The more stories we have in our collection, the greater our ability to influence others during presentations. It’s a well-known fact that collecting such stories is worthwhile. The question is: how can we effectively do this to build a truly large and valuable collection of stories?
In our lives—both professional and personal—a lot of interesting things have happened. However, we often don’t have them written down, and they don’t come to mind quickly when we need them. That’s why, in addition to regularly gathering stories, it’s worthwhile to occasionally engage in exercises to extract interesting stories from the depths of our memory.
I propose two exercises for this.
Storytelling Exercise 1: Blank Page Sessions
This exercise involves sitting down with a blank sheet of paper. Turn off your phone, isolate yourself in a quiet room, and eliminate all distractions. Sit down and write down all the interesting events and stories that could serve as good material for your collection. Allow yourself 30 minutes for this exercise. If an interesting story comes to mind, jot it down in a single sentence. Later, when transferring it to your story notebook, you can expand on it. Don’t give up if you don’t write anything down in the first five minutes—something will eventually come to mind.
During storytelling workshops, I do a shorter version of this exercise. Participants are often surprised by how many ideas they come up with. Sometimes, they even recall incidents or incredible stories they haven’t thought about in years.
This seemingly simple exercise requires a lot of focus, silence, and discipline. Constantly checking your smartphone will ruin the effect. It’s crucial to cut yourself off from all external stimuli and enter a meditative state over the blank page. The ideal conditions for this exercise are when you’re alone in a room.
I know few people actually do this exercise. We live in an age where boredom has disappeared, thanks to smartphones, apps, and even playing Snake on old Nokia phones. It’s a shame because boredom creates the perfect conditions for creative thinking and scanning memories.
Nevertheless, I encourage you, dear reader, to try this session at least once. It might lead to some remarkable insights.
Storytelling Exercise 2: Question Sessions
The second exercise involves using guided questions to dredge up interesting stories from your memory. The ideal conditions are similar to the blank page session: no phone, no distractions, and a quiet room. Sit down with your list of questions and a piece of paper. Read the questions one at a time, step by step. Start with the first question and give yourself at least a minute to think of an answer. Then move on to the next question, allowing another minute for a response, and so on.
Here’s a list of questions to help you recall potentially fascinating stories. If you want to try this exercise now, don’t read all the questions at once. Take them one by one:
- When was the last time someone came to you for help solving a problem?
- What’s the one thing no one at work knows about, but it has been crucial in getting you where you are today?
- That one day that changed everything.
- The most humiliating moment in my career was…
- The most absurd incident I’ve had with a client/colleague was…
- The worst day at work was when…
- The best day at work was when…
- What surprised me the most in the last month/year/lifetime?
- I’ve learned the most thanks to…
- I made the biggest progress in…
Some of these questions might generate multiple answers. If one question inspires several stories, spend more time on it—it has the potential for something significant.
A similar series of questions can be used in workshops with employees when building a collection of company stories.
Ready to transform your communication culture in your company? Reach out to me, and let’s talk about making a real shift.