Coaching practices for There's a Thing I've Told Myself I'll Do Someday for Years Now Write the Book Learn the Language and Deep Down I Think I Already Know I'm Not Going to but Crossing it Off Feels Like Admitting I'm Not Who I Said I Was
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For There's a Thing I've Told Myself I'll Do Someday for Years Now Write the Book Learn the Language and Deep Down I Think I Already Know I'm Not Going to but Crossing it Off Feels Like Admitting I'm Not Who I Said I Was, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- There’s a thing I’ve told myself I’ll do "someday" for years now
- 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.
- There’s one thing I genuinely want to do that I keep saying I’ll get to "next year," and it never moves because I’ve never once put real money or an actual date on it
- I keep waiting to feel like a creative person before I’ll let myself actually make anything
- The person I want to become still feels like a stranger I’m imagining, not someone I actually am yet
Practices that may help
- Distinguish genuine deferral from disguised refusal
An item that has been on the someday list for two or more years is not deferred — it has been declined without being acknowledged.
The Someday List - 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 - Fund and schedule one item now
Put money and a date on one item before the session ends — nothing else converts intention to action as reliably.
The Bucket List Method - Accumulate small creative wins to rebuild confidence
Do deliberately small creative acts every day until the identity "I am creative" begins to feel true.
Creative Confidence, Made Practical - Journal as the person you are becoming, not the person you have been
Writing from your desired identity’s perspective, even tentatively, strengthens its psychological availability.
Identity Priming, Made Practical - Act before you feel ready
Take the competent action now and let confidence catch up, instead of waiting to feel sure.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome, 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 - Use verbal self-instruction to initiate
Say out loud — or in writing — the exact action you are about to do before you do it.
Task Initiation: Overcoming the Start Problem - Use decisive action to build, not just express, self-concept clarity
Make and keep commitments deliberately — each kept commitment is data that builds a clearer self-knowledge over time.
Self-Concept Clarity, Made Practical - Releasing the ideal version
Identify one project, relationship, or self-image that you are waiting to be perfect and engage with its actual state instead.
Wabi-Sabi: Finding Beauty in Imperfection
Related concerns
- Narrative Identity Exercise
Use two question types to map both what the person DID (action) and what that reveals about who they ARE (identity).
Landscape of Identity and Action Questions
- Narrative Identity Planning
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 Practice
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.
- When Mere Exposure Effect Apply Mere Exposure To Yourself
Repeatedly acting in a new way — even in small doses — makes the new behavior feel like you.
Build self-familiarity with new identities through low-stakes repetition
- When Narrative Identity Narrative Coherence Check
Identify the parts of your self-narrative that are contradictory or no longer true.
Test your story for coherence and credibility
- When Now Habit Reframe Procrastination As Protection
Identify what threat your procrastination is protecting you from — usually failure or judgment.
Understand your procrastination as a protection strategy, not laziness
Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.