keeps slipping away
- Something blew up my plans and I’ve just been stewing in how unfair it is
Practices that may help
- Obstacle — find the inner obstacle in your way
Identify the personal, internal block that actually stops you — a habit, feeling, or thought.
WOOP: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan - Identify the main internal obstacle that stands between you and the wish
Ask honestly: what is the primary thing in me — not outside me — that is most likely to block this wish?
Mental Contrasting and WOOP - Build genuine self-efficacy to eliminate the motive
The most durable cure for self-handicapping is a genuine track record of success that makes the excuse unnecessary.
Self-Handicapping: Recognizing and Stopping the Excuse Setup - Dedicate yourself to a cause beyond yourself
Commit time and effort to something larger than your own interests.
Self-Transcendence: Beyond the Self - Find the advantage inside the obstacle
Ask what this obstacle makes possible that nothing else would — the way through is often in it.
The Obstacle Is the Way, in Practice - Compassionate motivation over fear
Drive change from care for your future self rather than from self-attack.
Self-Compassion, Made Practical - Use autonomy-supportive self-talk
Coach yourself with choice and rationale, not "shoulds" and self-pressure.
Self-Determination Theory, Made Usable - Take deliberate, persistent action
Perception sets you up; action moves you through — start where you are, with what you have.
The Obstacle Is the Way, in Practice - Map the obstacles: WOOP your life-crafting goals
For each goal, identify the most likely internal obstacle and plan your response before you need it.
The Life Crafting Intervention: Scripting Your Future Self - Self-compassion through the distancing lens
Combine third-person perspective with self-compassionate framing to avoid both self-attack and self-indulgence.
Self-Distancing Journaling
Related concerns
- Removing Obstacles To Progress
Setbacks damage motivation more than equivalent progress helps — protecting progress means also clearing the path.
Actively minimize obstacles and setbacks
- The Obstacle Is The Way In Practice At Work
Ryan Holiday repackages Stoicism into a three-part discipline for turning obstacles into advantage: control your perception of the problem, take deliberate action on it, and use your will to endure what you can’t change. The practices are modern framings of ancient Stoic moves, so their strongest support is the same — the lineage into cognitive reappraisal and the studied benefits of reframing and action.
- The Obstacle Is The Way In Practice During A Big Change
Ask what this obstacle makes possible that nothing else would — the way through is often in it.
Find the advantage inside the obstacle
- The Obstacle Is The Way In Practice For My Teenager
Ryan Holiday repackages Stoicism into a three-part discipline for turning obstacles into advantage: control your perception of the problem, take deliberate action on it, and use your will to endure what you can’t change. The practices are modern framings of ancient Stoic moves, so their strongest support is the same — the lineage into cognitive reappraisal and the studied benefits of reframing and action.
- The Obstacle Is The Way In Practice On A Budget
Ryan Holiday repackages Stoicism into a three-part discipline for turning obstacles into advantage: control your perception of the problem, take deliberate action on it, and use your will to endure what you can’t change. The practices are modern framings of ancient Stoic moves, so their strongest support is the same — the lineage into cognitive reappraisal and the studied benefits of reframing and action.
- The Obstacle Is The Way In Practice When Starting Out
Ask what this obstacle makes possible that nothing else would — the way through is often in it.
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