What is Com B? 10 Coaching Practices to Try

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

Practices that may help

  1. The COM-B Model and Behavior Change Wheel
    COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behavior) is a diagnostic framework developed by Michie and colleagues that maps the three conditions any behavior requires: you must be able to do it, have the opportunity to do it, and want to do it. Research supporting COM-B as a systematic intervention framework is largely expert-consensus and observational rather than RCT; its main value is stopping you from applying the wrong lever.
  2. Strengthen automatic motivation through cue-response pairings
    Build automatic, habitual pulls toward the behavior so it does not compete for conscious motivation each time.
    The COM-B Model and Behavior Change Wheel
  3. Diagnose before you prescribe with COM-B
    Before picking a strategy, identify which of Capability, Opportunity, or Motivation is the bottleneck.
    The COM-B Model and Behavior Change Wheel
  4. Match your intervention type to the COM-B gap
    Use the Behavior Change Wheel to select the intervention approach that fits the diagnosed gap — not your default.
    The COM-B Model and Behavior Change Wheel
  5. Use social opportunity — others who make the behavior normal
    Position yourself in social contexts where your target behavior is modeled, expected, or easy to perform with others.
    The COM-B Model and Behavior Change Wheel
  6. Install feedback loops to track behavior and adjust
    Measure the behavior directly and use the data to update your intervention, not just your motivation.
    The COM-B Model and Behavior Change Wheel
  7. Build a "collector’s mind" — capture everything interesting, then look for connections
    Keep an active idea collection so you can search it for unexpected pairings when you need them.
    Combinatorial Creativity, Made Practical
  8. Clarify reflective motivation through values and goals
    Articulate why the behavior matters to you — in your own words, tied to your own values.
    The COM-B Model and Behavior Change Wheel
  9. Combinatorial Creativity, Made Practical
    Arthur Koestler’s bisociation theory holds that creative breakthroughs emerge when two previously unconnected frames of reference collide and suddenly fit — not from blank-slate invention but from unexpected combination. The practical implication is that creative output depends heavily on the breadth and diversity of your input: you can only combine what you have already absorbed.
  10. The Coping Card
    A coping card is a physical or digital card carrying your pre-prepared rational responses to your most common distorted thoughts or crisis triggers — written in advance, when you are calm, so they are available when you are not. Coping cards are a standard CBT tool with strong clinical consensus; they work because working memory and rational access are impaired under stress, and a card externalizes the reasoning that would otherwise be unavailable.

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