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.
Practice this with IX Coach
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