Creating inspiration with Story

In a time of change, people are likely to feel confused, uncertain, or even afraid.

So the best way to convince them to do something new is not by forcing them or by scaring them even more but by inspiring them. And the best way to do that is with Story.

Human beings are hardwired for stories. We connect with them, engage with them, and remember them in ways that simply don’t happen when we receive the same information in other forms. As screenwriting guru Robert McKee explains, this is because Story combines fact and emotion to create meaning:

“When an idea wraps itself around an emotional charge, it becomes all the more powerful, all the more profound, all the more memorable… In short, a story well told gives you the very thing you cannot get from life: meaningful emotional experience.”

On top of this, Princeton neuroscientist Uri Hasson has found that:

“Story is the only way to activate parts in the brain so that a listener turns the story into their own idea and experience.”

In other words, Story is the best way to deliver a vision so inspiring that your audience make it their own and then long to make it happen.

What is the story you are currently telling yourself and the people around you about where you are going, why, and how you are going to get there? Is that inspiring you and them to long to make it happen? What would happen if you made your story more inspiring?


Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.

You can sign up to daily posts here.

You can buy the book here and the workbook here.

(And remember: you can’t learn to swim just by reading about swimming, you also need to do the practice.)


Photo By orionpozo via StockPholio.net

Leave a Reply