Coaching practices for Values Archaeology

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

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

• I’m not sure my stated values are real or just the ones I think I should have
• I’ve already landed on the harsh thing I believe about myself
• There’s a song, a place, a little phrase only we use
• There’s a failure I carry around like proof of something broken in me, and I keep trying to hide it or downplay it
• I say family and health are what matter most to me, but if you looked at where my hours and attention actually went this month you’d never guess it

Practices that may help

1. Excavate your actual values from your history
   Use past choices and sacrifices — not aspirations — to find what you actually value.
   Life Review and Reminiscence Therapy
2. Testing a core belief with historical evidence
   Once you have a core belief, survey all your history for evidence that contradicts it.
   The Downward Arrow: Uncovering the Core Beliefs Behind Distress
3. Invest meaning in shared symbols and objects
   Identify the objects, places, and phrases that carry meaning for your relationship.
   The Shared Meaning System
4. The Good Ancestor: Long-Path Thinking for a Meaningful Life
   Roman Krznaric argues that most modern thinking is acutely short-term, and that cultivating "long-path thinking" — making choices with deep consideration for people not yet born — is both a path to personal meaning and a basis for wiser decisions. The practices draw on well-documented psychology of time perspective and legacy motivation, though the framework itself is relatively new.
5. Kintsugi: treating your breaks as history, not defects
   Reframe past failures or injuries as marks that give your history texture — not as evidence of insufficiency.
   Wabi-Sabi: Finding Beauty in Imperfection
6. Know thyself — map your actual values against your actions
   Compare what you say you value with what your behavior reveals you actually value.
   The Examined Life
7. Ask the legacy question
   What will this effort have been part of, when you look back?
   Memento Mori: Using Mortality Awareness to Focus What Matters
8. Legacy audit: mapping what you are passing on
   Inventory the beliefs, behaviors, and structures you are transmitting — not just the ones you intend to.
   The Good Ancestor: Long-Path Thinking for a Meaningful Life
9. Values clarification through lived evidence
   Infer your actual values from your past behaviour, not from what you wish you valued.
   Svadhyaya: Self-Study as a Daily Practice
10. Prioritize direct experience over inherited belief
    Test philosophical claims through personal practice rather than accepting them on authority.
    The Perennial Philosophy, Made Practical

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.