Day 12

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Day 12

Dear Stylelife Challenger,

Here is your Stylelife Challenge Assignment for July 12th.

Today is storytelling day, in which you will learn to always have something to say about yourself during a conversation.

Note: Between the videos and the ebook, a number of exercises are offered to help you create and deliver compelling stories. Choose the exercises which most help you develop your storytelling skills and perform today's field assignment.


TASK 1

Watch the following two-part instructional video on storytelling by DJ, a PUA who specializes in this subject:

Part One

Part Two


TASK 2

Take a piece of paper or open a computer file, and title it: Stories To Tell.

In this space, write down five interesting stories about yourself and your experiences. Feel free to use any stories you came up with while watching the storytelling video.

If you are having trouble coming up with five, think back on recent conversations you’ve had with friends and family. Try to recall if there were any stories you told that elicited excitement, intrigue, or laughter.

If you are still having trouble, imagine that you had to pitch a movie about yourself to film producers. What key stories from your life would you need to include to interest them in making the film?

If you are still having trouble, move on to Task 3.


TASK 3

Download the following ebook on generating stories:

Story Generation Ebook

Read it through from beginning to end.

If you have already selected five stories, select the best THREE of them and use the pointers here to improve them.

If you haven’t, use the ebook to help you come up with five stories. Then select the three most interesting or humorous ones and follow a few of the steps in the ebook to bring them up to performance standards.

Time your telling of each story, and make sure it’s longer than 30 seconds but shorter than two minutes. See Step 4 for more information on this.

Each should have a definite beginning, middle, and end. See Step 16 for more information.

Once you are comfortable with the story, insert into the middle of each a space for the listener to interact. Most interaction points will involve asking if the listener relates to an experience, has an opinion on the experience, or can jog your memory with a fact.

For example, if you’re telling a story that takes place at a Chuck E. Cheese pizza parlor, you can simply make your interaction point, “Have you ever been to one of those?....Okay, so you know what I’m talking about.”

If it takes place in an airport, you might make your interaction point: “It was kind of like that movie where Tom Hanks plays the guy stuck in an airport. What was it called?”

See Step 11 of the ebook for more on interaction points.

Write out the new and improved versions of your three top stories in your Stories To Tell file on your computer.


TASK 4

Use each of your three new stories – with interaction points – at least once in conversation today. You do not have to tell the same person all three stories; just make sure that you use each story at least once over the course of the day.

It doesn’t matter whether you tell them to a woman you’re interested in, a co-worker, a friend, a parent, a stranger, a sibling, a telemarketer, or a circus clown – as long as you tell them.

You don’t have to follow the script or notes you wrote in your Stories To Tell folder; feel free to improvise. But after you recite each story, return to your Stories To Tell file and make any additions, changes, or cuts that will improve the telling.


TASK 5

Download and read the following PDF, collecting some of the Disqualifiers posted by your fellow Challengers. It’s great stuff. You should all be proud of yourselves.

Challenger Disqualifier Sampler