Do you know what “the magic of a story” is? The magic of the story is remembering that while you might be telling a story for the hundredth time, the woman you’re talking to is hearing it for the very first time . . . and being able to tell it like you’re telling it for the first time.
Recently while I was with some clients, I told a woman a story I’ve told probably at least a thousand times (that’s why the story is so good!). The clients who were with me were shocked when they found this out, and said it seemed like I was telling the story for the first time.
I have such enthusiasm for my stories because I like them. I also know how people will react to them because I’ve told them before.
So how do you tell a great story; how do you tell a story like you’re telling it for the first time? Well, you have to start somewhere in order to learn how to do it.
Pick five or six things that come up over and over again in conversations, and then think of stories that relate to those things. It doesn’t matter what they are about, so long as you enjoy telling them and can do so with passion.
Practice your stories, so they are natural and easy for you to tell. I would suggest that you record all your stories, and then listen to yourself tell them.
As you listen, ask yourself whether you are interesting enough as you tell each story. If you are not, then go back and record them again. Keep listening to those stories over and over again, because those are the stories that are going to come out when you meet people.
Those amazing stories will be what attract women when you talk to them. They love to hear them.
A man who can tell a great story is very intriguing to women. It will show you as a man who is passionate about who he is. A woman will think that if you’re that passionate about yourself and your life, then you will be equally as passionate about her if you start hanging out together.
If you’re passionate about everything that you do – even down to little things like sniffing fruit passionately at the farmer’s market — then women are going to realize how passionate you are about all sorts of things. It’s about living with passion, and it all starts with your stories!
Oh – I am damn good at this one. So many things remind me of great stories from my past, both distant and recent parts of my past. In fact I would say my mind is designed to tell stories.
For me, also, the challenge is telling the story in a new way each time I tell it. I use the present moment and the person’s reactions to accomplish that.
I gotta now record some more stories I’m getting better though David.
Thanks man!
do you think it will be better if we video tape our self???
Rick- absolutely the image is a lot better, give it a try!!!
ok CJ i will give it a shot thanks!
David- whenever you tell a story even though I have never met you I always feel like it just happened like hours ago, when it could have happened to you months earlier:)
Should we memorize our stories or just make it up as we go along?
JohnnyLove- don’t think about it too much about memorizing just think of a story from any time in your life or something you know of, then just let it come out naturally and of course you would want to record yourself for the critique.
And of-course if you are part of the member’s forum we will do the video/audio critique for you!!!
CJ- that would be nice to have coach do the critique and will def. look into it!
I’m going to have to disagree with this to some degree. I’m in favor of telling stories while your in the moment, as your only naturally going to get better at it while you tell it each time. But doesn’t this sound a little to scripted by practicing it on tape?
Worst part is that i’ve seen this in action before, and the person telling the story probably doesn’t even know i’ve heard it before, and if it is too similar to the way i heard it the first time, it pisses me off as it just sounds so fake, especially when they laugh at their own story. The laugh even sounds fake to me cuz i know its coming.
I’m not so sure about telling a story in the same way you’ve told it 1000 times before, cause you never know who’s around that has heard it before, and i think it could have an adverse effect.
Here is how you tell a story…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ObbvrQxAc
You’ve got to own it. If you know something about who you’re telling the story to be sure to draw on any similarities. Telling a story is similar to how a great jazz musician improvises. He knows where he’s going to start, has some idea of where he’ll end, and a few key points in between. The rest is improvised in the moment – inflections, tonalities, cadence, volume, details, body language, etc.
Adam-
Nice video I remember watching that movie awhile back!
And since you were talking about Jazz I wanted to share one of my favorite quote….
“There’s a way of playing safe, there’s a way of using tricks and there’s the way I like to play which is dangerously where you’re going to take a chance on making mistakes in order to create something you haven’t created before.” – Dave Brubeck
btw….guys if you would like to know more about Jazz checkout Dave Brubeck he is amazing!!!
Jacob- that’s a nice quote I will look into him. I don’t know too much about Jazz but def. would want to know more.
Jacob – I dig the Brubeck quote. Playing it safe is never the best answer. Kind of like when you try to please everyone you please no one and end up being bland and uninteresting. My favorite jazz musician is Charlier Parker. He said “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn”. So get out and live life and let it come out of horn – in this case the horn would be your stories and conversations with people.
actually i recently read a great book about storytelling. Its from one of Hollywood’s top screenwriters and made me UNDERSTAND for the first time why some stories work and others don’t! It made it easy for me to weave this knowledge into my stories.
The book is called “Story” from Robert McKee and you can find it at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060391685?ie=UTF8&tag=puertoricanru-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0060391685
Bang on David!
Storytelling is underrated – it’s almost become a lost art in my opinion.
I read a great book called the “Elements of Persuasion” that tackles story telling in an engaging fashion.