View your life as a narrative, not a sequence of choices
Ask: what story am I living, and does it reflect the character I am trying to build?
Why it works
Alasdair MacIntyre argues that virtue is intelligible only within the context of a narrative — the arc of a whole life. Seeing your choices as chapters in a story rather than isolated decisions creates long-term accountability: each choice is either consistent with or a revision of the person the story is about. Narrative framing also provides the telos that gives virtues their purpose and makes small, daily actions feel meaningful.
How to do it
- Write a two-paragraph "story so far" of your life, with yourself as the main character.
- Identify the character this person has shown up to be — not who they intend to be, but who the choices reveal.
- Ask: if the story continues from here as it has been going, what character does the protagonist end up with?
- Identify one scene coming up in which you could write a different kind of chapter.
Evidence
Narrative identity research (Dan McAdams) finds that the coherence and redemptive quality of personal narratives predicts well-being and generativity; MacIntyre’s philosophical account aligns with this empirical finding. A review by Adler and colleagues (2016) establishes that narrative identity has incremental validity in predicting well-being beyond standard personality traits, strengthening the case that the story you tell about your life is itself consequential. (observational)
Narrative identity research is correlational; whether deliberately constructing a more coherent narrative causes character development is not directly tested.
Sources
- McAdams, D.P. (2001), The psychology of life stories, Review of General Psychology
- McAdams, D. P. (2001). The psychology of life stories. Review of General Psychology, 5(2), 100-122.
- Adler, J. M., Lodi-Smith, J., Philippe, F. L., & Houle, I. (2016). The incremental validity of narrative identity in predicting well-being: A review of the field and recommendations for the future. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 20(2), 142-175.
Common mistake
Treating each situation as if it has no history — as if "I’m starting fresh" can be reset at will without the accumulated story of past choices still being in the room.
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More practices for Virtue Ethics, Made Practical
- Identify the virtues you most need to cultivate
Name the three character traits whose absence most limits you — those are your practice targets.
- Cultivate virtue through deliberate habituation
Do the virtuous action — even imperfectly, even without the feeling — until the disposition follows.
- Embed your virtues in a practice community
The virtues needed for excellence in any serious practice (craft, sport, relationship) are real virtues — find the practice that calls them out.
- Measure flourishing, not just happiness
Regularly ask: am I flourishing as a human being — using my capacities well — or just feeling okay?
- Practice virtues as interconnected, not separate
When a virtue feels absent, look for which related virtue is also being neglected.
- Choose and study role models deliberately
Select a specific person whose character in a specific domain you want to internalize, and study how they act — not just what they say.
Related concepts
- Phronesis: Aristotle’s Practical Wisdom
The ancient art of knowing what to do when the rules run out
- Stoicism, as a Set of Practices
The six exercises that turn the philosophy into a daily discipline
- Amor Fati: Loving What Happens
From Nietzsche’s challenge to the practices that make acceptance into affirmation