Use stories to reimagine your career

It’s all about the countdown to publication date today - Work/Life Flywheel will drop through your letter box in less than one week!

I know, I know. How can you possibly concentrate on this newsletter amid such excitement? Well, do your best because I’m sharing another extract from the book today - this time focused on the importance of stories in your career.

Before that, though a few things you might want to check out:

1. I was on Alison Jones ' podcast this week talking about the book.
2. Work/Life Flywheel is LXA 's book of the month for January.
3. I interviewed New York Times bestselling author Marcus Buckingham on the FWL pod this week on which we discussed how to identify the things you love about your work, and create a plan to more of them.

How to use stories to reimagine your career

As the late, great actor, Alan Rickman – he of the baddie in Die Hard and Professor Snape fame – said beautifully:

"It's a human need to be told stories. The more we're governed by idiots and have no control over our destinies, the more we need to tell stories to each other about who we are, why we are, where we come from, and what might be possible."

You might be wondering how stories relate to decisions about changes you're making in your career?

Alan Rickman's last point is critical. Stories help explain what's possible, which matters when talking about something someone else cares about. You might be addressing a child, a partner, a client, or a colleague, but it could just as easily be yourself too.

We all have a personal narrative - a story that defines the key moments in our lives and what's next in our journey. Too often, these stories are negative and hold us back. To reimagine your career, you must first address why you want a change before crafting the story to help you achieve it.

Acknowledging the experiences and emotions that have shaped who you are is crucial if you want to understand what influences your decision-making. Start by being honest with yourself and those close to you about what's motivating you to change your work/life and what might be holding you back. Tell yourself your own story, starting with how you came to this point and what the future will look like for you. You don't need to kid yourself. You only have to be honest about your worries, hopes, and what you believe in.

Next, consider your work story.

What's held you back in your career so far, and how are you overcoming these obstacles? As you reimagine your career, what does the next phase look like? How will you prioritise your time, and how will you feel as you begin making progress towards your goals?

The starting point with any story is, to be honest, but to be truly effective, you have to be specific about the new future you're trying to create and bring it to life.

If you go back to Emily Balcetis ' work on materialising goals, you’ll remember that producing a destination in our mind's eye is the shortest route to stimulating change. Tell your story about what your future looks like, how you and other people will feel and what that feeling will empower you to do.

These storytelling principles don't end with visions of ourselves, of course.

The ability to communicate effectively helps you build credibility and inspire others. But you have to speak specifically to them and their problems. For a story to work, you must demonstrate you understand what it's like to be in the other person's shoes before showing them exactly how you'll help them create a brighter future. By mastering storytelling skills, you create powerful new possibilities in articulating your ideas and persuading others to join you on your mission.

The greatest stories in human history show moments of profound change - we start as one version of ourselves and end as something new. Redesigning your work/life is your opportunity to transform.

How to tell your story

The Moth is a New York-based non-profit dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling.

Some legendary storytellers have stood on the stage at The Moth's events and shared incredible tales with millions of people watching and listening to their content. Possibly the best know of them all is Matthew Dicks . He's a Moth legend, having won their Grand Slam event five times. As he says in his book, Storyworthy:

"True stories are told by the people who live them."

I'm going to guess what you're thinking now. You're probably wondering why anyone would want to hear your story. You might be wracking your brain for something interesting that you could share with people but are coming up short. Honestly, this is the most normal reaction in the world. Very few of us instinctively believe we've lived a life that people would be fascinated to hear about. Aside from narcissists, but then it's unlikely they bought this book.

In reality, though, people are interested in stories they can relate to, which means they will be interested in yours.

So, if our stories are so important, how do we capture them? How can we craft a story whenever we need it, to help motivate ourselves and others? Well, it just takes work – a consistent, structured approach to collecting stories.

Aside from the fact that Matthew Dicks can tell a good yarn, his book resonated with me because it articulated the value of a habit I’d developed far better than I ever could have done. Feeling increasingly like the days merged into one, in 2021, I added something to my daily journaling practice. As well as making a short note of daily highlights before bed each night, I began recording one or two 'notable' stories or events that happened during the day. I'd occasionally return to this list and experience a magical feeling of being transported back in time to that moment. For years, I'd felt like I couldn't remember big chunks of my kids' childhood and here was a way to capture it. I found it improved my memory - amazing!

Matthew Dicks employs a similar approach but with a snappy name – ‘Homework For Life’.  

'Homework for Life' involves capturing what he calls 'story-worthy' moments and logging them digitally – in a spreadsheet or note-taking app. The practice allows you to start spotting reoccurring themes, which can trigger new ideas or, on the contrary, stop you from repeatedly making the same mistakes. Creating an external memory bank for significant moments in your life, can also be the source of inspiration for stories, whenever you need it.

However, there's one standout benefit of employing this approach, whether it's Dicks’ digitised version or writing it down in a journal, and here’s what I couldn’t previously articulate: my sense of time has changed. Whereas life has increasingly felt like it's flashing by before my eyes, documenting significant and memorable events has created a feeling that time's slowing down.

I can remember every day in my life.

It's a revelation!