Your Story is a Mountain
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I want you to imagine a Mountain. Really picture in your head the landscape of this mountain, and imagine what it might look like if you were looking at this mountain from afar…. you’d see the base, the peak, then the other side.
This mountain is an image I use in all of my storytelling classes to help people understand their own story, and how to craft their message in a powerful way.
This applies to all great storytelling — for businesses, for people, for analysis of politics — everything.
Here’s how this mountain relates to storytelling: What makes up a great story is the element of transformation. When people tell stories without this ingredient, the stories fall flat and are very boring. Think of a movie script — can you imagine watching a movie without experiencing the buildup to the climax? It would be a...
Have You Ever Felt This Way?
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I have a storytelling tip that’s so simple, you’ll be shocked when you hear it — yet I’m going to guess many of you are not using it. There is a simple question you can be asking in your content — whether it be written content like emails or blogs, or your social media posts, or live videos, or in-person talks and workshops.
If you start to sprinkle it into with your story — you will inherently draw more people in closer to you and get them to start seeing themselves in your story.
The question is ….. “Has this ever happened to you?” — or another iteration of it is ….. “Have you ever felt this way?”
Asking your audience directly if a part of your story is something they’ve experienced too is so powerful because what we experience we remember….. and asking them if...
Real Stories Really Matter
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When was the last time you cried at a commercial?
I know it probably doesn’t happen that often, but when was the last time a commercial made you take a pause and you thought to yourself, “Oh that was so good?” and that story touched your heart?
Did that commercial talk about the features and benefits of it’s product…. or did it tell a story???
My guess is it told a story!
I say this all the time…. everybody has a story! And they do! Everybody does indeed have a story — but not everybody is actually using their story to reach out and touch people, to create a human connection that makes people remember you.
Learning to tell stories to your audience is something that is so within your reach; If you aren’t already skillfully weaving stories into your messages, I want to...
How to Upgrade Your Story Endings
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Maybe you've heard that all good stories begin with a really great hook --- a visual or statement that hooks you into the story and makes you want to know more.
But here's another element your stories really need --- a deep, meaningful ending.
Far too many stories endings being told in business today are too shallow. They are too corporate. They concentrate on rational, economic benefits like make more money rather than emotional outcomes that are more focused on how it changes their life.
Let's face it. Your audience doesn't really care about your product or service.... and too many businesses spin their stories in a way that makes the products or service the hero.
Your audience has needs that have nothing to do with your products or services. .... and it's important you figure it out.
When you begin to tell stories in your business that speak...
Tips for Getting Over the Fear of Public Speaking
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I see this over and over again — people say things like, “Oh, I could never share my story publicly”, or “I could never speak in front of an audience.”
Maybe you say this to yourself…. and count yourself as one of those people. You’ve already convinced yourself you’ll never be able to tell your story to an audience because the fear is just too big, too enormous to overcome.
What’s happening here is you are putting the emphasis on your PERFORMANCE.
Thoughts like, “What if I stumble or mess up” and “Will people even like me?” create a judgement framework from which you are operating. You are making the story all about you. This creates a lot of pressure, and Your fear of sharing publicly will only increase. It’s a vicious cycle.
Instead, what I encourage people to do is...
How to Avoid the Dart & Run Technique of Storytelling
- Writes the About Me page on website and agonizes for 3 days wondering if you got it right.
- Shares a vulnerable piece of your story on social media and 3 minutes later takes the post down.
- Drums up the nerve again to make another post on social media and then doesn’t show up again for 3 weeks.
- Attempts to do a facebook live to try to connect with audience and when nobody joins you live, you swear it was the worst idea ever and vow to never do it again.
- Takes a course on storytelling to try to figure out how you can use your story in a compelling way…. but never completes the assignments because your story is too boring and you can’t fathom anyone giving a damn about what you have to say.
Does Your Story Spark Joy?
Now, hang with me here — because this is leading into something relevant to storytelling.
If you’re not familiar with Marie Kondo and the Netflix series — the gist of it is she has a 4-part system that is helping people all across the world declutter their homes, clean out their closets, and organize their bathroom drawers. But it goes so much deeper....
In each episode, Kondo — who is Japanese and travels with a translator — arrives to help a particular family by showing them how to systematically go through their clothing, books, paper, and miscellaneous areas like kitchen drawers, garages, and sentimental items.
What’s so fascinating about the show is the storytelling. You can learn so...
Brain Dump- A Journaling Exercise for the Cluttered Mind
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I have to say, I think journaling has been instrumental to my love-affair with storytelling. The two just go hand in hand.
Stories don’t come to me on a silver platter…. I often have to go hunting for them. And more times than not, I’ll find them inside my journal.
One of the things I do the most is a basic brain dump. Whatever I’m thinking, I write. It’s stream of conscious writing where you literally write down every word as it comes to you in your head. It doesn’t always make sense…. but you write it down anyway.
...
A Critical Piece of Your Story -- The Transformation
Listen to our daily blog-casts on Amazon. Enable our "What's Your Story" daily flash briefing and listen using your Alexa device!
Yesterday on the briefing, I took you through an exercise to help you work on your origin story — one of the 3 foundational pieces of storytelling you need to share with your audience. Your origin story is a piece of historical context that you can trace back to the beginning of your own story
Next, I want to introduce you to the 2nd foundational tool, which is your Transformation story.
With each of these foundational stories, you want to consider the message you are spreading to your audience with your work. Whatever it is you do, however you have an impact on others -- that’s what you want to keep in mind as you evaluate your stories.
Your Transformational story is that moment or series of events in your life & business when you experienced a big shift — a complete change in your perspective.
It’s sort of like...
What is Your Origin Story?
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If you’ve just stumbled upon this Flash Briefing, or my blog, you might not really know who I am or why I talk so much about Storytelling.
So let's dig into something called an Origin Story....
It's part of the 3 foundational pieces of storytelling I teach because every business owner and personal of influence needs to have these in their arsenal.
I’m here to help make storytelling easy for you — so you can get busy using it in your business and in your marketing to attract your ideal audience and grow your impact.
Here's a peek at my own origin story, then we'll talk about what this looks like for you....
For over 25 years, I’ve been working in the world of storytelling….as a journalist, writer, video producer, and speaker.
Way back when I was a kid even, I was fascinated by stories. I would stay...
