Coaching practices for Narrative Identity Virtue
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Narrative Identity Virtue, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I treat each choice as its own isolated thing
- I say "I’m someone who never quits," but my history is full of things I walked away from, and that gap between who I claim to be and what I’ve actually done sits in me as a low hum of unease I can’t quite name.
- I’ve spotted a few moments where I was braver than my usual story says, but they feel like isolated flukes
- I can recount exactly what happened
- My whole story is achievement, achievement, achievement
Practices that may help
- View your life as a narrative, not a sequence of choices
Ask: what story am I living, and does it reflect the character I am trying to build?
Virtue Ethics, Made Practical - Narrative Identity, Made Practical
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent. - Test your story for coherence and credibility
Identify the parts of your self-narrative that are contradictory or no longer true.
Narrative Identity, Made Practical - Re-Authoring the Alternative Story
Build a preferred story of identity by thickening the exceptions into a narrative with a plot.
Narrative Therapy: Rewriting the Stories That Define You - Landscape of Identity and Action Questions
Use two question types to map both what the person DID (action) and what that reveals about who they ARE (identity).
Narrative Therapy: Rewriting the Stories That Define You - Balance agency and communion themes in your story
Check whether your life narrative is weighted toward self-expansion (agency) or connection (communion).
Narrative Identity, Made Practical - Revise your life narrative when it limits you
Identify and reauthor the story you tell about your past that constrains what you believe is possible.
The Life Crafting Intervention: Scripting Your Future Self - Write your generativity chapter
Articulate what you want to contribute to the world — the chapter that makes your story matter beyond yourself.
Narrative Identity, Made Practical - Use great moral literature as an elevation source
Read fiction, biography, and history that places exceptional human virtue at the center.
Elevation: The Emotion That Lifts You - Definitional Ceremonies and Outsider Witnesses
Invite meaningful others to witness and retell the new story — being known differently by others consolidates the new identity.
Narrative Therapy: Rewriting the Stories That Define You
Related concerns
- How Stories Shape Identity
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent.
- Narrative Identity As A Caregiver
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent.
- Narrative Identity For My Teenager
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent.
- Narrative Identity On A Budget
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent.
- Narrative Identity Purpose
Dan McAdams’ narrative identity theory holds that identity itself is a personal myth — an internalized, evolving story that integrates your past, present, and imagined future into a coherent sense of self. The structure and tone of that story (whether it moves toward redemption or contamination, agency or communion) predicts psychological well-being, and the story can be deliberately revised. Evidence is primarily observational but robustly consistent.
- How Founder Storytelling Shapes Identity
Identify and reauthor the story you tell about your past that constrains what you believe is possible.
Revise your life narrative when it limits you
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.