The Art of Storytelling

The Wizard: A great story is like a magical potion. With the perfect mix of ingredients a story captures the listeners attention and inspires a powerful emotional connection!

The Most Important Skill Ever

Have you ever watched a speaker, politician, or even a comedian stand in front of an audience of people and speak passionately for a very long time? Chances are that person was really great at the art of storytelling! Since the beginning of human history, people have been fascinated with stories and would share them over food, special events, and warm camp fires. You likely also love the feeling of getting lost in an amazing story and have beautiful memories of your family reading you bedtime stories or sharing funny jokes. That amazing feeling is exactly why successful people like billionaire Warren Buffett believe that storytelling is the most important skill you’ll ever learn! Imagine having the power to make others feel exactly what you‘re feeling, making them smile, laugh, or even share your passion for a good cause or business idea. It really is like magic once you get the hang of it!

But What Does It Mean To Be A Good Storyteller?

When you were a baby, the only way you knew how to express yourself was to cry. By crying your parents could know that something was wrong but they still had to figure out what exactly was making you upset. As we get older, we learn to use words to express our feelings instead of just crying because words help others understand and relate to us better. But some special people get really skilled at using their words to convince others to feel what they are feeling and follow their lead on ideas. This lets business owners raise money from other passionate investors, comedians entertain audiences of happy people, and leaders convince others to make the world better. Some great storytellers even prefer to write their ideas down and share their stories in books and movies! In fact, telling a good story can help you in every part of your life too! Once you figure out how to connect with others on an emotional level, you can make a friend laugh, console someone you love when they’re sad, and even convince your parents to give you something you really want! As you get older, you’ll need to use storytelling even more as you apply to colleges, go on job interviews, and convince everyone you meet to believe in your vision.

What Makes A Great Story?

Some people are naturals at telling stories and can get your full attention every time they speak but most of us need practice and some easy to use tools to get started! Most great stories have 3 main ingredients; emotional language, a problem, and a solution. We will explore these topics in great detail below.

Emotional Language: Since the goal of a good story is to get the listener to feel something, it‘s only right that you mix in emotional language! If you can get someone else to picture the story in their mind vividly and see what you‘re feeling then you did a really good job! Here’s a word bank you can use to spice up your stories.

Interested, Enthusiastic, Overjoyed, Excited, Mesmerized, Amazed, Thrilled, Apprehensive, Afraid, Confused, Concerned, Nervous, Anxious, Distracted, Aggravated, Irritated, Upset, Frustrated, Confident, Courageous, Intent, Motivated, Relentlessly, Outraged, Distracted.

The Problem: A story without a big problem or obstacle that seems impossible to overcome wouldn‘t be much of a story at all! Think about it. Every superhero faces off against a bad guy that’s almost as strong as the hero. The problem can be an event, lack of resources, a big test, or a commitment to doing what’s right against all odds. Point is, the main character should overcome a big challenge to inspire others to do the same! 

The Solution: Every good story needs a happy ending! We all want to feel like winners that can do great things and a happy ending always makes us feel inspired. But what exactly is a happy ending? A happy ending is when the problem is solved and everything is great again! An example of this is the good guy finally beating the bad guy and saving the world! 

The best part about storytelling is that YOU create the story. Maybe the problem is that you’re bored on the weekends and you use descriptive emotional language to convince your parents that the solution is a new video game. Or maybe you want to make a friend feel better so you tell them a story describing how going to the movies together and having a fun time will solve their problem. Have fun with this new skill and start creating awesome stories!