Speaker 1: The greatest stories inspire us, terrify us, inform us, and
Speaker 1: ultimately change us. They might change our lives or simply
Speaker 1: help us get through the day. But if we know
Speaker 1: how central stories are to the human experience, why don't
Speaker 1: more of us learn how to craft them more effectively.
Speaker 1: Matthew Dix is a world renowned storyteller and also a
Speaker 1: teacher of storytelling who has witnessed the profound impact of
Speaker 1: storytelling firsthand. Matthew believes that crafting compelling stories isn't just
Speaker 1: about influencing others, but also about gaining influence over ourselves.
Speaker 1: When I interviewed Matt I asked him to help me
Speaker 1: improve a story that I was preparing for a work presentation,
Speaker 1: and he walked me through his thought process every step
Speaker 1: of the world. And after delivering this story at the workshop,
Speaker 1: I can tell you that it made so much more
Speaker 1: of an impact. My name is doctor Amantha Imba. I'm
Speaker 1: an organizational psychologist and the founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium,
Speaker 1: And this is how I work, A show about how
Speaker 1: to help you do your best work? On Today is
Speaker 1: my favorite tip episode. We go back to an interview
Speaker 1: from the past and I pick out my favorite tip
Speaker 1: from the interview. In today's show, I speak with Matthew
Speaker 1: Dix about getting some help with a story I wanted
Speaker 1: to tell. So, Matt, I was hoping to get your
Speaker 1: advice because I've got a workshop coming up with my
Speaker 1: team on Friday, and it's Tuesday today when we're recording this,
Speaker 1: and I've been racking my brains for the right story
Speaker 1: to open this workshop with. And I need a story
Speaker 1: that's essentially about like not taking something for granted and
Speaker 1: sort of you know, treating something with the care that
Speaker 1: it deserves. And I've sort of been thinking about times
Speaker 1: in my life where I've you know, taken something for
Speaker 1: granted that like, I haven't spent a lot of time
Speaker 1: on it, but it's in the bend in the back
Speaker 1: of my mind. I've only got one example. It feels
Speaker 1: a bit lame, and I wanted to, like, you know,
Speaker 1: if you can pretend that you are coaching me through this,
Speaker 1: I would love to know how I can get to
Speaker 1: a point where I've actually got a story that then
Speaker 1: I can you know, start to craft.
Speaker 2: So sure, well, what's your what do you have? What's
Speaker 2: the thing that's kind of lame?
Speaker 1: So the thing that feels kind of blame is when
Speaker 1: I was in my twenties, I was living in Sydney
Speaker 1: and I got a lease on this apartment in a
Speaker 1: city apartment, and it had this amazing view of the
Speaker 1: Sydney Harbor, which is kind of like the most beautiful
Speaker 1: thing about Sydney. And I remember the first time I
Speaker 1: walked through that apartment and I was struck by the
Speaker 1: view and I just thought, oh wow, like, I will
Speaker 1: never ever get sick of this view for the entire
Speaker 1: time I live in this apartment. And then several months later,
Speaker 1: and this is where my memory is fuzzy. I think
Speaker 1: I had a party or something like that, and I
Speaker 1: remember people standing on the balcony and just ewing an
Speaker 1: hour ing over the view, you know, and it occurred
Speaker 1: to me I'd broken that promise with myself. I'd forgotten
Speaker 1: the beautiful view and that's kind of all I've got,
Speaker 1: And it's how do I work with that? Or do
Speaker 1: I go I can do better than that, because I
Speaker 1: feel like that's I don't know.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, let's play with that, you know. In terms
Speaker 2: of finding other stories, I guess I'll say this, it
Speaker 2: wouldn't be hard for me and I don't think I'll
Speaker 2: be hard for you to just look at things in
Speaker 2: your life that you sometimes seek for granted. You know,
Speaker 2: I would instantly think my son, my daughter, and my wife.
Speaker 2: Any story about them will I can easily transform into
Speaker 2: a I'm taking them for granted.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: My job, I'm sure I'm taking it for granted, And
Speaker 2: it's easy, be easy to tell a story about teaching
Speaker 2: children and how twenty four years ago I was desperate
Speaker 2: to get a job in teaching, and today I actually
Speaker 2: complain about going to work sometimes, right, even though it's
Speaker 2: the dream job I wanted and still my dream job today.
Speaker 2: So I would just sort of inventory things I take
Speaker 2: for granted and then tell a story about that thing
Speaker 2: without really even being worried too much about taking for granted,
Speaker 2: because I can tell a story about my son that
Speaker 2: has nothing to do with me taking him for granted.
Speaker 2: When a story's done, I can say, can you believe
Speaker 2: that I take that boy for granted sometimes? That amazing
Speaker 2: story that I just told you about my son that
Speaker 2: caused you to love him and open your heart in mind?
Speaker 2: Can you believe that there are sometimes when he wants
Speaker 2: to play a game with me, and I say no.
Speaker 2: That is taking things for granted, so easy pivot from
Speaker 2: almost any story, right, anything you care about. So that's
Speaker 2: the simple story. But you know what you gave me
Speaker 2: was interesting because that's not easy thing the Sydney apartment story,
Speaker 2: because it's kind of boring, like it's I bought an
Speaker 2: apartment and then eventually I didn't appreciate it in the
Speaker 2: way I should. But the way I might craft it
Speaker 2: to make it a little less boring is again at
Speaker 2: the beginning, we have to cause people to wonder. So
Speaker 2: I would start the story doing something like this. I'm
Speaker 2: hosting a party and I look out on the deck
Speaker 2: and everyone is staring out at something, and I have
Speaker 2: no idea what that something is. Like I have looked
Speaker 2: outside my deck for the last three hundred and sixty
Speaker 2: eight days, and as far as I can tell, there
Speaker 2: is nothing to stare at. And yet for some reason,
Speaker 2: I've got music playing in the room, and I've got
Speaker 2: things to do in the room, and everyone's got their
Speaker 2: eyes outside, and so I'm starting to wonder, like, is
Speaker 2: there a whale in the harbor today that I've never like?
Speaker 2: You know, it is as a boat sinking in the harbor,
Speaker 2: right now right, or you know, has a comment crashed
Speaker 2: into the harbor that's caused people to pay attention to
Speaker 2: whatever the hell they're paying attention to. So I finally
Speaker 2: make my way outside to the deck and I sidle
Speaker 2: up against one of my friends and I look out
Speaker 2: at the harbor that they can't stop staring at, and
Speaker 2: I ask my friend, like, the hell are you staring at?
Speaker 2: And then I suddenly know they're staring at the beauty
Speaker 2: of the harbor, which a year ago I swore to myself.
Speaker 2: I swore to myself that I would never take for
Speaker 2: granted because it is one of the most beautiful views
Speaker 2: in the world. But it turns out that if you
Speaker 2: stare at the most beautiful view in the world for
Speaker 2: a year, it stops being beautiful and just starts being
Speaker 2: a view, and that is a tragedy. I would tell
Speaker 2: the story like that, But do you see how rather
Speaker 2: than saying I rented an apartment and you told it chronologically, Yeah,
Speaker 2: you've got to give them something a wonder about. So
Speaker 2: the thing to wonder about is why are people staring
Speaker 2: at a view that I don't care about anymore? And
Speaker 2: the realization is I was supposed to care about because
Speaker 2: it is beautiful and I've just forgotten to notice.
Speaker 1: If you enjoy this extract with my chat with Matthew,
Speaker 1: you might want to go back and listen to the
Speaker 1: full 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 Amanthaimba. How I Work was
Speaker 1: recorded on the traditional land of the Warrangery people, part
Speaker 1: of the Cool and 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.