When I first started teaching organizational storytelling almost fifteen years ago, I was interested in the various stories people tell in business and the purposes they tell them for: teaching lessons, branding, transmitting personal and organizational values, sharing your vision, influencing and persuading others, driving change, and so on. It was great!
I soon realized that the personal branding story was especially important. That’s the story you tell that establishes your credibility to tell all of the other stories. That was even better!
A few years ago I realized there was an even more important story: the one you tell yourself. I dove back into my old pool of psychology, exploring identity, confidence and self-esteem, locus of control, and other topics. That was best of all!
Your inner story is where it all begin. It’s the story you wrote for yourself as a child about who you are, what the world is like, and how everything in life works. Your child self didn’t understand anything well enough to create this blueprint for your life, but here you are—still operating under that false narrative.
Most people are not even aware that they wrote this story, they just think “It’s who I am.” Of those who are aware, very few know that they can rewrite it.
It begins with a journey of discovery, a trip back in time to your story’s origins. Once you uncover your inner story, you analyze the misunderstandings that went into making it, the faulty assumptions and inferences you drew from it, and the maladaptive beliefs that formed as a result. Then comes the serious work of rewriting the story and designing challenges to reinforce it. Your old story has quite a hold on you, and it will not just go away so easily.
You can go through this process yourself, but it helps to have a coach or story guide to lead you through the process. Your new story will be transformational. Your new life will be sensational!
And it doesn’t get any better than that!