Stories Move People
How long will your story last?
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Do we need to be remembered? Does it matter?
And if we want to be remembered - is it for who we were or for what we’ve done?
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We all become memories one day.
It’s up to us to decide what those memories are and how long they’ll live on.
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Tell stories.
Every event in our life is a story.
Every desire. Every ask. Every experience. Every person.
Everything is a story.
We respond to stories - they move us.
So tell more stories.
Insights
A Native American proverb:
"Tell me the facts and I'll learn. Tell me the truth and I'll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in heart forever."
Umberto Eco on storytelling:
“To survive, you must tell stories.”
A proverb:
“Show, don’t tell.”
Reflection of the week
Journaling is a form of storytelling.
You write your story on a piece of white paper. You share your story with it.
One thing I learned to do as a recommendation of someone I’m generally not a fan of (his advice was good though) was to keep a small notebook where I write all my stories.
Just snippets of them. Each paper contains a story with a few bullet points underneath. Then, whenever you have something coming up, whether it’s a talk, a meeting or just going out with a few friends, you skim through that notebook and you have your stories refreshed in your head ready to be told.
Works like magic.
So go get a notebook - a tiny one - and start with 10 stories from memory. Then keep populating it as you go.
A good read
This one’s a little niche - for writers and those who love writing.
The Bestseller Code talks about the makings of a bestsellers and it sort of demystifies some of the reasons why some books became bestsellers, although based on writing alone, they technically shouldn’t have.
I read this before I wrote my book and I found it helpful then and also its insights were relevant two years later when I was building a startup to predict the bestselling potential in books—before AI got to where it is today. Although it seems like it might not be for everyone, I think anyone who’s into reading fiction will find this one intriguing and it’ll answer quite a few lingering questions as it did for me.
The on:becoming podcast
You can listen to it above or watch it on YouTube:
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How can I help?
I also happen to coach people. I learned from one of the world’s best, Robert Ellis.
Would you like to have a coaching conversation? Sometimes all it takes is a 30-minute deep conversation to point you in the right direction. Or give you a little nudge. Maybe you just need someone to hear you out. I’m here for you.