#379 Snippets of wisdom: Tell any story in 2.5 minutes using this model.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION
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Agi Keramidas  0:03  
You're listening to personal development mastery, the podcast that empowers you with a simple and consistent actions you need to create a life of purpose and fulfilment. This is another snippet of wisdom, where I select my favourite most insightful moments from previous episodes. Today's snippet comes from a conversation with Pat Quinn, who is a keynote speaker and speaking coach. It is about a modality you can use to tell any story in two and a half minutes. And I hope it's as insightful for you as it was for me. Before we dive into the snippet, if you enjoy listening and appreciate what we're doing here, the simple quick favour I would like to ask of you is to click the subscribe button. Now let's get started.

Pat Quinn  1:00  
Well, I'm a believer that great stories are short. And I don't think any story should take more than two and a half minutes to tell. And so I have a model of how to tell a story in two and a half minutes that I can teach you right now it takes about two and a half minutes for me to teach it as you might expect. And so a great story comes in three parts. Every story you should think about as having three parts. The first part of the story is what we call the before, what was your life like before what was happening before and you get 60 seconds to tell us what your life was like before. And even the best stories, you kind of break it down into three distinct things that were happening before three distinct characteristics of what your life was like before. And so you spend 60 seconds talking to us about that. Then the second section is the pivot. The pivot is when the story changes, the pivot is when something happens that changes the direction of the story. And you get 30 seconds to describe to us what happened, what changed? What was the event? What did you learn? What did you discover? What did you invent? What happened? What was the pivot? Which brings us to the third and final part of the story, the first parts of the before, then there's a pivot. And the third part is the ASTER or the now what's your life like now? What what what, you know, what is your life like after the pivot, and the best stories, there would be three characteristics of what your life is like now, and in the very best stories, those three characters would match up, but be the opposite of the characteristics that you talked about before. Um, so let me show you an example of what this might look like. You know, for years, I struggled with my Wait. And I kept gaining weight and I tried everything I could to lose it, but I just snacks so much. Every afternoon, I would just be so hungry between three o'clock and four o'clock in the afternoon, I can consume about 2000 calories just walking through the kitchen, grabbing different snacks, and I'd have no energy in the afternoon. I don't just want to take a nap, I wouldn't want to move around or do anything. That's how my life was for years. So that's a great before to great before because in 60 seconds, I painted a picture of what my life looks like. I was struggling with my weight. I was snacking too much and I was low on energy, three characteristics. Then, my sister introduced me to overnight oats. I don't know if you know what overnight oats are, they're oatmeal that you just kind of make in the refrigerator. And you don't have to cook it. I grew up eating oatmeal and I didn't like it. It was mushy and warm and I didn't like it but and I said that to my sister. I said I don't like oatmeal. She said this isn't like oatmeal. This is overnight oats. It's totally different and it will change everything. Well, I didn't believe her but I tried it anyway. And for the last three months, I've been having overnight oats for breakfast and for lunch, and then just eating a reasonable dinner. And it has changed everything. Now instead of struggling with my weight now. So that's the pivot 30 seconds. Now we're into the after. Now watch how I match up the three characteristics and the after with the three characteristics on the before. Now instead of struggling with my weight. In the last three months, I've lost two and a half pounds. Now instead of snacking every afternoon, I'm full from lunch all the way through to dinner. And sometimes I'm not even hungry enough to eat a big dinner and my energy level solid throughout the whole day. I have good energy all afternoon. And there it is in two and a half minutes, a 62nd before a 32nd pivot. And then a 62nd after and by the way, look at that after that after isn't an extraordinary after. I didn't say I've lost 55 pounds in three months. So the last two and a half pounds. That's like less than a pound a month. I'm not breaking any records here. I didn't say that. You know I never snack. I'd say I don't snack in the afternoon anymore. And I didn't say that I ran a Boston Marathon. On or anything I just said I have, I have some energy, I'm not, you don't have to have the back end of your story be this monster. Now I'm the greatest in the world at this, I made some incremental progress, progress, um, some things that I was struggling with. And here's the deal in two and a half minutes. That's the story. And as the first part of the story, it looks like the person you're speaking to, if what I'm talking about struggling with weight, snacking, too much low energy, if that's connecting with the audience, and you'll know right away if it's connecting with the audience, because the audience will be nodding and leaning in. It's a simple, simple sign when you're connecting in the language with the audience, when you're saying things that the audience was thinking, they will unconsciously nod and lean into you. It works online, as well as it works in the same room with someone by the way. So if you're on Zoom, or you're on a webinar, and you can see the people look to see if they're nodding and leaning in, if you're at Starbucks, or somebody or you're at a conference speaking to 100, people look to see if the audience is nodding and leaning in. That's how you know you got the before part of the story, right? The after part of the story, losing weight, not snacking, having more energy, that if that is what the audience wants, they will smile. If they don't smile, they don't want it. And so you should watch for smiles in that part of the story. It shows that it's the aspiration of the audience. So if you connect on those two things you might have before sounds like your life, my after sounds like what you want, I'm telling you, you'll do anything to get the pivot price will not be a factor, you'll overcome all obstacles. If I don't tell you what I do, you'll hunt me down, you'll reach out, you'll find me on Facebook, you'll do something, and you will find me and asked me for my pivot. And so this is a simple way to tell any story. All stories work like this, I had an unsuccessful business than I signed up for this. And now I have a successful business, I was not in a good relationship, then I tried this. Now I'm in a good relationship. It really doesn't matter what you're talking about the three, the three parts storytelling that I'm talking about in two and a half minutes, is a better way to tell your story because it's straightforward. It's concise. It goes in one direction, it has a clear turning point. And it connects with the audience and both the before and the after. And so if it's taking you a long time to tell your story, if people tell you that you're a great storyteller, but sometimes they're kind of meandering, you want a very simple storyline, you want it to be two and a half minutes. And that is the way to tell a story that will change people's lives. It's also a way to tell a story that will change your life. Because it helps when you when you force yourself into that storytelling model. It helps you recognise what actually changed. You know, there was a time in my life where I felt like I didn't have a purpose. And I didn't have a direction. And there's a time in my life where I feel like I'm on fire for a singular purpose. And I'm moving in a straightforward direction. And if I don't tell that story in two and a half minutes, like I just taught, you might think that was just chance, or circumstance, or I got another year older. But when I forced myself into that two and a half minute storytelling model, I forced myself to think about what was the pivot? What changed. And I might look back and identify, you know, what changed? What changed is I changed my morning routine. I run Hal Elrod book The Miracle Morning, and I changed my morning routine. That was the turning point, I may never have realised that if I if I have 10 minutes to tell that story, I might tell you that, you know, I moved I moved to a new house, I switch jobs, I read a few books, I went to a couple of conferences. If I have all day to tell you that story, I might lose the power of that story. But the power of that story is when I actually look back and say in 30 seconds what changed and get it down to one thing. And that's the one thing that may be changed. And so I think telling a story of two and a half minutes isn't only the best way to help other people and impact the lives of other people. I think it's the best way for you to recognise what the turning points in your story were. So that you can focus on keeping those turning points in place and don't miss the big lesson of the story. And so from both helping other people and using stories to help yourself, a two and a half minute storytelling model is the best way to go.

Agi Keramidas  9:31  
Thank you for tuning in. You can listen to the full conversation in Episode 120. The link is in the show notes. If you've enjoyed this episode, can you think of someone that would find it valuable and share it with them. Not only will it help the show grow, but you will be adding value to people who care about thank you so much. And until next time, stand out don't fit in!