All of us love stories, and tell stories beautifully. In moments, we take someone to a childhood moment trying to catch slippery tadpoles, we smile while describing being pursued by stray cows (!), we are transported to a hotel room where a rat is rushing off with the mangoes we had left out for breakfast, we jump at the image of a lion yards from a tent.
As speakers, we are energized. As listeners, we are engaged and eager to hear more.
The spirit of storytelling has the ability to connect you to you – and you to others.
Emotionally. Magically. Immediately. Memorably.
Yet, when it comes to public speaking or interviewing, the storyteller in you seems to disappear. You lose connection with yourself.
You lose that ease and natural inclination to share and relate to others.
It’s as if your nervous system forgets about the idea of connecting. Connecting from the inside, connecting to the outside.
What makes a story good is the same whether it’s catching tadpoles or winning a client, building a business or talking about yourself.
It starts with you – you being connected and genuinely energized and interested in what you are sharing. You – sitting in the posture of the storyteller as if you were telling a tale at the campfire.
It’s a short distance from telling your favorite stories to nailing it in an interview or a speech! Try it out following these simple steps:
CONNECT TO YOURSELF
Regardless of the situation, the foundation of communication is your ability to speak from a place of ease and genuine enthusiasm. Not arrogance, not self-centeredness, but a soft connection to yourself.
LAND
This means: land in what matters to you, and, land in your body. Consider where you land when you share a favorite story; what you care about, your interests, values, morals discoveries; qualities that excite you, challenges that intrigue you, etc.
Know inside what energizes and interests you. When you know it and feel it inside, it is much more likely to resonate outside.
Name the qualities (or values or lessons) you want to emphasize. Name them for yourself. In the Interview Club, I often ask people to identify three key personality traits or values that guide their work. This helps people connect to themselves. This helps us speak from a place of sincerity and depth. From the heart.
When it comes to landing in the body – breathe, pause, feel your feet on the ground. Stay present with yourself. Stay in touch before you reach out.
SHARE
Yes, share. Every time you speak, your goal is connection. relating. generating interest. building relationship. offering the gift of your insights or ideas. opening up a conversation. Whenever we communicate, the key is resonance, emotional connection, rapport.
We will all sit up straighter and become more attentive when it’s storytelling time.
I recently witnessed how the spirit of storytelling transformed the delivery and content of an interview story. On the first take, my client was nervous, he used vague language, and he was not particularly compelling. When I asked him to imagine he was telling me a story, he immediately sat up straight, he added drama and texture to the story, he gave life to the characters (yes, even co-workers are characters with personalities and needs) and included vivid details. I gained an appreciation for how he had truly helped someone address a challenging technical problem, and I got images and elements that made it easy to remember who, what, when and what he did was important. And I was a whole lot more interested in his story! https://lauraparadisecoaching.com/2341-2/
You may not think you’re a storyteller, but I challenge you to prove me wrong.
I bet you have at least one favorite story that you can tell with ease whether it’s from personal experience or a story you’ve read again and again simply because it speaks to you.
Connect inside to the spirit of what you love, share your favorite story, and then turn that energy on as you deliver another story for a professional audience. Connect to yourself. Land. Share. Repeat. With or without marshmallows and a campfire.