7 Reasons I Love Personal Stories
Let’s jump right in, shall we?
1. Free-Range, Organic Noise Repellant 🎧
When you focus on fixing all the noise in your life, you find more noise to fix. Focus on what you want to notice more of, and the noise tends to take care of itself.
Your tiny stories are the heart of what you MISS when you’re glued to the noise.
2. Make meaningful *FUTURE* Stories 💫
Your stories aren’t just memories to look back, enjoy and reminisce on. No, they’re a bridge to future, highly meaningful moments that are otherwise left to chance.
For example, I looked at an old story of how I surprised my Auntie Deb & Uncle Gary by showing up on their doorstep on Christmas Eve 3 different times in my life. No call, no text, no warning, just, “Hello! Merry Christmas!” I used THAT story to spark a *new* story with my kids. That story sparked the desire to surprise someone… to show my kids the THRILL of surprising someone… and to feel that thrill myself. So, in 2019, we drove 12 hours north to surprise my parents on a random Wednesday. “Surprise!”
Old stories spark future stories when used wisely.
3. Voted BEST Gift Giver year after year 🎁
Whether you’ve been paying attention to it or not, you have a Story Well within you. You hold details about your loved ones from experiences you’ve shared together, the stories that make your relationship unique, and the tiny stories that make them uniquely who they are.
Your Story Well is a source of meaningful gift giving… when you draw from it, you’ll never be stuck on what to give again.
4. A true source of measurement 📊
I see you scrolling Insta… getting sucked into OTHER people’s stories and feeling the envy, self-doubt and lack of enough-ness.
We’re all aware of this epidemic, yet we still engage. We’re also aware that the only person we should compare ourselves to is ourselves. But how?
When you build out a Tiny Story List for yourself, you actually have something to tangibly look at and hold in your hands. The stories on this list are a lot more fun to look at than the stories on someone else’s IG.
5. The insights! 🔍
Speaking of measurement, when we investigate our own stories further, we make better decisions. We see what makes us exceptional and can confidently lean in. We also see what’s holding us back, and we can heal… or get resourceful to move forward rather than carry the baggage with us.
You won’t catch the insights when you ignore your stories.
6. You carry the FULL marble jar for your VIP’s 💎
We’re human. We want to feel seen by our loved ones. In turn, we want our VIP’s to feel fully seen as well. This is easier said than done when our lives are busy and full of noise. It’s harder to remember the tiny details of our own stories, much less other people’s stories. Still, it’s important we try.
Brené Brown shares a story about trust in her books Daring Greatly & Dare to Lead. In the story, she tells her daughter, “We look for people who, over time, put marbles in, and in, and in, until you look up one day and they’re holding a full jar.” To paraphrase the rest, those full jar people are the people we can trust.
When someone supports and honors you, you put marbles in the jar. When they hurt you, marbles come out.
Brené asked her daughter, Ellen, if she had any full marble jar friends. Ellen said yes and explained why her friend, Hanna, has a full marble jar: “Well, I was at the soccer game last weekend, and Hanna looked up and told me that she saw Oma and Opa.” Point being: Hanna remembered a tiny detail about Ellen.
From that, Brené further writes, “Trust is in fact earned in the smallest of moments. It is earned not through heroic deeds, or even highly visible actions, but through paying attention, listening, and gestures of genuine care and connection.”
Stories are the thing we’re paying attention, listening to and using as a jumping off point to spark genuine care and connection.
7. Fulfillment 🎉
We’ve all had those days / weeks / months where we feel like total sh*t over what we DIDN’T accomplish. You and me… we’re ambitious beings. On the days I feel this way, rather than trying to change my feelings and force acceptance on where I’m at, I turn to my stories again.
More specifically, I look at my Tiny Story List. Here’s why: When you’ve built this list of stories up, you can’t NOT look at this list and feel anything less than FULFILLED.
BONUS: 8. Your Brand’s Secret Sauce 🌟
Stories forge real connection in business relationships… they make you more than just a business…. more than just a stranger with a camera. Stories signal to your dreamie that you’re who they wanna work with!
Not to mention… you’re in the business of telling other people that their stories are important enough to have professionally recorded. Your stories help you walk the walk and lead by example.
Have I tempted you into personal story management yet aka build up your Tiny Story List?! Then you’re going to want to get yourself signed up my year-long program, Tiny Story Society!
