In this 30‑day milestone session of the Story Spark series, facilitator Haritosh Srivastav leads participants Venkat and Dr. Alka through a "reverse 5C" storytelling exercise. Unlike the standard 5C framework (Context → Conflict → Cure → Change → Carryout), the group builds stories starting with the Carryout message and works backward through Change, Cure, Conflict, and Context. The facilitator prompts participants to improvise each element, encouraging imagination, creativity, and discomfort with uncertainty. Two rounds of the exercise are run, producing fragmented narratives about personal growth, mindset shifts, cultural challenges (e.g., moving from India to Japan), and the importance of positive self‑talk. After each round, the facilitator debriefs, highlighting how beginning with the ending can simplify story construction and stretch participants out of their comfort zones. Participants share reflections: Venkat notes difficulty in expressing situational nuance; Dr. Alka praises the creative boost and the insight that a forward‑starting narrative eases storytelling. The session concludes with gratitude, a recap of the Story Spark curriculum (mindset, collection, frameworks), and announcements for upcoming weeks focusing on delivery skills—body language, vocal variation, and executive presence—aligned with the parallel Storython program.
Chapters
Awesome! So welcome everyone to the day 30. We have completed one month of the StorySpark session and I hope you have been learning something and implementing something. So today we are going to take this a notch higher, which is where we are going to do something we haven't done before, and that is we are going to do the reverse 5C framework. So yesterday we did the 5C framework in the order of the Cs. Today we are going to do reverse. It's going to be fun and let's see what comes out of it. So what we are going to do is we— somebody, I'm gonna say that first give us the carryout message, then we'll go back and then we'll have the change first, then somebody will say the cure, then actually the conflict will come and then the context. This is called reverse storytelling, and we'll see what comes out. I'm not really prepared for it, but I am open, and let's explore, because I think when we do this in the form of fun, something comes out beautifully, just like it came yesterday. All right, so everybody clear with what is it that we want to do, right? We'll do reverse, we'll start with carry out, then we go to change, then there will be cure, then there will be conflict, and then finally there will be context, and we will try to make sense of what happen. All right, so let's start with carryout message. Let me start by giving you carryout message. The carryout message is that, uh, okay, the carryout message is what goes after comes after. We learn from this story that what goes after comes after. Now let me ask Venkat, what was the cure? Uh, sorry, what was the change?
What was it?
Use your imagination, say anything. I just gave you a carryout message. We are doing reverse engineering, right? So we are doing a reverse thing. So you have no idea what happened, but you just give it a change. Like, this is what happened. Bring your own character, do crazy things. Don't worry too much, don't think too much.
Yes, uh, after closing my business, uh, it was difficult. It was pleasant. And now I feel comfortable and I'm in growth mindset, learn a lot.
So you now feel comfortable, you have a growth mindset, and you, you can do much more than what you used to. So that is the change. Okay, what was the cure, Dr. Alka?
I changed my mindset, I changed my business, I, I stopped my business. I see, I first of all, I didn't understand the message. The message is a carrier message is what goes after comes after, means what?
Means if you do good, the good will come back to you. If you do bad, bad will come back to you.
Yeah, that is correct. So the cure is that I change my mindset. I, I stop the way I speak to myself. I stop the way I speak to the world, and that will change my life. If I speak negative, negative will come back. If I speak positive, positive will come back. So the cure is changing my mindset.
So you change the mindset. Who was the guru? Be creative, think. Don't, don't, don't use too much of logic and brain, just think.
The guru is myself.
Okay, okay, typically the guru is not yourself, but it's okay, okay. Let me take the conflict now. So after struggling for months and months and not knowing what to do in my life, I, I was desperate. I didn't know what to do because I, I had seen the other side. I, I I really didn't know where my life is leading to until unless I woke up that day, looked into the mirror and realized, and then the cure happened. Okay, so Venkat, what was the circumstance?
I started business at the time I was working work from home. So apparently I, I, I did a multitask activity so that I got a lot of business and a lot of customers, a lot of profit, and a lot of headache also I got, and I couldn't manage. That is the context.
Awesome. All right, so we got somewhere. You are not 100% correct, but this is tough. Of course, I have taken it a notch higher. This is tough, but this is where the real learning happens, right? Learning doesn't happen in the comfort zone. So now I'm gonna be observing more. Both of you will be playing that, and I want Dr. Alka to give— so this is the second round. So in the first round, we just got there. It was about our journey of personal reflection, and finally, when you started working on yourself, you started seeing the result. Loosely, this can be concluded as the story. Now we'll do the second round, and we'll follow the same thing. We'll start with the carryout message, then we'll come to the change, then we'll come to the cure, then we'll come to the conflict, and then we'll come to the circumstances. So, Dr. Alka, what was the carryout message of this story? This new story.
So I'll start, I'll start.
Give any carryout message.
So every human being is crazy for connection, everybody is hardwired for connection, and everybody wants to be seen, heard, and acknowledged by the world.
Awesome. So Venkat, what was the change?
People are afraid to connect with strangers.
Now, this statement— one second— this is not carryout message. You need to have some characters do something, something in action, right? This is the story part, this is not the message part, okay? So don't elaborate on what Dr. Alka already said. You have to tell us what happened. This is the, like, the conclusion of the story, climax of the story. What was the climax of the story?
Yes, uh, when I moved from India to Japan, I, uh, I afraid Japanese friends, but after reaching here, Japanese are friendly manner than I was Indian.
Okay, you're giving circumstances, but okay, let me, let me help you with this. In this case, the change would be that I have got best buddies with 5 Japanese members. That's it. Okay, so what was the cure, Dr. Alka?
Again, it comes to mindset only. When I became fearless, when I became brave and courageous, I was able to connect with the Japanese people, and then they also were connecting with me. This is what I understand. When you became brave, you started connecting with them, right? And they also started connecting with you, and they were very friendly people. So your fear— when your fear dropped—
but how did you become— so this is where I mean, I'm not saying you are wrong. What I'm saying is it can be very specific as well. For example, I'll help you. Uh, you met a person at the station, and this is the place of gratitude. You met a person in the station and and you randomly said that I'm not able to connect with Japanese people, and that person was half Indian, half Japanese. Then he gave you a book which talked all about Japanese culture, and then you realize, okay, why they are doing what they're doing, and you started appreciating, and this happened. Okay, so we need to be creative. Like, we can't just say, okay, we had self-realization for everything. Just come up with something. This is stretching your limit. Otherwise, we'll keep on doing the similar story again and again. So, okay, Venkat, back to you. What was the conflict? And, and be creative. Don't just be mundane and don't, don't say the simple words on simple line. Think about all— go, go all out. There's no point, there's no point reduce if you do all out, right? So come up with some crazy scenario.
Yes. They always consume not fried non-veg, but I am vegetarian and there I couldn't get a situation.
Think about, right? Have you, have you think about any situation which could be conflicting with Japanese culture?
Yes, they don't eat fried food. No, they don't eat.
It could be food, it could be habits, it could be networking, anything.
You started with fried food, right? I, I thought I heard fried food.
They don't eat, but not non-veg, uh, not much.
They eat too much of non-veg.
Yes, they eat too much of Og, and that also not Friday, of Friday. And their pronunciation is different, and it was difficult to understand their English. And some— so that's the reason I, I—
so that could be the concept, right? You, you tried hard to understand what they are doing, you tried hard to reach, and then you were always late. Maybe you tried very hard, but you couldn't build a Japanese friend.
I was all the years, yeah, yes, I was all the years. And I, in the all the products also in Japanese language, I always translate from Google Lens from Japanese to English. I faced this, then I started to speak and their body language he speaks and my body language speaks that, then that was the conversation initially.
Awesome, awesome. We are getting there, we are getting there. I'm pretty sure if we continue doing, we'll get there. But this is tough one, so that's okay. Okay, what were the circumstances, Dr. Arka?
So, um, he's leaving his country and he's going to another country. Obviously there's going to be difference, so he's got fear of communication, how he's going to connect with the people. Everything is written in Japanese, so how I'm going to do? So that the fear is there, and how I'm going to do my job, how I'm going to sell my product. So those are the fears which are there in his mind. So this is the situation.
You can, you can do that. Thora, we can add little bit more masala that you got the golden opportunity. This you think was going to take your career to the next, next level, but yeah, you reached and you felt like, where have I landed? I don't understand anything. I don't— I can't read anything. I can't hear anything and understand. I'm not able to make sense of— I don't know which way to go. I don't know which train to— suddenly the floor below my feet went away and I am like gasping, what to do now? Something like that, right? So yeah, great, awesome. So I wish we had more time, but I think we are already at 6:14. So But, and today was a difficult one. I chose that because I want to always change the status quo. So let's go around the room. First of all, story power to both of you. You really tried hard, I know. So story power to both of you. Now tell me, how did it make you feel? What was the learning out of this? Let's start with Venkat.
Yes, Haritosh Srivastav. In this session, I learned that situation, uh, we need to express. You can share the carryout message, you can share the context, but situation in expression is important. That I, I found it was difficult to me. So now it is difficult.
So I already— this is one of the difficult ones where you are doing actually reverse. You don't know what happened, but you're trying to predict. And that is the reason is to stretch ourselves out of the comfort zone. I don't want to do the same challenge again and again because then you will not learn anything new. You will do the same thing, right? While repetition has its own place, but in this session I want to keep it more fresh and new things as well. Okay, Dr. Alka, what was your takeaway from today's session?
I think this exercise is very, very nice because it helps us to think of creative ideas. It helps us to— like when I am saying everything about the abstract part, I noticed that Haritosh Srivastav was taking me to the actual world. So he was telling that you met a person, a person, and you shared with that person. He was half Hindi and half Indian and half Japanese. It was easy to communicate. Then he gives you a book and then you can look at it, or he helps you how to find the words in Google for different, different words, and he makes your life easier. So that's very, very important. All the time I'm talking about I did this, I did that, I thought this, I did this. So for me it was a very good exercise. And also in the second one you said something very nice actually. So when you give the message first, when you bring the end of your story first, it becomes easy for you to make your— it's not easy easy, but it's easier than normal to make your story from the beginning. So it's a tough exercise and it makes you think a lot. Yeah, my takeaway, it's a good way to do it. We should do it more often actually.
Yep, yep, absolutely, feedback taken. And yes, this is a stretch and this is out of, you know, as they say in America, it is out of your home run, and which is completely fine. So we have completed 30 days of StorySpark session and thank you so much for being part of the journey. Both of you have been very, very consistent, which gives me a lot of energy to come back. Now next few days I am in a workshop, so I won't be available for next 3 days. So our next session will resume maybe on Sunday. Saturday we'll have the week 6 of Storython, and then we'll resume the session for the next one, which will be all about body language, how do you use your vocal variation. So till now we have covered what is storytelling, what is the mindset of storytelling, how do you collect stories. How do you use different elements? How do you use frameworks? Now next 2 weeks will be about delivery techniques, owning your voice, and then from there we'll go on into the practical application. So this is why this is all in sync with Storython going on. So thank you so much, Story Power, to both of you and to those watching. Please write in the comment, how did you find this, you know, not so easy exercise? And we'll resume on Yeah, Sunday morning. And yeah, for Confident Storytelling Club members, tonight it is at 7:30 PM, we'll have the mastermind session where we will talk about how do you build an executive presence. See you there. As I say every time, until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep going out of your comfort zone. See you.
