Coaching practices for Possible Selves Theory

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Possible Selves Theory, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• The future I want for myself feels so out of reach that part of me has filed it under "people like me don’t get there"
• I’ve got this clear, vivid picture of the person I want to become, and I love daydreaming about them
• The inspiring vision of who I want to be gets me fired up for a day or two and then quietly fades
• I’m still grinding toward a version of "successful me" I dreamed up years ago, and it’s stopped lighting me up
• When I try to picture myself old it’s just a blank, fuzzy outline

Practices that may help

1. Possible Selves, Made Practical
   Hazel Markus’s possible-selves framework holds that motivation is driven not only by who we are now but by vivid mental representations of who we could become — including hoped-for and feared future selves. These cognitive structures provide direction and energy for behavior, and deliberately developing them is a tractable approach to sustained motivation.
2. Find living examples of your hoped-for self
   Identify real people who embody your hoped-for self — their existence makes the representation concrete and credible.
   Possible Selves, Made Practical
3. Build a behavioral bridge to the possible self
   Identify one specific behavior your hoped-for self does that you can do today — then do it.
   Possible Selves, Made Practical
4. Pair the hoped-for self with a feared counterpart
   Identify the feared version of your future self in the same domain — the pairing produces more sustained motivation than hope alone.
   Possible Selves, Made Practical
5. Update and revise possible selves over time
   Revisit and rewrite your possible selves at least twice a year — the self you need to become changes as you grow.
   Possible Selves, Made Practical
6. Future Self Continuity, Made Practical
   Hal Hershfield’s research shows that most people experience their future self as a stranger — neurologically similar to perceiving another person rather than themselves. This psychological distance explains impulsive decisions that trade future wellbeing for present comfort. Practices that increase felt connection to the future self reduce this discounting and improve decisions ranging from saving to health behavior.
7. Vividly visualize your future self in concrete detail
   The more specific and sensory your image of your future self, the less you discount their wellbeing.
   Future Self Continuity, Made Practical
8. Write vivid imagined future scenes
   Extend your life story into the future with specific, felt scenes — not just goals.
   Narrative Identity, Made Practical
9. Set if-then implementation intentions for goal behaviors
   Specify when, where, and how you’ll act — not just whether you intend to.
   Hyperbolic Discounting — Why Future You Always Gets the Short End
10. Run prototyping conversations before committing to a plan
    Talk to people already living your Plan B or C before you decide whether to pursue it.
    Odyssey Plans: Designing Three Alternative Futures

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