How To Move People With Your Story | Lisa Nichols

Every single thing you touch is impacted by your story. As an attorney, as a teacher, as an architect, there's not one line of business that you can be in that a story and a great story won't elevate your outcome. Every single line of business, every single line of service that you're connected to will be impacted and ideally elevated by the level in which you're willing to tell and share your story. So let me give you some guidelines, some parameters. What I like to call the bumper rails as if you were going bowling. You know, when I go bowl and I ask them to put the little bumper rails down so I can step, my ball can get down the lane. So let me set up some bumper rails for you so that you understand what makes a great story. So one is the willingness to take risk. Most people vishen when they're telling a story, they don't want to take a risk. So the story has, it has its limits on how high it'll go or how deep it'll go. And when you have that, then you're really not at that part that's going to touch my soul. So being willing to take a risk, being clear and concise with your stories, a great story is a show me story, not a tell me story. Now this is the distinction that's the game changer for most, most people are telling a story. They say, so let me just share with you a little bit of my story and I'll tell you and then I'll show you. So as I was building my life, there was a time in my life that was very difficult. It was very challenging. True story. Very difficult, Very challenging, very uncomfortable. I didn't have a lot of money. I didn't have a lot of hope. And things looked dismal. At some point I had to turn my life around. At some point I made the decision that life had to get better. I'm telling you that it's decent. You learn about me then. If I were to show you that story, I would say six days a week I had to eat beanies and weenies. I had to find money in the crevices in the corners of my couch so that I can get my sun milk. There were times when my heart would beat fast just at what am I going to have tomorrow? At some point I got sick and tired of my own story. Is this going to be my future? No, I can't handle it. Notice the difference in that second story. I completely see that. I just painted a picture, same story. Now the second one, when you Show a story, it's going to require more of you. It's going to require you to find the colors. What were you thinking? What were you experiencing? What was going on in your head? Instead of telling me, you look for money to turn and point. Now, this is anywhere. This is anywhere you are doing anything. I promise you, you become a great storyteller, and you will captivate your audience no matter what you're doing. I've captivated investors, I've captivated students, I've captivated educators because I was willing to show the story. I call it unpacking the story vision. Being willing to tell me, what were you thinking? What were you feeling? What were you seeing? Think about a story as an oral movie. And so in an oral movie, think. When you look in a movie, the first thing they do is they identify what state of time it is. Is it futuristic? Is it in the now? Was it back in the day? You notice that based on what people are wearing, how they're talking. So paint that picture for me. Take me to that environment. Set the backdrop up for me. Show me what you're going through. Instead of saying, I was angry, you can tell me you're angry, but when you say the hair on the back of my neck was standing up, I felt the fumes exiting my nose. I thought that my chest was going to pop and I was going to say something that I'd regret forever. Ooh, you just showed me you were angry. Take that extra time to unpack it. Why will most people not do that? Because it requires a level of vulnerability that we're not willing to share.