Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work, where location and hours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to spend
Speaker 1: a good story. People inevitably want to know why you
Speaker 1: chose your life's work or why you enjoy the things
Speaker 1: you do. If you can come up with stories from
Speaker 1: your past that illustrate a long term passion, you'll increase
Speaker 1: the chances that people remember you and want to help
Speaker 1: you take your story to the next level. Now, I
Speaker 1: should start this episode by saying that I am not
Speaker 1: actually a big fan of explanatory stories. Life is not
Speaker 1: lived in epiphanies. Almost no one has one moment that
Speaker 1: changes everything. I always struggle with the question of how
Speaker 1: did you become interested in time management. People want me
Speaker 1: to tell some story of how my life was out
Speaker 1: of control when I hit rock bottom and discovered scheduling.
Speaker 1: But my life is just not that interesting. I just
Speaker 1: keep trying to do things a little better than before.
Speaker 1: I see what works and go from there. But if
Speaker 1: life isn't lived in epiphanies, stories do involve epiphanies and
Speaker 1: people really love stories. This is how we process the world.
Speaker 1: It's a quirk of human nature that we'd prefer to
Speaker 1: read a story about a pioneering cancer researcher whose grandmother
Speaker 1: died from the particular cancer he's studying, versus a pioneering
Speaker 1: cancer researcher with no personal connection. And none of us
Speaker 1: can really change human nature, So you may as well
Speaker 1: learn to spend a good story. And fortunately, there are
Speaker 1: usually ways to tell stories authentically that make your career
Speaker 1: progression makes sense. Think about why you're doing what you're doing.
Speaker 1: Carve out an hour or two to ponder how people
Speaker 1: might perceive you. If someone were to write a profile
Speaker 1: of you for a magazine, what would you hope it
Speaker 1: would say? What would be the opening anecdote, the story
Speaker 1: that sums up your motivation. Ask your friends and family
Speaker 1: members for what they see as your story. Ask family
Speaker 1: members in particular for memories that lend credence to this platform.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm talking about. If you're a consultant,
Speaker 1: your mom might remind you that you used to check
Speaker 1: the weather forecast and put out your lemonade stand on
Speaker 1: the hottest days. You are always into optimizing revenue Now
Speaker 1: you're just doing it in a different way. If you're
Speaker 1: a litigator who prides yourself on taking on the big guys,
Speaker 1: maybe a family member will recall that you used to
Speaker 1: walk up to really big neighborhood dogs. That's a great
Speaker 1: way to start your story. And of course, once you
Speaker 1: have a story, you can do things now to enhance it.
Speaker 1: Perhaps your volunteer work or your philanthropy can highlight a
Speaker 1: particular angle to your story. Now, it's stressed that this
Speaker 1: US need to be authentic. College admissions officers often sigh
Speaker 1: about well packaged seventeen year olds who seemed to have
Speaker 1: arranged for life changing experiences in order to write about them.
Speaker 1: But just because there are two pat examples doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that stories don't matter. They do. And when you understand this,
Speaker 1: you can tell your story in a way that suggests
Speaker 1: that your next breakthrough is the logical next step. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, this is Laura, thanks for listening, and here's
Speaker 1: the succeeding in the New Corner Office. The New Corner
Speaker 1: Office is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your favorite shows.