Hungry for some personal development this week? I know I am. Because it’s Sunday and that means it’s time for a new weekly challenge! And this week we’ll continue in the path of developing our social skills, in fact, we’ll practice our story telling abilities. So, in my video I’ll share the most straight to the point expert’s tips I’ve found on how to become a better story teller. I then outline a simple challenge for us to execute on this week, Monday through Friday. Hurray!

First off, why do we need to be good at telling stories? Well, we don’t need to, but if you want to be a likeable and charismatic person – then it’s a safe bet! I think we all know how spellbinding it can be to listen to captivating story teller.  But more to it, we are human beings that constantly interact and connect with each other – at least we used to – and mastering storytelling is one of the fundamentals to do that. Not only does a good social life make us happier and live longer (research – how’s that for a reference! Seriously, check out Susan Pinker or Brené Brown), but it’s also shortcut to getting what we want. Getting new friends, keeping old friends, finding the love of your life, getting a job – they won’t happen unless you can carry yourself socially! Unless you’re a fortunate, rich, handsome son of a..  – good for you!

But telling stories doesn’t only mean epic Thailand adventure, being offered cocaine from a Thailander’s long dirty fingernail in the middle of the night in some remote fishy place (not saying that happened) – no, it can be way less! There are so many potentially good mini-stories that happens in your life. In the right context, and with some thought through storytelling techniques & structure, it can elevate you to a storytelling guru.

“Oh you should have seen the girl I talked to this morning on the train. She was absolutely stunning with golden hair and a voice like your mother! How’s your mother doing by the way? Anyways, you’ll never believe what happened when I sat down next to her and told her that…”.

Now, I’m no expert. But I listen to experts, and I’ve been putting quite some hours into studying the theory of storytelling. So, here’s a video that I’ve found that delivers an easily understood approach on how to improve your storytelling skills. I recommend you check out the full video, where you’ll be guided through some examples were the theory is applied. This makes it much more digestible. In my video I cut that out due to keeping it shorter (I know you have an attention span as bad as.. as mine), but also so that you’d go watch his video.

Without further ado, here’s Improvement pills take on Storytelling – “Become An AMAZING Storyteller!!!”

But so, how will we structure this week’s challenge? It’s simple we pick at least one story from our lives, we then sit down and write it down while applying what we’ve just learnt. My recommendation – chose a short one, that will increase the likelihood of you actually doing this. My experience is telling me. I’m going to aim for around 1-3 minutes. Being able to shorten and prolong a story is another skill in itself, but we can talk more about that another time.

I know many of you won’t write it out, then fine – don’t. Keep it in your head. But for maximum development – I say do! We’ll then try to tell this story as many times as possible throughout the week. Remember not to forcefully squeeze in your story in all situations, the context for telling one is just as important. Hence, you’d perhaps pick something that could have a broader applicability. Like a funny thing that happened – that always work.

 “You won’t believe what happened to me the other day..”

The Objectives:

• Choose at least one story from your life write it out using the 3-act story structure presented in the video. Pick a short one.
• Practice telling the stories to different persons at least one time a day, Monday through Friday.

Level 2 bonus Challenge:

• Approach a random person, start a conversation and find an opening to tell your story.

This challenge may feel weird, but it gives us the clarity and specificity of improving on a skill. Learning from last week’s challenge when I aimed to broad and just got overwhelmed – tried to improve 3 charismatic traits all at the same time. It’s a win-fail if you apply your learnings!

Now I’m going to Italy this week, and my plan is (if there’s time, and if I actually get my own room) to do a live stream and tell you a story from my life. If you have any suggestions on what you want to hear, let me know in the comments. Also, if you’re doing this challenge – let me know that as well! Social commitment is POWERFUL.

See you in the week guys, and good luck.

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/Alexander

Hungry for more on storytelling, here’s a playlist from Charisma On Command on storytelling: