Narrative Process: 10 Evidence-Based Coaching Practices
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Narrative Process, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Practices that may help
- Separate the data from the narrative you’ve built around it
List the raw facts, then list the story you’ve layered on top — and check whether the story actually follows.
The Narrative Fallacy: Why We Can’t Stop Making Stories - 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. - Structure the story as a transformation, not a summary
The protagonist (you, your customer, your team) should be different at the end than at the beginning.
Storytelling for Persuasion, Made Practical - 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 - Narrative Therapy: Rewriting the Stories That Define You
Narrative therapy, developed by Michael White and David Epston, holds that people live by stories — about who they are, what they’re capable of, and what their experiences mean. By separating the person from the problem ("the person is not the problem; the problem is the problem") and finding "unique outcomes" that contradict a limiting story, therapy opens space to author a more empowering alternative. The evidence base is growing but smaller and less methodologically uniform than CBT. - 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 - 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 - Identify what the narrative leaves out
After hearing or constructing a causal story, deliberately list the facts it doesn’t explain.
The Narrative Fallacy: Why We Can’t Stop Making Stories - The Narrative Fallacy: Why We Can’t Stop Making Stories
The narrative fallacy, named by Nassim Taleb in The Black Swan, is the tendency to construct coherent, causal stories from sequences of events — and then to mistake the story for the underlying reality. Narratives feel explanatory because they are causal and emotionally coherent, but they systematically underweight randomness, omit disconfirming details, and create false predictability. The bias is real and well-grounded theoretically; its practical importance is high wherever decisions depend on forecasting or learning from the past. - Write a brief narrative of your season to make it coherent
People who can tell a coherent story about their life stage navigate it more effectively than those who cannot.
Seasons of Life
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- I’m completely sure I know what’s going on here, but when I try to separate what I actually saw happen from the meaning I bolted onto it, I can’t cleanly tell where the facts stop and my interpretation starts
- When I tell people what happened it comes out as a flat recap
- I can recount exactly what happened
- I’ve spotted a few moments where I was braver than my usual story says, but they feel like isolated flukes
- There’s a story I tell about my past
Related concerns
- Narrative For Learning
When a story produces a neat takeaway, ask whether the lesson is actually in the data or in the narrative shaping.
Be skeptical of clean lessons extracted from messy outcomes
- Us Narrative Relationship
Actively shape the story your relationship tells about itself.
Build and retell the "us" narrative
- What Is Narrative Identity Theory
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.
- Child Narrative And 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 Coherence
Tell the story of the difficult event in a way that makes sense — coherence reduces distress even when the event itself cannot be undone.
Build a coherent narrative of what happened
- Narrative Identity Theory
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.
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.