How to Write a Personal Story: 4 Crucial Elements Every Story Should Consist of
Many people don’t have their personal story developed. However, I genuinely believe every person should have his own story. Personal stories communicate unique characteristics and anecdotes about every individual. In this blog post, I’ll show you how to write a personal story that will forge a strong emotional connection with your listeners, and win people’s hearts.
Put yourself into a situation where a person asks you a question: “What kind of work do you do?” or “What does your job involve?” You’ve probably been in this situation.
A fair guess would be that you immediately started describing what your responsibilities are, what your role within your company is, and what your latest project looks like.
I see this as a very common description that nobody can really connect with. In a day or two, people will forget it and ask you again in a few months’ time. The problem is that this description is not appealing enough and it doesn’t stand out — everybody can state some facts about his or her job.
What you need is a description, which will be exciting and will make a deeper emotional bond with your listeners. Fortunately, there is a way you can describe your job role in a more profound manner.
But, not only your job role. You can use this specific method in every situation where you need to present yourself. For example, in a job interview, at speaking engagements, during conversations etc.
So, let’s see how to write a personal story by using these 4 crucial elements:
1. Explain Your Why Factor
Your personal story should explain the Why factor behind the daily activities you perform. This offers listeners a deeper understanding into the essence of your being, your purpose, and your passions.
By doing this, you will offer listeners a deeper look into your life and explain the true meaning of it.
Your personal story should explain the Why factor behind your daily activities you perform.
In order to identify your Why factor (if you don’t know it yet), the following question might come in handy: “Why I am doing what I am doing?”
Don’t be satisfied with your first answer, but challenge yourself by asking “Why?” once again, as a question to your given answer. You can repeat thisup to 5 times.
In this way, you should come to a really good conclusion about what drives, motivates and guides you in your life, and how this connects to your actions and activities you perform.
Don’t forget; all great stories point to a greater cause that resonates within us.
2. Arouse your Listener’s Emotions
By communicating your Why factor, you’ll also be able to arouse your listener’s emotions. When you speak deeply from your heart, people can connect with you on an emotional level as well.
It’s a part of a biology — since emotions have a much bigger influence on our thoughts than pure facts and raw information. Therefore, your story shouldn’t consist of a list of bullet points you desperately need to say to present yourself. To the contrary, it should be dynamic, energetic and full of emotions.
Emotions have a much bigger influence on our thoughts as pure facts and raw information.
So, when creating your personal story, try to include different emotions that people can connect with. You can share positive as well as negative emotions. In that way, you’ll create an atmosphere of dynamic flow, which will make your story lively and pleasant to listen to.
3. Use a Dramatic Effect
In a high school, you were probably introduced to a concept ofstorytelling, and how to create a dramatic effect. If so, you should know that every powerful story contains a plot and reaches its climax when something unexpected happens.
Your personal story shouldn’t be any different. It should contain a plot and express how and why your life changed.
For example, a story typically begins with a situation in which life is relatively in-balance, but then there is a significant moment (an event) in person’s life that demonstrates how that experience changed her as a result.
You should try to find that moment within your own life, and incorporate it into your story.
In this way, you’ll create a dramatic effect that will keep your audience focused and ready to listen to your story.
4. Make it Consistent with Your Personality and Personal Brand
It’s important that you create a personal story that presents you in your true light, and that isn’t too far from your personal characteristics and your own personal brand.
Your personal story needs to be in line with your actions and an overall image. You don’t want to create a discrepancy between your personal story and an image you communicate outwards. That would make your story unauthentic or even fake.
So, use this point to double check how your personal story aligns with the core of your being. If you notice inconsistencies, use some extra time to polish it.
Final Thoughts How to Write a Personal Story
How to write a personal story that attracts people’s attention can be a challenging process. But believe me, it’s well worth it.
You have to understand that a good personal story shapes the heart and personality of you, and your personal brand. It wins people’s hearts and makes them want to not only talk to you but do business with you.
A truthful, honest and engaging personal story is what wins people’s hearts.
So, when you start creating your personal story think about events that happened in your life, which had a significant influence on your being. Try to remember your inspirations, the cool people that made a difference for you, and even the most difficult moments that you wanted to escape.
Think deeply and write your thoughts down. When you begin to see a pattern and a story starts emerging in front of you, start describing it. Connect the dots and put it in a written form.
Your personal story won’t immediately be perfect, so you will need to refine it. Take your time and sleep it over. Test your story in front of people, observe their feedback, and make improvements along the way.
To help you with the creation of your personal story, I’ve even prepared 2 examples you can use as a benchmark. They’ll help you during the process of how to write a personal story on your own:
- Lewis Howes’ story — observe how his story contains every element I have discussed above.
- And here, you can have a look into my personal story.
Wrapping Up
So, this is my process of how to write a personal story. When you create your own one, start using it and make it a core of your presentation in front of the people. I think that you’ll soon discover all of its beauty and the positive effect it has on your personality.
How did you like the article? Please let me know in the comment section below, where you can also share your thoughts and additional recommendations on the topic.
P.S. How to write a personal story is one of the steps in my free e-book titled “9.5 Steps Toward Your Personal Brand”. Use the e-book if you are interested in learning what your personal brand is all about and if you want to create one on your own — there, you’ll also find a comprehensive workbook, which will guide you through the process.
