Speaker 1: I think that we can all agree that storytelling done
Speaker 1: well is incredibly powerful. And it's easy to think that
Speaker 1: a story is a mere recap of an event, right,
Speaker 1: But according to Matthew Dix, a great story, one that
Speaker 1: moves people and ultimately changes us, is anything but a recap.
Speaker 1: Matthew Dix is a world renowned and award winning storyteller
Speaker 1: and the best selling author of story Worthy Luckily for Us.
Speaker 1: He has spent many years researching the art and science
Speaker 1: of how to tell a great story. So what is
Speaker 1: the most critical ingredient of a great story? And how
Speaker 1: do you know if a particular story is actually worth telling.
Speaker 1: My name is doctor amanthey Iver. I'm an organizational psychologist
Speaker 1: and the founder of Behavioral Science consultancy Invents. And this
Speaker 1: is how I work a show about how to help
Speaker 1: you do your best work. On today's My Favorite Tip episode,
Speaker 1: we go back to an interview from the past and
Speaker 1: I pick out my favorite tip from the interview. In
Speaker 1: today's show, I speak with Matthew Dix about how we
Speaker 1: can all get better at storytelling. When someone is sharing
Speaker 1: a story with you and you're identifying all these different
Speaker 1: opportunities for that story, what's the process that's going through
Speaker 1: your brain when you're kind of analyzing the story content
Speaker 1: and thinking about its different opportunities for being applied.
Speaker 2: I'm always asking myself what are they saying beyond the content, Like,
Speaker 2: what's the you know, what is the overarching if we
Speaker 2: remove all the content away, what were they really trying
Speaker 2: to say? You know, fundamentally, a story tends to be
Speaker 2: about change over time, So what is the change over
Speaker 2: time that they're trying to describe? You know, there's a
Speaker 2: story I tell to my kids all the time that
Speaker 2: I recently sort of explained this well, when I was
Speaker 2: in kindergarten, a boy named John Fox disappeared during indoor recess.
Speaker 2: Like the recess ended, everyone came back to their seats
Speaker 2: and John was not in his seat, and you know,
Speaker 2: the teacher was like, well, maybe he's in the other classroom,
Speaker 2: the other kindergarten classroom.
Speaker 3: So she went next door. Missus Dubac could not find John. There.
Speaker 3: She called the principal.
Speaker 2: Back then when you had to like press a button
Speaker 2: and talk on an intercom, so everyone heard the conversation. So,
Speaker 2: you know, I heard her going, mister Hartnett, we can't
Speaker 2: see him. To find John Fox, maybe you could make
Speaker 2: an announcement. They made an announcement in a school. I
Speaker 2: could see the level of stress rising as they couldn't
Speaker 2: find this boy. I saw the custodian outside sort of
Speaker 2: wandering around the playground looking for him. And then we
Speaker 2: heard a scream, and it was a girl named Kim
Speaker 2: who had opened the bathroom door to the girl's bathroom
Speaker 2: and found John Fox in the girl's bathroom. What he
Speaker 2: had done is he had gone into the girl's bathroom
Speaker 2: by accident, realized he was in the girl's bathroom and
Speaker 2: could not get himself out because he felt foolish and
Speaker 2: he was afraid he was gonna get in trouble. So
Speaker 2: even though he could hear himself being called on the intercom,
Speaker 2: he couldn't get out of the bathroom. So I tell
Speaker 2: that story to a bunch of teachers recently, and then
Speaker 2: I say to them, when children and especially boys get
Speaker 2: angry and they shouted us, or they slam something, or
Speaker 2: they put their head down or they charge out of
Speaker 2: a room, what they've really done is put themselves in
Speaker 2: the bathroom. They've put themselves in the bathroom, and they
Speaker 2: trapped themselves there because to get out of it. They
Speaker 2: can't walk back in and say sorry, because that's a
Speaker 2: threat to their ego and they're just not old enough
Speaker 2: to deal with that.
Speaker 3: And we can't win a power struggle with him.
Speaker 2: We can't say, like, pick your head up, you're gonna
Speaker 2: pick your head up, and you're gonna listen to me
Speaker 2: right now.
Speaker 3: You're never gonna win.
Speaker 2: So as teachers, we have to find ways to get
Speaker 2: kids out of the bathroom after they put themselves in.
Speaker 2: So I just recently had this boy. He got mad
Speaker 2: at me. I said, close your laptop. He threw his
Speaker 2: headphones down. He slammed his computer and he put his
Speaker 2: head down, and I knew he was now stuck in
Speaker 2: the bathroom, just like John Fox. And so I gave
Speaker 2: him a lot little bit of time, and then I
Speaker 2: walked over to him and I said, listen, I know
Speaker 2: I'm really boring and I'm putting you asleep, but I
Speaker 2: need you to pick up your head eventually, because you
Speaker 2: can't sleep in class. And then he looked up and
Speaker 2: he smiled and he said, you are boring. And I
Speaker 2: was asleep, and I said, I know, but I need
Speaker 2: you to be awake now. And I walked on I
Speaker 2: got him out of the bathroom, right So that is
Speaker 2: a story now where teachers use that phrase, they say, oh,
Speaker 2: I got well, I got a kid in the bathroom
Speaker 2: right now, I got to figure out way to get
Speaker 2: him out of the bathroom. As I'm telling the John
Speaker 2: Fox story, though, they have no idea what I'm talking about, right. So,
Speaker 2: what I'm always thinking about at the end of a
Speaker 2: story is what was I really saying In the John
Speaker 2: Fox story? I am saying we get stuck in places
Speaker 2: sometimes and we need help getting out right. So strip
Speaker 2: away all the content and ask yourself what is the
Speaker 2: story really about? And oftentimes once we strip the content away,
Speaker 2: we can say it in a clear sort of feeling
Speaker 2: or meaningful or insightful or realization kind of way. And
Speaker 2: that's how those stories can be powerful for us.
Speaker 1: Let's now break that down. What is your process for
Speaker 1: crafting a story like the one that you just told.
Speaker 1: Maybe let's start by firstly, how do you even know
Speaker 1: if it's a story worth telling? If it's one of
Speaker 1: those ten percents?
Speaker 2: Well, a story in the end is about change over time.
Speaker 2: The problem people have is they think that stories are
Speaker 2: reports on their life. You know, in the worst version
Speaker 2: of a story. Someone's going to tell you what happened
Speaker 2: to them, but they're just going to be reporting on
Speaker 2: the events chronologically rather than sort of crafting any meaning.
Speaker 2: So when I'm looking at that ten percent, what I'm
Speaker 2: looking for is moments in my life where I've fundamentally
Speaker 2: changed in some way. You know, those changes are either
Speaker 2: transformational meaning I used to be one kind of person
Speaker 2: and now I'm another, or more often realizations. I used
Speaker 2: to think something about myself or the world, or my
Speaker 2: wife or kids, or the planet, and then some stuff
Speaker 2: happened and now I think differently. And you don't have
Speaker 2: to think very differently. It can be a very small change.
Speaker 2: Small changes are beautiful. People believe in small chain and
Speaker 2: so that's what a story is. So when I'm looking
Speaker 2: for a story to tell, I'm always starting at the
Speaker 2: end because I'm looking for these moments where we suddenly shift,
Speaker 2: where we feel our heart or our mind open, the
Speaker 2: hair on the back of your neck stands up. You
Speaker 2: just get that feeling of wow, I think differently than
Speaker 2: I did a moment ago. Those are the stories that
Speaker 2: mean something to people. And all you have to do
Speaker 2: is watch a movie, watch a television show, go to
Speaker 2: a play. All the great stories of the world, all
Speaker 2: the stories really of the world, are about change over.
Speaker 3: Time, even the stupid movies.
Speaker 2: Ultimately we're starting with a character who has some flaw
Speaker 2: or some need or some problem, and by the end
Speaker 2: that flaw and need or problem will be solved to
Speaker 2: some degree. Maybe not all the way, but you can
Speaker 2: watch a movie or read a book and within the
Speaker 2: first fifteen minutes you can tell what the end is
Speaker 2: going to be, not with specificity, but you can look
Speaker 2: at it and go, oh, this is a guy. He's
Speaker 2: divorced and he's not getting along with his kids, and
Speaker 2: he hasn't figured that relationship out yet, and at the
Speaker 2: end of the movie he's going to have that relationship
Speaker 2: a little more figured out.
Speaker 3: Right, We just know it's it's.
Speaker 2: Very it's instantaneous if we really put some thought into it.
Speaker 2: But oftentimes we're lost in the story, which is a
Speaker 2: beautiful thing too.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this extract of my chat with Matthew,
Speaker 1: you might want to go back and listen to the
Speaker 1: whole interview, which you can find a link to in
Speaker 1: the show notes. If you're looking for more tips to
Speaker 1: improve the way that you work. I write a short,
Speaker 1: fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things that I've discovered
Speaker 1: that helped me work better, ranging from software and gadgets
Speaker 1: that I'm loving through to interesting research findings. You can
Speaker 1: sign up for that at Howiwork dot com. That's how
Speaker 1: I Work dot co. Thank you for sharing part of
Speaker 1: your day with me by listening to How I Work.
Speaker 1: If you're keen for more tips on how to work better,
Speaker 1: connect with me via LinkedIn or Instagram. I'm very easy
Speaker 1: to find. Just search for Amantha Imba. How I Work
Speaker 1: was recorded on the traditional land of the Warrangeri people,
Speaker 1: part of the Koln Nation. I am so grateful for
Speaker 1: being able to work and live on this beautiful land,
Speaker 1: and I want to pay my respects to elders, past,
Speaker 1: present and emerging. How I Work is produced by Inventium
Speaker 1: with production support from Dead Set Studios, and thank you
Speaker 1: to Martin Nimba who did the audio mix and makes
Speaker 1: everything sound better than it would have otherwise.