June 28, 2025 • 32 mins
Write Your Story with Ally Fallon: Human beings have a primal need that we don’t often talk about.
It’s not food or water or love, although we need those things too.
It’s the human need that drives you to watch Netflix, scroll Instagram, gasp at a text message that says, “you’ll never guess what happened!?” and even binge a great audiobook (the three I mention in the episode are in the notes below).
And yet unlike food, water and love, this primal need often gets overlooked.
No wonder we’re depressed or bored or dysregulated or overwhelmed. We’re treating a basic need we have like it’s secondary; and that oversight is costing us.
I invite you to find ways to bring back this “lost” art so we can rediscover meaning, clarity and connection in our lives.
Check out THE TELL HERE!
Check out The Anxious Generation HERE!
Check out The Secret Lives of Mama Love HERE!
Host: Ally Fallon // @allyfallon // allisonfallon.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Pick up the pieces of your life, put them back
together with the words you write, all the beauty and
peace and the magic that you'll start too fun. When
you write your story, you get the words and said,
don't you think it's down to let them out and
write them down and colored it's all about and write
(00:24):
your story. Write, write your story.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hi there, welcome back to the Write Your Story Podcast.
I'm Ali Fallon, I'm your host, and on today's episode,
I want to talk about something that is relevant to you.
If you are a writer, it's relevant to you. If
you're not a writer, it's relevant to you. If you
are a content creator, if you are trying to sell something,
if you're trying to build a business, it's relevant to you.
If none of that stuff is true, and you're just
(00:51):
a human being who is interested in influencing the ideas
and mindsets and worldview of those around you. Maybe you
have little kids who you want to help shape the
way that they see the world, or maybe you have
people around you in your community who you think, like, gosh,
if they could see the world through another lens, it
(01:12):
would widen their perspective and they would have so much
more to see and so much more to share. Maybe
you have parents who have a narrow worldview and you'd
like to help them widen their worldview. Whoever you are,
wherever you're coming from, however you're listening to this, this
is a topic today that is extremely relevant to you
and will be very, very helpful to you as you
(01:33):
navigate your way through this complicated world. I got started
thinking about this a couple of weeks ago when I
was doing bedtime with my kids, who are three and four.
We do the same routine every single night. We do
a story, so either a book that we read or
a story that we make up my husband and I.
We do a couple of songs, so like three to
four songs. They always have their favorites that they like
(01:54):
to choose from, and then we do kisses and hugs,
and that's pretty much the bedtime routine well every night.
No matter how much my kids know and understand the
bedtime routine, I've noticed that they're always, always, always begging
for more stories. Doesn't matter how long of a story
we tell, how great of a story we tell, how
gripping it is. In fact, the more gripping the story is,
(02:14):
the more likely they are to ask for more stories.
They love stories. They are so hungry for stories. And honestly,
the stories that we tell sometimes are really silly. My
husband and I both and he's actually better at making
up the silly stories than I am. But the kids
love when the stories are completely ridiculous. My daughter's latest
request is to ask for a story that starts out
(02:35):
scary and then ends up being silly. And so it'll
be a story about some animated animal or creature of
some kind, like a talking shark or a talking platypus
or something like that, who does something really scary, and
then all of a sudden, the story turns from being
scary into being silly. You realize this character was just Oh,
(02:55):
I didn't mean to scare you. I was just playing
hide and seek, and I have and to jump out
right in front of you. I'm actually a nice platypus.
So you can see. The stories that we tell are
completely ridiculous, and yet the kids eat them up. They
love them so much they beg for more. It is
an innate human need, almost like eating food and drinking water,
(03:17):
to hear and share stories. And that's what I want
to talk about today. This is the topic of today's
episode that the sharing and hearing of stories is an
innate human need. My kids are three and four. Nobody's
told them, you know, it's good for you to read stories.
You should be reading stories. That's really good for your brain.
Or they're not logging their way through this at all.
(03:40):
They just have an innate, built in human craving to
hear stories. It meets an absolute need for them. And
this just got me thinking because the other thing that
was happening simultaneously is I was doing I have been
doing for the last couple of weeks, quite a bit
of scrolling on Instagram. I move in and out of this.
(04:03):
Instagram is such an addictive substance, and I was talking
to a friend about this the other day. I have
to give myself grace because I do go through long
periods where I'll take Instagram off my phone, or i
will avoid Instagram altogether. I'll take long, long breaks from Instagram,
and then oftentimes how it happens is I'll come back
kind of slowly, but then slowly turns to not so slowly,
(04:25):
very quickly, and then I find myself, you know, for
an hour a day, just kind of scrolling, scrolling, scrolling
on Instagram, and usually I'm looking for a couple of things.
When I'm scrolling on Instagram, I'm looking for entertainment, So
I'll take little breaks, you know, from parenting or from
working during the day, and just kind of want to
check out. Most of what I'm looking for on Instagram
when I catch myself scrolling, is just entertainment. So I'm
(04:49):
looking for a break from my stressful day. I'm looking
for someone to make me laugh, something to make me smile.
I'm looking for something that's distracting. And I'm usually scre
rolling off my feed like I'll find a real that's
interesting to me, and then I'll just scroll down from
that reel and it'll take ten minutes or sometimes thirty minutes,
(05:09):
or on a really bad day, you know, forty five
minutes or an hour something like that. That's usually like
after bedtime at the end of the day, when I'm
so exhausted that i can't stop myself. So hopefully that's
relatable anyway. So I'm scrolling on Instagram, scrolling on Instagram,
paying attention to what works. This is the other angle
that I always think about this from because I'm a
(05:30):
content creator and because i have my own platform. On Instagram,
I'm always kind of thinking, Okay, what works here, How
are other people showing up on the platform, what kind
of things are they doing? So I'm sort of idea
gathering and that's important to understand just as context for
how I have this realization both, you know, from the
experience with my kids, realizing like, gosh, they crave stories,
(05:53):
they are begging me to tell them stories. Then I'm
on Instagram losing myself for you know, ten twenty thirty
minutes in Instagram, realizing that the content that pulls me
into Instagram. There's a lot of stuff out there on Instagram.
Some of it is educational, and that can be helpful,
but the educational content is not what pulls me in
(06:14):
when I'm looking for a distraction. The content that pulls
me in when I'm looking for a distraction is storytelling.
And notice this as you move through the world, Notice
the content either on Instagram or notice what pulls you in,
even just in your irregular, everyday life. As you're kind
of moving about in the world, Notice what grabs your attention,
(06:35):
Notice what pulls you in. Notice when you get on Netflix,
what is it that pulls you in? Or another streaming platform.
Think about the latest TV show that you've been interested in.
My guess is the latest TV show that you've been
interested in isn't the news. I don't know many people
anymore who are religiously watching the news, although even the
(06:59):
news when it's done and write. What the news anchors
are doing is telling us stories. They're meeting that primal
human need that we have to hear and share stories.
But the TV show that has you pulled in is
a story, and the writers of that show are using
the story to draw you in and to grip your
attention and to motivate you to pay attention for long,
(07:23):
long periods of time. I mean, think about like an
epics series that you've watched, maybe that you've binged over
the course of a weekend. That series has kept your
attention for days on end. Has this happened to you
recently where you have fallen in love with a TV
show and you can't stop watching, can't stop watching, can't
stop watching, so you, you know, maybe watch four episodes
(07:44):
at night or something like that, and then when you
wake up the next morning, you're kind of still thinking
about it a little bit, like you go to sleep
thinking about it, you wake up thinking about it, you
can't wait till you get off of work so you
can come finish your binge. Or maybe if you don't
have kids, maybe you even have done what I used
to do before I had kids, which is you wake
up the next morning and you actually watch a couple
(08:05):
more episodes. So think about how compelling a story can
be to you, and then think about someone giving you advice.
And the reason that I'm bringing up this distinction is
I just started to notice, especially with the scrolling on Instagram,
but not just Instagram, just as I move through the world,
but especially on Instagram, notice if you're on TikTok, or
(08:27):
if you're on Instagram, or if you're on substack or
any other platform like that, notice the content that pulls
you in, the content that pulls you in, the content
that grabs your attention, the content that means anything to
you is going to be telling you a story. It's
not that there's not a place for advice. There absolutely
is a place for advice. But I've just noticed that
(08:50):
I've gotten to the place on Instagram where when I
see someone telling me what to do or giving me advice,
or you know, anything along those lines. I'm just like, well,
scroll right past, wah wah, scroll right past. The place
(09:14):
for advice is really this When you are facing a
problem in your life that you do not know how
to overcome, and someone comes in giving you advice about
that specific problem and they tell you I have a
solution for the problem. That content can also be quite gripping.
And I'm saying content here, but here's what I really mean.
(09:35):
The words that are coming out of your mouth do
they engage someone or do they bore them? And this
is the power of storytelling. I worked for a long
time for Donald Miller, who's a good friend of mine.
His company called story Brand. I consulted with them for many,
many years. I was actually a full time employee for
a short bit of time and then realized, oh, I
don't really want to be a full time employee of anyone.
(09:57):
I kind of like being a bit of a free agent.
So anyway, for like three months, I think I was
a full time employee for story Brand, and then we
made the decision to just take a step back and
that I would act as a consultant for the company
and I would travel and teach the workshops and travel
and do the keynotes and work with different brands who
are interested in using the story brand framework to communicate
(10:19):
their message more clearly. And this is what Storybrand did.
Story Brand helped brands that were selling something because that's
what brands do is sell something. They're selling a product,
they're selling a service, and they want to be able
to communicate about their product or service more effectively so
that people move to purchase quicker because this is how
you keep the doors of your business open. So you
have something to sell, you want to tell people about it.
(10:42):
But when you get online to tell people about it,
when you write an email, when you get on your Instagram,
when you go on your sales call and you're talking
to a room full of managers or whatever you're doing.
People would have this experience over and over again of
standing at the front of the room or getting on
Instagram and saying something and it would just fall silent.
(11:02):
There would be total crickets. I'm sure you've had this
experience before where you have something you're so excited about
and so passionate about and you want to share it
with people and you open your mouth to speak about it,
and it's like people's eyes glaze over and it can
be a really frustrating experience when you know you have
something helpful to share. Let's just imagine this, because there
were so many clients who were in this boat, who
(11:24):
have a product that they know works. They've sold it
to people, the people have used it, They've gotten testimonials.
People are saying, this product works, it has solved my problem,
it has helped me overcome this obstacle. They have data
and research to prove that this product is performing well,
that it's working, that people are having good results with it,
(11:45):
and yet when they would go out to speak about it,
they would go do a keynote, or they would go,
you know, stand on a stage somewhere, or stand in
front of a room full of managers like we talked about,
or they would get on Instagram to talk about it.
They would try to talk about their product and their
message would fall flat, and so I would show up
and help them craft a message that was going to
sell more of whatever it was that they were selling.
(12:06):
And the framework we use to teach these brands is
called the story brand framework, which is a narrative storytelling
framework that we use to teach business owners how to
talk about their products more effectively. So I would come in,
I would work with these brands. I would teach them
the story brand Framework, which is Don Miller's framework. He's
the one who created this. It's based on narrative principles.
(12:27):
It's based on a narrative arc and it teaches people
how to talk about something in a way that grips
people's attention, in a way that opens a story loop
in their brain. Because stories are extremely powerful. The human
brain is built to crave and want stories. And when
you can talk to someone in the format of a story,
(12:49):
you can grab their attention, you can hold their attention
for as long as you want, and you can motivate
someone to action. You can motivate them to see the
world in a different way. And I know one of
the rejections that I first had when I was first
learning the story brand framework is I would hear Don
talk about it that way, that this was this incredibly
powerful framework that could motivate people to action. You could
(13:10):
grip someone's attention, you could hold it for as long
as you wanted, and I remember thinking like, gosh, well
that's kind of scary because you could really use that
power for evil. And yes, the answer is yes, you
could absolutely use that power for evil, and many powerful
people in our world today are using that power for evil.
And Don's rebuttal to that which I thought was so great,
(13:32):
and I've thought about this so many times since, is
because this power could be used for good or evil,
why don't we teach it to as many people as
possible who we know are going to use it for good?
And those of us who have good intentions, why don't
we learn it and use it for good so that
we have equally as much power in this space as
(13:53):
those who would misuse it have, so that we can
meet them toe to toe, so that we can also
be people who can control a conversation, who can get
our point across, who can communicate a message effectively, who
can mobilize a group of people. And so this has
become part of just how I see the world, part
of who I am, part of how I teach what
(14:14):
I teach to writers, part of how I think about
things when I'm scrolling through Instagram. And you know, ten
years ago, if I was scrolling through Instagram, I probably
would have had the same thoughts about someone who was
spinning advice at me. I would have been like, well,
boring moving on to someone who's telling jokes. But now,
because I understand how stories work and how the human
(14:35):
brain works, I can have those experiences on Instagram and
actually understand why I feel emotionally the way I do
about one content creator versus another. So maybe you're thinking
to yourself, Okay, well, I'm not really a content creator,
so this doesn't apply to me. Yes, it does apply
to you, especially in the world that we're living in,
(14:55):
in these insane times that we are in, where so
much is go going on and there's so much chaos.
Storytelling does a couple of things for us. Number One,
storytelling helps us find our clarity. I will never forget
teaching these story brand workshops in Nashville, which these still happen,
by the way, So if you haven't been to a
story brand workshop and you have a brand, like let's
(15:17):
say you have your own company, or you work for
a company, and you are in any way involved in
the messaging for this company, you should come to a
story brand workshop. They still happen in Nashville. But when
I used to be involved with the company, we used
to do them once a month and we would have
a few hundred business leaders come to Nashville, Don would
stand up on the stage. And because Don understands storytelling
(15:39):
so well, and also he's charismatic, but because he understands
how stories work, he can stand on the stage for
two hours and grip everyone's attention. So he would just
be having everyone in the audience eating out of the
palm of his hand, and then he would explain to
them why and how. One of the things that he
would often share during that opening lecture to help make
his point was the annual revenue of the movie industry.
(16:02):
And I can't remember the number off the top of
my head, but it's billions of dollars billions with a B.
And he would say to people in the audience, what
do you think it is that people are buying? You know,
they go see these blockbuster movies, They come out in droves,
they sit in theaters, they you know, come see the
same movie over and over again, essentially, you know, like
whatever it is like Bourne Identity one, Borne Identity two,
(16:23):
Born Identity three. So they come see these same movies
over and over again, what is it that they're buying?
And people would say entertainment, and it's like he would say, yes,
sort of entertainment, and people would say, you know, popcorn.
It's like, yeah, yes, the movie theater popcorn is the
best popcorn on the face of the planet. But no,
But what people are purchasing, he would say, is clarity.
(16:46):
What people are buying is clarity because life is chaos
and movies are clarity. Storytelling, when done very well, brings
an insane amount of clarity to your life. Think about
the last show you got addicted to, the last movie
that you watched start to finish. Think about how gripped
you were because you knew exactly who the main character
(17:07):
of this story was. You knew exactly what they were
trying to achieve. You knew exactly what they needed to
do in order to achieve that thing. You knew exactly
who the villain was, exactly what the obstacles were. And
it's satisfying, isn't it to think about life that way?
What if your life were that clear? What if you
knew exactly what you were trying to achieve? What if
you knew exactly what your obstacles were. What if you
(17:29):
knew exactly what you needed to do in order to
achieve that thing? What if you knew exactly who the villain,
and the story was This kind of clarity eliminates all confusion.
It makes the path so clear. It is so extremely
helpful to the human brain. And this is why we
crave stories. We crave stories because they bring clarity into
(17:50):
our life. And so when I put my kids to
bed at night, I am thinking about that. I'm thinking
about how if I'm trying to tell my kids to,
you know, get their shoes on before we get out
the door, or if I'm trying to motivate them to
brush their teeth, or if I'm trying to get them
to do anything. I mean, you get this if you're
a parent, sometimes it can be extremely frustrating the number
(18:10):
of times you have to say a thing before your
kid actually chooses to do it, especially shoes. I don't
know why shoes are the thing, but it's like, let's
get our shoes on. We're headed out the door. Okay,
we talked about getting our shoes on. It's been three minutes.
Let's try to get our shoes on. I mean, if
I don't know, I'd have to count the number of
times that I say shoes when we're trying to leave
the house. But it's many it's many, and I'm sure
(18:33):
you parenting experts out there have advice for me. But
when you're trying to get someone's attention and you're trying
to motivate them to take action, if you're barking orders
at them or telling them like the reason we have
to have shoes on when we leave the house is
because of X, Y and Z. Those ways of communicating
are not effective to the human brain. It's just information
(18:54):
that just doesn't go in and just kind of hits
the forehead and comes right out, or goes in one
ear and comes out the other. And yet when my
kids sit down in bed at night, when I start
telling a story Once upon a Time, the minute that
they hear Once upon a Time, they are settled, they're
zoned in. They can't wait to hear what I'm about
to say next. And think about how true this is
for you too. Imagine if someone was just giving you
(19:15):
a list of tasks to do, or barking orders at you,
or telling you advice about how to live your life,
you are just simply not going to pay attention. Your
brain is not wired to open to that information. Your
brain is wired to open to stories. When your friend
goes You're never going to believe what happened to me
last week, Or when they send you a text and
(19:36):
say I've got something I've got to tell you, it
opens a story loop in your brain and you can't
wait to hear what's going to come out of their
mouth next. And it's almost like the entire world clears
away from what's about to happen and you zone in
only on what they're about to tell you. Storytelling is
just that powerful. I have been downloading books on Audible
(19:58):
and listening to I've been doing this for a long time,
on and off. But what happened is I sort of
fell out of the routine of listening to books on Audible,
and when I came back to my Audible account, I
had several credits that were left, so I just downloaded
a bunch of books at once. I downloaded The Anxious
Generation by Jonathan Height, which by the way, is an
amazing book and a great read. Despite this example that
(20:18):
I'm about to share, The Anxious Generation is an absolutely
this is such a perfect example of what I'm about
to talk about because it's an absolutely vital and important read.
And yet, listen to what I'm about to say, so
anxious generation, I downloaded. I downloaded a book called The Tell.
(20:42):
I downloaded a book called The Tell by Amy. I'm
forgetting her last name right now, but I'll put a
link in the show notes. And then I downloaded a
book called The Secret Lives of Secret Lives of Mama Love. Yeah,
Secret Lives of Mama Love. It was an Oprah Book
Club pick. And again, I can't remember the author's name
right now, but I'll put a link in the show notes.
Even just as I'm saying these words, this is an
amazing example of what I'm talking about, which is I
(21:04):
can't remember the last name of Amy's last name who
wrote The Tell, And I can't remember the author's name
of The Secret Lives of Mama Love. But these two
books I flew through faster than I have read any
book in the last five years of my life, since
before my daughter was born, I have not read a
book so fast. I listened to these books in every
single margin of my day. They're both memoirs, they're both
(21:28):
women telling stories, they're both first person narrative. They're both
incredible writers, incredible storytellers. And I was absolutely gripped from
start to finish. You could not get me to put
the phone down. I was cooking dinner, I was listening
to the story. I was in the shower, I was
listening to the story. I was at the gym. I'm
listening to the story. I'm on a walk, I'm listening
(21:50):
to the story. I'm picking up my kids. I'm waiting
till the very last second. I'm still in the car
listening to the you know, the chapter, waiting till the
very last second that I have to walk in for
pickup to hear what's going to happen. This is the
power of storytelling. The Anxious Generation, which is a book
I've been wanting to read for a very very long time.
It's an extremely important book and I highly recommend reading it,
(22:11):
But because it wasn't in the format of a story,
it didn't have that same effect on me. It was
information I wanted that I needed that was applicable to me.
I'm the perfect person to read this book. My kids
are the perfect age to read and understand this material.
I need Jonathan Height's material. All of us do. And
he is also a gifted storyteller. And the book is
(22:32):
written very well, But so much of the book is
data and backing up the points that he's making that
listening to it on audible did not have the same
effect as the other two books. So I'll put links
to all three of the books in the show notes.
They're all wonderful for their own reasons. But I thought
(22:52):
it illustrated this point really well that when I'm listening
to a book that the two storytelling books the two
memoirs had a way of gripping me to the point
where I just literally couldn't stop listening. I couldn't put
down the book. What does this mean for you, Well,
a couple things. Number One, if you're a writer and
you're trying to decide which type of book to write,
(23:14):
if you want to write a content driven book or
a memoir, I want to make a case for writing
a story driven book. So the two categories that I
give when I'm teaching people to write books is story
driven book or content driven book. And a content driven
book is like a self help book or a business
book or a leadership book. And a story driven book
is a memoir. And there are a lot of really
(23:35):
great reasons to write a content driven book. I'm not
saying don't write a content driven book. If you do
write a content driven book, write a book that has
lots of stories, that uses stories as examples so that
you grab the reader's attention, you pull it in, you
hold their attention for long enough to get your point across,
and you take your moment to give your advice or
(23:56):
whatever at the end of the chapter. Whenever I'm teaching
a group of authors to write books, I offer two
different categories. So your book is either a content driven
book or it's a story driven book. And a content
driven book is a self help book, a leadership book,
a business book, a how to book, a cookbook, any
kind of book where you're teaching someone to do something
(24:17):
or teaching someone about something. And then a story driven
book is like a memoir or maybe fiction or a
book that is driven by the story, so the reader
is pulled in by the story. They want to know
what happens in the story. They're following the main character
of the story, and so usually a memoir or a
fiction novel. There are many, many good reasons to write
(24:40):
a content driven book. Jonathan Heyde's book The Anxious Generation
is a content driven book. There are so many content
driven books that have meant a lot to me over
the years that I've learned so much from. We need
content driven books. I'm not saying don't write a content
driven book. If you do write a content driven book,
please include stories. Please use stories to grip the reader,
to pull the reader's attention, and to hold their attention
(25:01):
for long enough to make your point. Stories are the
most powerful way to shape human attention, to shape human ideology,
to shape human worldview. So please don't forget to use
stories if you're writing a content driven book. But I
just want to make a pitch to you to write
a memoir. If you're waffling between the two, if you
cannot decide, or maybe let's say you really want to
(25:24):
write a memoir, but you're talking yourself out of it
because you're thinking content driven books do better in the marketplace.
They do. They do do better in the marketplace, by
the way, So there's a good pitch to write a
content driven book. If that's what you're after, is to
sell a bunch of books, then content driven books do
do better in the marketplace. But I would like to
make a pitch, just for my own self, for more
(25:47):
story driven books, more memoirs, more novels, more fiction, more stories,
because I think we're starved in our culture for stories,
and storytelling is a basic human needs. Story. Please give
us a sense of clarity. Like I talked about, stories
also give us a sense of meaning. Stories give us
connection to other people. There's so much that you can
(26:10):
get from a story that you can't just get from information.
And we've moved into this information age where we trade
information like currency, and information can be also extremely powerful.
Education is super important, and the more information that you have,
the more equipped that you can be to move through
the world with wisdom and with grace and all of that.
(26:31):
And I believe all of that. And yet at the
same time, do we reach a point where we're so
inundated with information that we just simply can't take in anymore.
Do you reach a point where having more information actually
doesn't work in your favor, it actually works to your detriment.
Do we reach a point where what we really need,
what we really crave, what we really desire, is to
(26:52):
connect with another human being through the form of storytelling.
So this is my pitch for you. If you've been
on the fence about maybe writing a memoir, maybe writing
a fiction book, maybe writing a story driven book, but
you're worried that it's not going to sell well. You're
worried it's not going to do well in the marketplace.
You've been told all these things about memoirs. I just
want to affirm that your intuition is right on that
(27:16):
not only will telling your story give you clarity about you,
but it also creates clarity between you and your reader.
It also creates connection between you and your reader. It
connects you to you, and it connects you to them.
Storytelling is clarity. Storytelling is connection. Storytelling is making meaning
out of the absolute chaos. I know that many generations
(27:38):
must have felt like this, but it sure lives like
we're living in absolute chaos in the world right now,
and I can't think of something that we need more
than really good storytelling. In fact, I remember in twenty
twenty watching ted Lasso, and at the time the world
was so crazy, and I was like five or six
months pregnant with Nella or I think maybe ted Lasso
(27:59):
might have come out right after she was born, but
either way, I just remember being pregnant during the height
of the pandemic, living in LA and just deciding, like
I can't watch TV anymore. Like I can watch like
Gilmore Girls, I can watch Friends, I can watch shows
over again, like I'll watch Seinfeld whatever. But I'm not
(28:19):
watching new TV because my body is already so maxed
out on processing the trauma that I'm living in real
life that I just don't have the capacity to take in,
you know, like some dark TV show. Well then ted
Lasso came out and I remember Matt being like, there's
this new show. It's called and I was just like
already like, oh no, I don't think I can do it.
(28:40):
But Matt was like, no, I think you're really gonna
like it. And we started watching ted Lasso, and I
was like, this is what the world needs right now.
We need like uplifting content. We need this hero of
a character who just has the ability to be inside
of mass chaos, to be you know, criticized, to be failing,
(29:00):
and to be doing it with a smile on his
face was just it just fit for the moment, in
my opinion, And that's what good storytelling can do. Good
storytelling can actually lift you out of depression. Good storytelling
can can change your mind about something. It can change
your mind about a choice that you are going to make.
It can change the course of your life forever. It
(29:20):
can make you feel less alone in a situation where
you were feeling really on your own. It can imagine
this like you're reading a book about an author who's
been through something similar that you've been through, and you've
literally never met this person. They're a stranger. If they
saw you on the street, they would walk right past
you because they don't know your name, they've never seen
(29:40):
your face, and yet you feel connected to them. That's
the power of good storytelling. So my pitch is, don't
lose your passion for storytelling. If you want to write
a story driven book, please write a story driven book.
Please don't be convinced to write a content driven book
simp because you think it's going to do better in
(30:01):
the marketplace. If you're not a writer, If you're listening
to this and you're like, I'm not a writer, I
have no plans to write a book, what does this
message you have anything to do with me? I think
this is what it has to do with you. Just
remember that telling a story is a powerful way to
connect with someone. So if you're feeling lonely in your life,
if you're feeling disconnected, if you're feeling like you're living
(30:22):
in total chaos. Maybe your life isn't in chaos, but
the world around you is in chaos. Maybe you're feeling
a little depressed, maybe you're feeling kind of lost. Just
remember that storytelling, even to yourself, is a powerful way
to reconnect. So telling your story back to yourself will
(30:46):
give you the clarity that you're craving. Telling your story
to one trusted other will give you the connection that
you're craving. If you're in a position of leadership of
any kind, if you're running a company, if you have employees,
if you have kids, if you are a teacher, remember
that your most powerful tool from motivating people to action
(31:06):
is storytelling. It's not giving advice, it's not barking orders,
it's not giving information. We think, gosh, information is so powerful.
If they just have the information, If these teens just
know how bad alcohol is for their brain, they won't
drink it. Information is not the powerful tool. Storytelling is
the powerful tool. And in the age of information, I
(31:27):
just wanted to take a minute to remind us of
that that storytelling is extremely powerful. Your personal story is
the most powerful tool that you have at your disposal,
and don't forget that you have it. Don't forget to
tell your story. Don't forget to write your story to
gain clarity for yourself. Don't forget to write your story
to connect with others. Don't forget to tell your story
(31:50):
as a way to not just connect, but also to
motivate and to heal and to share this human experience together.
Whoever you are, a writer or not a writer, parent
or not a parent, teacher or not a teacher. I
hope you find this message helpful. I hope you find
a way to reconnect with your own personal story. I
hope you find a way to lose yourself in the
(32:11):
joy of storytelling. Whether it's through one of the books
that I list in the show notes, whether it's through
an amazing and well told story on Netflix or some
other platform, Hulu, Disney, whatever, Find a great story, lose
yourself in the story, tell stories to each other, stay
connected through storytelling, and until next time, I'll see you
(32:32):
next week on the Write Your Story Podcast.
Pick up the pieces of your life, put them back
together with the words you write, all the beauty and
peace and the magic that you'll start too fun. When
you write your story, you get the words and said,
don't you think it's down to let them out and
write them down and colored it's all about and write
(00:24):
your story. Write, write your story.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Hi there, welcome back to the Write Your Story Podcast.
I'm Ali Fallon, I'm your host, and on today's episode,
I want to talk about something that is relevant to you.
If you are a writer, it's relevant to you. If
you're not a writer, it's relevant to you. If you
are a content creator, if you are trying to sell something,
if you're trying to build a business, it's relevant to you.
If none of that stuff is true, and you're just
(00:51):
a human being who is interested in influencing the ideas
and mindsets and worldview of those around you. Maybe you
have little kids who you want to help shape the
way that they see the world, or maybe you have
people around you in your community who you think, like, gosh,
if they could see the world through another lens, it
(01:12):
would widen their perspective and they would have so much
more to see and so much more to share. Maybe
you have parents who have a narrow worldview and you'd
like to help them widen their worldview. Whoever you are,
wherever you're coming from, however you're listening to this, this
is a topic today that is extremely relevant to you
and will be very, very helpful to you as you
(01:33):
navigate your way through this complicated world. I got started
thinking about this a couple of weeks ago when I
was doing bedtime with my kids, who are three and four.
We do the same routine every single night. We do
a story, so either a book that we read or
a story that we make up my husband and I.
We do a couple of songs, so like three to
four songs. They always have their favorites that they like
(01:54):
to choose from, and then we do kisses and hugs,
and that's pretty much the bedtime routine well every night.
No matter how much my kids know and understand the
bedtime routine, I've noticed that they're always, always, always begging
for more stories. Doesn't matter how long of a story
we tell, how great of a story we tell, how
gripping it is. In fact, the more gripping the story is,
(02:14):
the more likely they are to ask for more stories.
They love stories. They are so hungry for stories. And honestly,
the stories that we tell sometimes are really silly. My
husband and I both and he's actually better at making
up the silly stories than I am. But the kids
love when the stories are completely ridiculous. My daughter's latest
request is to ask for a story that starts out
(02:35):
scary and then ends up being silly. And so it'll
be a story about some animated animal or creature of
some kind, like a talking shark or a talking platypus
or something like that, who does something really scary, and
then all of a sudden, the story turns from being
scary into being silly. You realize this character was just Oh,
(02:55):
I didn't mean to scare you. I was just playing
hide and seek, and I have and to jump out
right in front of you. I'm actually a nice platypus.
So you can see. The stories that we tell are
completely ridiculous, and yet the kids eat them up. They
love them so much they beg for more. It is
an innate human need, almost like eating food and drinking water,
(03:17):
to hear and share stories. And that's what I want
to talk about today. This is the topic of today's
episode that the sharing and hearing of stories is an
innate human need. My kids are three and four. Nobody's
told them, you know, it's good for you to read stories.
You should be reading stories. That's really good for your brain.
Or they're not logging their way through this at all.
(03:40):
They just have an innate, built in human craving to
hear stories. It meets an absolute need for them. And
this just got me thinking because the other thing that
was happening simultaneously is I was doing I have been
doing for the last couple of weeks, quite a bit
of scrolling on Instagram. I move in and out of this.
(04:03):
Instagram is such an addictive substance, and I was talking
to a friend about this the other day. I have
to give myself grace because I do go through long
periods where I'll take Instagram off my phone, or i
will avoid Instagram altogether. I'll take long, long breaks from Instagram,
and then oftentimes how it happens is I'll come back
kind of slowly, but then slowly turns to not so slowly,
(04:25):
very quickly, and then I find myself, you know, for
an hour a day, just kind of scrolling, scrolling, scrolling
on Instagram, and usually I'm looking for a couple of things.
When I'm scrolling on Instagram, I'm looking for entertainment, So
I'll take little breaks, you know, from parenting or from
working during the day, and just kind of want to
check out. Most of what I'm looking for on Instagram
when I catch myself scrolling, is just entertainment. So I'm
(04:49):
looking for a break from my stressful day. I'm looking
for someone to make me laugh, something to make me smile.
I'm looking for something that's distracting. And I'm usually scre
rolling off my feed like I'll find a real that's
interesting to me, and then I'll just scroll down from
that reel and it'll take ten minutes or sometimes thirty minutes,
(05:09):
or on a really bad day, you know, forty five
minutes or an hour something like that. That's usually like
after bedtime at the end of the day, when I'm
so exhausted that i can't stop myself. So hopefully that's
relatable anyway. So I'm scrolling on Instagram, scrolling on Instagram,
paying attention to what works. This is the other angle
that I always think about this from because I'm a
(05:30):
content creator and because i have my own platform. On Instagram,
I'm always kind of thinking, Okay, what works here, How
are other people showing up on the platform, what kind
of things are they doing? So I'm sort of idea
gathering and that's important to understand just as context for
how I have this realization both, you know, from the
experience with my kids, realizing like, gosh, they crave stories,
(05:53):
they are begging me to tell them stories. Then I'm
on Instagram losing myself for you know, ten twenty thirty
minutes in Instagram, realizing that the content that pulls me
into Instagram. There's a lot of stuff out there on Instagram.
Some of it is educational, and that can be helpful,
but the educational content is not what pulls me in
(06:14):
when I'm looking for a distraction. The content that pulls
me in when I'm looking for a distraction is storytelling.
And notice this as you move through the world, Notice
the content either on Instagram or notice what pulls you in,
even just in your irregular, everyday life. As you're kind
of moving about in the world, Notice what grabs your attention,
(06:35):
Notice what pulls you in. Notice when you get on Netflix,
what is it that pulls you in? Or another streaming platform.
Think about the latest TV show that you've been interested in.
My guess is the latest TV show that you've been
interested in isn't the news. I don't know many people
anymore who are religiously watching the news, although even the
(06:59):
news when it's done and write. What the news anchors
are doing is telling us stories. They're meeting that primal
human need that we have to hear and share stories.
But the TV show that has you pulled in is
a story, and the writers of that show are using
the story to draw you in and to grip your
attention and to motivate you to pay attention for long,
(07:23):
long periods of time. I mean, think about like an
epics series that you've watched, maybe that you've binged over
the course of a weekend. That series has kept your
attention for days on end. Has this happened to you
recently where you have fallen in love with a TV
show and you can't stop watching, can't stop watching, can't
stop watching, so you, you know, maybe watch four episodes
(07:44):
at night or something like that, and then when you
wake up the next morning, you're kind of still thinking
about it a little bit, like you go to sleep
thinking about it, you wake up thinking about it, you
can't wait till you get off of work so you
can come finish your binge. Or maybe if you don't
have kids, maybe you even have done what I used
to do before I had kids, which is you wake
up the next morning and you actually watch a couple
(08:05):
more episodes. So think about how compelling a story can
be to you, and then think about someone giving you advice.
And the reason that I'm bringing up this distinction is
I just started to notice, especially with the scrolling on Instagram,
but not just Instagram, just as I move through the world,
but especially on Instagram, notice if you're on TikTok, or
(08:27):
if you're on Instagram, or if you're on substack or
any other platform like that, notice the content that pulls
you in, the content that pulls you in, the content
that grabs your attention, the content that means anything to
you is going to be telling you a story. It's
not that there's not a place for advice. There absolutely
is a place for advice. But I've just noticed that
(08:50):
I've gotten to the place on Instagram where when I
see someone telling me what to do or giving me advice,
or you know, anything along those lines. I'm just like, well,
scroll right past, wah wah, scroll right past. The place
(09:14):
for advice is really this When you are facing a
problem in your life that you do not know how
to overcome, and someone comes in giving you advice about
that specific problem and they tell you I have a
solution for the problem. That content can also be quite gripping.
And I'm saying content here, but here's what I really mean.
(09:35):
The words that are coming out of your mouth do
they engage someone or do they bore them? And this
is the power of storytelling. I worked for a long
time for Donald Miller, who's a good friend of mine.
His company called story Brand. I consulted with them for many,
many years. I was actually a full time employee for
a short bit of time and then realized, oh, I
don't really want to be a full time employee of anyone.
(09:57):
I kind of like being a bit of a free agent.
So anyway, for like three months, I think I was
a full time employee for story Brand, and then we
made the decision to just take a step back and
that I would act as a consultant for the company
and I would travel and teach the workshops and travel
and do the keynotes and work with different brands who
are interested in using the story brand framework to communicate
(10:19):
their message more clearly. And this is what Storybrand did.
Story Brand helped brands that were selling something because that's
what brands do is sell something. They're selling a product,
they're selling a service, and they want to be able
to communicate about their product or service more effectively so
that people move to purchase quicker because this is how
you keep the doors of your business open. So you
have something to sell, you want to tell people about it.
(10:42):
But when you get online to tell people about it,
when you write an email, when you get on your Instagram,
when you go on your sales call and you're talking
to a room full of managers or whatever you're doing.
People would have this experience over and over again of
standing at the front of the room or getting on
Instagram and saying something and it would just fall silent.
(11:02):
There would be total crickets. I'm sure you've had this
experience before where you have something you're so excited about
and so passionate about and you want to share it
with people and you open your mouth to speak about it,
and it's like people's eyes glaze over and it can
be a really frustrating experience when you know you have
something helpful to share. Let's just imagine this, because there
were so many clients who were in this boat, who
(11:24):
have a product that they know works. They've sold it
to people, the people have used it, They've gotten testimonials.
People are saying, this product works, it has solved my problem,
it has helped me overcome this obstacle. They have data
and research to prove that this product is performing well,
that it's working, that people are having good results with it,
(11:45):
and yet when they would go out to speak about it,
they would go do a keynote, or they would go,
you know, stand on a stage somewhere, or stand in
front of a room full of managers like we talked about,
or they would get on Instagram to talk about it.
They would try to talk about their product and their
message would fall flat, and so I would show up
and help them craft a message that was going to
sell more of whatever it was that they were selling.
(12:06):
And the framework we use to teach these brands is
called the story brand framework, which is a narrative storytelling
framework that we use to teach business owners how to
talk about their products more effectively. So I would come in,
I would work with these brands. I would teach them
the story brand Framework, which is Don Miller's framework. He's
the one who created this. It's based on narrative principles.
(12:27):
It's based on a narrative arc and it teaches people
how to talk about something in a way that grips
people's attention, in a way that opens a story loop
in their brain. Because stories are extremely powerful. The human
brain is built to crave and want stories. And when
you can talk to someone in the format of a story,
(12:49):
you can grab their attention, you can hold their attention
for as long as you want, and you can motivate
someone to action. You can motivate them to see the
world in a different way. And I know one of
the rejections that I first had when I was first
learning the story brand framework is I would hear Don
talk about it that way, that this was this incredibly
powerful framework that could motivate people to action. You could
(13:10):
grip someone's attention, you could hold it for as long
as you wanted, and I remember thinking like, gosh, well
that's kind of scary because you could really use that
power for evil. And yes, the answer is yes, you
could absolutely use that power for evil, and many powerful
people in our world today are using that power for evil.
And Don's rebuttal to that which I thought was so great,
(13:32):
and I've thought about this so many times since, is
because this power could be used for good or evil,
why don't we teach it to as many people as
possible who we know are going to use it for good?
And those of us who have good intentions, why don't
we learn it and use it for good so that
we have equally as much power in this space as
(13:53):
those who would misuse it have, so that we can
meet them toe to toe, so that we can also
be people who can control a conversation, who can get
our point across, who can communicate a message effectively, who
can mobilize a group of people. And so this has
become part of just how I see the world, part
of who I am, part of how I teach what
(14:14):
I teach to writers, part of how I think about
things when I'm scrolling through Instagram. And you know, ten
years ago, if I was scrolling through Instagram, I probably
would have had the same thoughts about someone who was
spinning advice at me. I would have been like, well,
boring moving on to someone who's telling jokes. But now,
because I understand how stories work and how the human
(14:35):
brain works, I can have those experiences on Instagram and
actually understand why I feel emotionally the way I do
about one content creator versus another. So maybe you're thinking
to yourself, Okay, well, I'm not really a content creator,
so this doesn't apply to me. Yes, it does apply
to you, especially in the world that we're living in,
(14:55):
in these insane times that we are in, where so
much is go going on and there's so much chaos.
Storytelling does a couple of things for us. Number One,
storytelling helps us find our clarity. I will never forget
teaching these story brand workshops in Nashville, which these still happen,
by the way, So if you haven't been to a
story brand workshop and you have a brand, like let's
(15:17):
say you have your own company, or you work for
a company, and you are in any way involved in
the messaging for this company, you should come to a
story brand workshop. They still happen in Nashville. But when
I used to be involved with the company, we used
to do them once a month and we would have
a few hundred business leaders come to Nashville, Don would
stand up on the stage. And because Don understands storytelling
(15:39):
so well, and also he's charismatic, but because he understands
how stories work, he can stand on the stage for
two hours and grip everyone's attention. So he would just
be having everyone in the audience eating out of the
palm of his hand, and then he would explain to
them why and how. One of the things that he
would often share during that opening lecture to help make
his point was the annual revenue of the movie industry.
(16:02):
And I can't remember the number off the top of
my head, but it's billions of dollars billions with a B.
And he would say to people in the audience, what
do you think it is that people are buying? You know,
they go see these blockbuster movies, They come out in droves,
they sit in theaters, they you know, come see the
same movie over and over again, essentially, you know, like
whatever it is like Bourne Identity one, Borne Identity two,
(16:23):
Born Identity three. So they come see these same movies
over and over again, what is it that they're buying?
And people would say entertainment, and it's like he would say, yes,
sort of entertainment, and people would say, you know, popcorn.
It's like, yeah, yes, the movie theater popcorn is the
best popcorn on the face of the planet. But no,
But what people are purchasing, he would say, is clarity.
(16:46):
What people are buying is clarity because life is chaos
and movies are clarity. Storytelling, when done very well, brings
an insane amount of clarity to your life. Think about
the last show you got addicted to, the last movie
that you watched start to finish. Think about how gripped
you were because you knew exactly who the main character
(17:07):
of this story was. You knew exactly what they were
trying to achieve. You knew exactly what they needed to
do in order to achieve that thing. You knew exactly
who the villain was, exactly what the obstacles were. And
it's satisfying, isn't it to think about life that way?
What if your life were that clear? What if you
knew exactly what you were trying to achieve? What if
you knew exactly what your obstacles were. What if you
(17:29):
knew exactly what you needed to do in order to
achieve that thing? What if you knew exactly who the villain,
and the story was This kind of clarity eliminates all confusion.
It makes the path so clear. It is so extremely
helpful to the human brain. And this is why we
crave stories. We crave stories because they bring clarity into
(17:50):
our life. And so when I put my kids to
bed at night, I am thinking about that. I'm thinking
about how if I'm trying to tell my kids to,
you know, get their shoes on before we get out
the door, or if I'm trying to motivate them to
brush their teeth, or if I'm trying to get them
to do anything. I mean, you get this if you're
a parent, sometimes it can be extremely frustrating the number
(18:10):
of times you have to say a thing before your
kid actually chooses to do it, especially shoes. I don't
know why shoes are the thing, but it's like, let's
get our shoes on. We're headed out the door. Okay,
we talked about getting our shoes on. It's been three minutes.
Let's try to get our shoes on. I mean, if
I don't know, I'd have to count the number of
times that I say shoes when we're trying to leave
the house. But it's many it's many, and I'm sure
(18:33):
you parenting experts out there have advice for me. But
when you're trying to get someone's attention and you're trying
to motivate them to take action, if you're barking orders
at them or telling them like the reason we have
to have shoes on when we leave the house is
because of X, Y and Z. Those ways of communicating
are not effective to the human brain. It's just information
(18:54):
that just doesn't go in and just kind of hits
the forehead and comes right out, or goes in one
ear and comes out the other. And yet when my
kids sit down in bed at night, when I start
telling a story Once upon a Time, the minute that
they hear Once upon a Time, they are settled, they're
zoned in. They can't wait to hear what I'm about
to say next. And think about how true this is
for you too. Imagine if someone was just giving you
(19:15):
a list of tasks to do, or barking orders at you,
or telling you advice about how to live your life,
you are just simply not going to pay attention. Your
brain is not wired to open to that information. Your
brain is wired to open to stories. When your friend
goes You're never going to believe what happened to me
last week, Or when they send you a text and
(19:36):
say I've got something I've got to tell you, it
opens a story loop in your brain and you can't
wait to hear what's going to come out of their
mouth next. And it's almost like the entire world clears
away from what's about to happen and you zone in
only on what they're about to tell you. Storytelling is
just that powerful. I have been downloading books on Audible
(19:58):
and listening to I've been doing this for a long time,
on and off. But what happened is I sort of
fell out of the routine of listening to books on Audible,
and when I came back to my Audible account, I
had several credits that were left, so I just downloaded
a bunch of books at once. I downloaded The Anxious
Generation by Jonathan Height, which by the way, is an
amazing book and a great read. Despite this example that
(20:18):
I'm about to share, The Anxious Generation is an absolutely
this is such a perfect example of what I'm about
to talk about because it's an absolutely vital and important read.
And yet, listen to what I'm about to say, so
anxious generation, I downloaded. I downloaded a book called The Tell.
(20:42):
I downloaded a book called The Tell by Amy. I'm
forgetting her last name right now, but I'll put a
link in the show notes. And then I downloaded a
book called The Secret Lives of Secret Lives of Mama Love. Yeah,
Secret Lives of Mama Love. It was an Oprah Book
Club pick. And again, I can't remember the author's name
right now, but I'll put a link in the show notes.
Even just as I'm saying these words, this is an
amazing example of what I'm talking about, which is I
(21:04):
can't remember the last name of Amy's last name who
wrote The Tell, And I can't remember the author's name
of The Secret Lives of Mama Love. But these two
books I flew through faster than I have read any
book in the last five years of my life, since
before my daughter was born, I have not read a
book so fast. I listened to these books in every
single margin of my day. They're both memoirs, they're both
(21:28):
women telling stories, they're both first person narrative. They're both
incredible writers, incredible storytellers. And I was absolutely gripped from
start to finish. You could not get me to put
the phone down. I was cooking dinner, I was listening
to the story. I was in the shower, I was
listening to the story. I was at the gym. I'm
listening to the story. I'm on a walk, I'm listening
(21:50):
to the story. I'm picking up my kids. I'm waiting
till the very last second. I'm still in the car
listening to the you know, the chapter, waiting till the
very last second that I have to walk in for
pickup to hear what's going to happen. This is the
power of storytelling. The Anxious Generation, which is a book
I've been wanting to read for a very very long time.
It's an extremely important book and I highly recommend reading it,
(22:11):
But because it wasn't in the format of a story,
it didn't have that same effect on me. It was
information I wanted that I needed that was applicable to me.
I'm the perfect person to read this book. My kids
are the perfect age to read and understand this material.
I need Jonathan Height's material. All of us do. And
he is also a gifted storyteller. And the book is
(22:32):
written very well, But so much of the book is
data and backing up the points that he's making that
listening to it on audible did not have the same
effect as the other two books. So I'll put links
to all three of the books in the show notes.
They're all wonderful for their own reasons. But I thought
(22:52):
it illustrated this point really well that when I'm listening
to a book that the two storytelling books the two
memoirs had a way of gripping me to the point
where I just literally couldn't stop listening. I couldn't put
down the book. What does this mean for you, Well,
a couple things. Number One, if you're a writer and
you're trying to decide which type of book to write,
(23:14):
if you want to write a content driven book or
a memoir, I want to make a case for writing
a story driven book. So the two categories that I
give when I'm teaching people to write books is story
driven book or content driven book. And a content driven
book is like a self help book or a business
book or a leadership book. And a story driven book
is a memoir. And there are a lot of really
(23:35):
great reasons to write a content driven book. I'm not
saying don't write a content driven book. If you do
write a content driven book, write a book that has
lots of stories, that uses stories as examples so that
you grab the reader's attention, you pull it in, you
hold their attention for long enough to get your point across,
and you take your moment to give your advice or
(23:56):
whatever at the end of the chapter. Whenever I'm teaching
a group of authors to write books, I offer two
different categories. So your book is either a content driven
book or it's a story driven book. And a content
driven book is a self help book, a leadership book,
a business book, a how to book, a cookbook, any
kind of book where you're teaching someone to do something
(24:17):
or teaching someone about something. And then a story driven
book is like a memoir or maybe fiction or a
book that is driven by the story, so the reader
is pulled in by the story. They want to know
what happens in the story. They're following the main character
of the story, and so usually a memoir or a
fiction novel. There are many, many good reasons to write
(24:40):
a content driven book. Jonathan Heyde's book The Anxious Generation
is a content driven book. There are so many content
driven books that have meant a lot to me over
the years that I've learned so much from. We need
content driven books. I'm not saying don't write a content
driven book. If you do write a content driven book,
please include stories. Please use stories to grip the reader,
to pull the reader's attention, and to hold their attention
(25:01):
for long enough to make your point. Stories are the
most powerful way to shape human attention, to shape human ideology,
to shape human worldview. So please don't forget to use
stories if you're writing a content driven book. But I
just want to make a pitch to you to write
a memoir. If you're waffling between the two, if you
cannot decide, or maybe let's say you really want to
(25:24):
write a memoir, but you're talking yourself out of it
because you're thinking content driven books do better in the marketplace.
They do. They do do better in the marketplace, by
the way, So there's a good pitch to write a
content driven book. If that's what you're after, is to
sell a bunch of books, then content driven books do
do better in the marketplace. But I would like to
make a pitch, just for my own self, for more
(25:47):
story driven books, more memoirs, more novels, more fiction, more stories,
because I think we're starved in our culture for stories,
and storytelling is a basic human needs. Story. Please give
us a sense of clarity. Like I talked about, stories
also give us a sense of meaning. Stories give us
connection to other people. There's so much that you can
(26:10):
get from a story that you can't just get from information.
And we've moved into this information age where we trade
information like currency, and information can be also extremely powerful.
Education is super important, and the more information that you have,
the more equipped that you can be to move through
the world with wisdom and with grace and all of that.
(26:31):
And I believe all of that. And yet at the
same time, do we reach a point where we're so
inundated with information that we just simply can't take in anymore.
Do you reach a point where having more information actually
doesn't work in your favor, it actually works to your detriment.
Do we reach a point where what we really need,
what we really crave, what we really desire, is to
(26:52):
connect with another human being through the form of storytelling.
So this is my pitch for you. If you've been
on the fence about maybe writing a memoir, maybe writing
a fiction book, maybe writing a story driven book, but
you're worried that it's not going to sell well. You're
worried it's not going to do well in the marketplace.
You've been told all these things about memoirs. I just
want to affirm that your intuition is right on that
(27:16):
not only will telling your story give you clarity about you,
but it also creates clarity between you and your reader.
It also creates connection between you and your reader. It
connects you to you, and it connects you to them.
Storytelling is clarity. Storytelling is connection. Storytelling is making meaning
out of the absolute chaos. I know that many generations
(27:38):
must have felt like this, but it sure lives like
we're living in absolute chaos in the world right now,
and I can't think of something that we need more
than really good storytelling. In fact, I remember in twenty
twenty watching ted Lasso, and at the time the world
was so crazy, and I was like five or six
months pregnant with Nella or I think maybe ted Lasso
(27:59):
might have come out right after she was born, but
either way, I just remember being pregnant during the height
of the pandemic, living in LA and just deciding, like
I can't watch TV anymore. Like I can watch like
Gilmore Girls, I can watch Friends, I can watch shows
over again, like I'll watch Seinfeld whatever. But I'm not
(28:19):
watching new TV because my body is already so maxed
out on processing the trauma that I'm living in real
life that I just don't have the capacity to take in,
you know, like some dark TV show. Well then ted
Lasso came out and I remember Matt being like, there's
this new show. It's called and I was just like
already like, oh no, I don't think I can do it.
(28:40):
But Matt was like, no, I think you're really gonna
like it. And we started watching ted Lasso, and I
was like, this is what the world needs right now.
We need like uplifting content. We need this hero of
a character who just has the ability to be inside
of mass chaos, to be you know, criticized, to be failing,
(29:00):
and to be doing it with a smile on his
face was just it just fit for the moment, in
my opinion, And that's what good storytelling can do. Good
storytelling can actually lift you out of depression. Good storytelling
can can change your mind about something. It can change
your mind about a choice that you are going to make.
It can change the course of your life forever. It
(29:20):
can make you feel less alone in a situation where
you were feeling really on your own. It can imagine
this like you're reading a book about an author who's
been through something similar that you've been through, and you've
literally never met this person. They're a stranger. If they
saw you on the street, they would walk right past
you because they don't know your name, they've never seen
(29:40):
your face, and yet you feel connected to them. That's
the power of good storytelling. So my pitch is, don't
lose your passion for storytelling. If you want to write
a story driven book, please write a story driven book.
Please don't be convinced to write a content driven book
simp because you think it's going to do better in
(30:01):
the marketplace. If you're not a writer, If you're listening
to this and you're like, I'm not a writer, I
have no plans to write a book, what does this
message you have anything to do with me? I think
this is what it has to do with you. Just
remember that telling a story is a powerful way to
connect with someone. So if you're feeling lonely in your life,
if you're feeling disconnected, if you're feeling like you're living
(30:22):
in total chaos. Maybe your life isn't in chaos, but
the world around you is in chaos. Maybe you're feeling
a little depressed, maybe you're feeling kind of lost. Just
remember that storytelling, even to yourself, is a powerful way
to reconnect. So telling your story back to yourself will
(30:46):
give you the clarity that you're craving. Telling your story
to one trusted other will give you the connection that
you're craving. If you're in a position of leadership of
any kind, if you're running a company, if you have employees,
if you have kids, if you are a teacher, remember
that your most powerful tool from motivating people to action
(31:06):
is storytelling. It's not giving advice, it's not barking orders,
it's not giving information. We think, gosh, information is so powerful.
If they just have the information, If these teens just
know how bad alcohol is for their brain, they won't
drink it. Information is not the powerful tool. Storytelling is
the powerful tool. And in the age of information, I
(31:27):
just wanted to take a minute to remind us of
that that storytelling is extremely powerful. Your personal story is
the most powerful tool that you have at your disposal,
and don't forget that you have it. Don't forget to
tell your story. Don't forget to write your story to
gain clarity for yourself. Don't forget to write your story
to connect with others. Don't forget to tell your story
(31:50):
as a way to not just connect, but also to
motivate and to heal and to share this human experience together.
Whoever you are, a writer or not a writer, parent
or not a parent, teacher or not a teacher. I
hope you find this message helpful. I hope you find
a way to reconnect with your own personal story. I
hope you find a way to lose yourself in the
(32:11):
joy of storytelling. Whether it's through one of the books
that I list in the show notes, whether it's through
an amazing and well told story on Netflix or some
other platform, Hulu, Disney, whatever, Find a great story, lose
yourself in the story, tell stories to each other, stay
connected through storytelling, and until next time, I'll see you
(32:32):
next week on the Write Your Story Podcast.
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com