The MOST important question to ask before you tell your (or ANY!) story! BWSS #1 official!
There’s a question that you MUST ask before you work on telling your — or any — story, if you want not to waste your own (or other people’s) time. And I’m telling you what it is this week, on the official first episode of the Baby Walk Story Sessions! (the last one being a kind of warm-up intro).
And, starting this episode, in case you’re more of a reader than a listener, I’m also giving you the transcript.
This week, you’ll discover…
Podcasts I’ve been listening to
I just got back from a week’s trip in the country. So I am keeping this week’s blog short, and there are no secret messages* in it. BUT — here’s a thing. While I was away, I listened to a lot of podcasts. And inspired by Amy Porterfield’s brilliant, brilliant brilliant of one of them, I may have made a podcast for you. I’ve recorded five episodes (each one less than 10 mins, so easy to digest). When I’ve recorded five more, I’ll start releasing them.
First, here are the podcasts I listened to:
(1) Interviews with Johann Hari
Johann Hari did a podcast way back when that i LOVED. He would discuss political ideas in this way that never made me feel stupid, in spite of my (at that time, very very very) scant political knowledge. So I decided to search iTunes podcasts for him this week.
Turns out, he’s had two books out in recent years, and they both sound AMAZING. One about…
Need to convince someone of something? Here’s how to READ THEIR MIND (by Chris from TellPeople)
Ever felt like you’re explaining something that – to you – seems so obvious, but the person you need to convince just isn’t getting it?
Recently, I was asked to run a workshop on buyer empathy (aka how to understand what your potential client wants), so I turned to get some help from my (very, very smart)(he’s been a lawyer representing Wall Street companies and indigenous rights) friend Chris from TellPeople.
Then, I asked him to share some of his smarts with you! Here’s what he has to say about how to READ MINDS (or at least, have a good guess at what’s inside them):
Make sense of your audience
When you’re trying to convince someone of something – whether it’s a potential client to hire you, or a family member to please stop doing that annoying thing they keep doing – do you ever wonder what’s going through their mind while they read your writing or listen to you talk?
What about when you’re talking to a group of people – how do you keep track of what all those people are thinking?
The truth is: you can’t know what anyone else is thinking about what you’re saying.
But – while you can’t read peoples’ minds, there is one thing you know for sure about every person you talk to. Actually, it’s the only thing you know for sure.
Can you guess?
Other…
How to say no, How to stay focused, How to love somewhere you hate living – Yes Yes Questions #1 REVIEW!
GUESS WHAT???!?!??!?!?! You know that thing I did? Where I had a secret wish that seemed silly, had little to do with my job and is only for already super-famous people (or paid journalists)… but I thought I’d try it out anyway? IT WORKED!! If you missed the whole story, the Cliff notes are: –…
This happens to me EVERY TIME I’m at a new event. And it’s so painful.
One Sunday morning at 8.25 in the morning, I sat at the back of an auditorium in Philadelphia, cursing myself. And then cursing everybody else: the woman I had just spoken to; my friend Laurie, who’d organised my ticket; and each person sat in front, behind, or to the side of me. Up until this…
Teaching new ideas that people sometimes resist? Try this!
“So guys,” he said, from the front of the large room. “Try this, and you can get to the root of your issue.”
I was on a table right down at the back, so he couldn’t see me rolling my eyes. Jaw set in fury, I looked down at my paper.
It was the Sunday before last, I was at a business retreat, and I was very, very angry.
This year, I’m in a group program, run by Jonathan “Good Life Project” Fields. I’ve been following him for years, and he’s always steered me right. Under his guidance, my business went from doing okaaaaayyy to suddenly making a living doing the thing I’m best at and most enjoy. Working with him again seemed like a good idea.
On this afternoon, 70 other people and I were in a session led by productivity coach, Charlie Gilkey. I’ve hung out with Charlie before – just that morning, he’d been telling me about his recent trip to Hawaii. We get on well and I really like him. I know a lot of people who’ve been coached by him to wild success. He’s a charismatic, clear and powerful speaker.
But, right now, I was cross with him. Furious, actually. Seething.
Or – to be clearer, I wasn’t so much angry with him, as with what he was asking me to do…
How to Avoid Small Talk – with the Perfect Question (VIDEO)
My friend was once in a queue and overheard the man behind him loudly declaring, “You see, I’m the kind of guy who really doesn’t like to line up. I like to just get in and get out. But this? Not for me.”
I feel about him the way I feel about the kind of smug, annoying person who…
This small tweak makes people feel amazing (and is more fun for you!)
“Even as you’re telling me that everybody does this, I’m thinking, ‘Not me, I’m different’ – and that’s an example of me doing the exact thing you’re talking about!” I wailed.
“I know,” he said. “We all do it. It’s really hard not to.
“But if you can move beyond it, to level two – that’s when you can make a difference. So many people spend their whole lives talking at or with people but without ever really just being heard, so to connect at level two is to give a gift and fill a fundamental craving we all have.”
My friend Aaron was teaching me something new, and I was flipping out.
One of my FAVOURITE…
