Flipping the script.

The stories we tell ourselves shape our reality.?So better make them the kind you enjoy believing.

Last week, I published the story of my days as a professional air guitar player in my email newsletter. It doubled my subscriptions and the feedback I got was overwhelming - and totally unexpected. (You can read the full story here - and subscribe while you're at it.)

I was deeply humbled, but also quite confused by this response. This was not the first issue of my "People Like You" newsletter. And in every issue up until then, I had featured people who are far braver, smarter, more creative, or more talented than myself. (To be honest, I wrote down the air guitar story because I couldn't find a guest in time...).

All week, I've been thinking about why this one story resonated so deeply with readers. In the meantime, I was talking to guests for my atomic interviews, and probably subconsciously having the conversations and asking the questions that would help me crack the code.

And then two days ago, the pieces fit - like the solution to a puzzle that had been staring me in the face all along. My big WHY.

Four-piece puzzle

Cue 1:

I interviewed Dennis Geelen .

He was laid off at age 43. His initial response: look for a way back into the script he knew - that of a corporate career. However, his wife convinced him to try out being a self-employed consultant for a year. It's been five years, and he hasn't looked back. He has written several books, has a fast-growing newsletter (on Happy Accidents), launched 3 courses, and runs a thriving coaching business, where he helps people bet on themselves. To flip their script. Read our atomic interview here

Cue 2:

My next guest was Nausheen I. Chen - Linkedin's favorite & fiery public speaking coach. A commercial filmmaker tuned speaking coach, who helps her clients speak in public and share their stories. To teach them that they don't need permission from anyone to speak out and say what needs to be said. Even if that doesn't align with the "law" or prejudices. In Nausheen's words: "we need to question our biases." And that includes the stories we've been told, or that we've been telling ourselves. We need to dare to challenge the scripts, especially the ones that others have written for us. Check our atomic interview here.

Cue 3:

A few days later, I interviewed John Harrison , a master copywriter. He has condensed nearly 10.000 hours of experience into his ultra-refined writing and a recently launched course. He shared some absolutely truth bombs in his interview with me. "Begin, not with the words, but with the reader and their reading conditions." John urges us to question what copywriting best practices tell us. In his words: "There’s often an equally good reason to do the opposite of most [copywriting] advice." Know the script, but be prepared to do the opposite of it

Cue 4:

Normally, it's me asking the questions. Last Thursday, however, my friend Ilze ?varcbaha interviewed me on Twitter (X?) Spaces. It was an intimate conversation, for roughly 10 live listeners, and Ilze's questions allowed me to think deeply & open up. And as I spoke about the business I'm building, it hit me in a flash.

The purpose behind building an audience here, growing a newsletter, collecting stories... My big WHY.

I do all this because I want to inspire people to flip the script on their own story. To help them uncover a better story they can tell themselves, and then live it.

Flipping the script

It's what saved my life, six years ago. Those who know me well will know what I'm talking about. Those who don't, well, maybe I'll tell the story here someday. In a nutshell: I ran aground and was stripped of almost everything and everyone that I took for granted.

This also forced me to re-invent myself, to turn the page, start a new story, to say myself into being again.

I started giving back. I took up teaching, first as a volunteer for disadvantaged kids, then as a university lecturer. Next, I started recruiting students, helping them make the most important decision in their lives. And then I started my side venture, as a solopreneur. I used to describe what I do as 'marketing' or 'storytelling'.

But actually, what I see since last week: I am doing all this to help people like me six years ago. People who are stuck. Who need to hear stories of transformation, and the tools to achieve it in their own life.

With all the interviews, newsletters, posts, ... I'm building an encyclopedia of human experience. Of scripts flipped, and people who have discovered a happier, more connected, humane version of themselves - in work and life.

I'm on a mission to help people and businesses tell better stories about themselves. Because we all deserve them.

Intermission: a quote on saying yourself into being

“If you don’t tell your story you lose it—or, what might be worse, you get lost inside it. Telling is how we cement details, preserve continuity, stay sane. We say ourselves into being every day, or else.”?Notes from Prince?Harry’s ghostwriter.

Yes, but why did the air guitar story do so well?

On the surface, it's a random story of four friends stumbling into a random career, in the category of speed golf, chess boxing and wife carrying. (By the way, these are all real sports that some people train very hard to be really good at.)

But deeper down, it's a story of young men playing and saying themselves into being. Of crafting a story that empowers them to live their dream.

Because they believed it was possible, it became possible.

And because it was possible, it happened.

It's a story I can't tell without passion. Because it saved my life, 15 years later, when I needed to re-invent my life. I had already experienced the power of saying myself into being. And I think my readers felt that. The passion, and the power of doing something that challenges the expected.

Intermission 2: three quotes from Les Brown on choosing better stories

“If you don’t program yourself, life will program you!”

“Too many of us are not living our dreams?because we are living our fears."

“If you look the part and act the part, you’ll be surprised at the results you will produce. This is true with negative impressions as well as positive ones.”

PS: a final announcement - a script flip is on its way.

When I started here on LinkedIn, I had no idea of its potential to connect people - and knowledge, tools, advice, and best practices. I learned so much, and I met so many incredible people.

Now, one year in, I'm building a product with some of my favorite people on this platform. It will launch on Aug 31st. It will be very affordable, and it will cover EVERYTHING I wish I knew when I started posting a year ago. Stay tuned - it will literally flip the script on your LinkedIn game.