Thread the Dots of Your Life Story

How do you feel when someone asks you, "What's your story?" The purpose of this article is to give you a practical process to start answering that question more clearly and confidently.

Tell me if this sounds familiar: When someone asks you that seemingly simple question, "What's your Story?" your mind darts and races of where to start, how deep to go, how much time do you have to tell the story. You get through it, but it was uncomfortable.

If that resonates with you, you're not alone. In my own experience, most folks don't have a great answer to that question. And trust me, I've been an uncomfortable constituent of this problem which is why I'm great at building tools and processes that work. This is one of those methods that works every single time - but you have to want to do the work.

When you tell your story clearly and confidently, you will win new clients and recruit top talent, invigorate your customers and build a practice, and make a deeper impact on your audience and attract new allies to your mission.

If you know that your story matters in the world, and that it's the key to increasing your impact, read on. And do this work.

What's my story?

I'm a Master Storyteller with 20+ years of practical storytelling experience.

My career started out as a speechwriter for a U.S. Senator. I have created 40+ events with a storyteller on a stage. And have guided hundreds of people, including an Olympic Silver Medalist diver, through to the delivery of their most graceful story.

With organizations, including Better Business Bureau, Burning Man, Google, Intel, Lenovo and others, I uncover and synthesize their brand ethos, and develop the strategy to bring that story to life.

Today I'm living my calling by lifting up ordinary people's story of overcoming extraordinary challenges through my podcast, and helping coaches, healers and conscious business leaders thread the dots of their life story through Life Stories Workshops.

At the bottom of this article I've posted some more information about Life Stories Workshops which is available to good folks who are positively impacting the world.

Let's dig in.

First step: Reconnect to Your Life Experiences

Each one of us holds wisdom and knowledge gained through our lifetime sequence of events. Not all of these experiences have been joyous; not all of those events have been painful. But each one of those crucial experiences in our past collectively marks our path.

Each event is a self-contained dot that happened on an exact date in our life.

Realize Meaning: Dots and Breadcrumbs

In making your way back to those moments in your life, the perspective of distance and knowledge of how the story has developed since then helps you assign new meaning to each dot.

For example, the dots of "getting married" or "losing job" or "being diagnosed" have particular meaning because they significantly changed your life from that point on.

Take the dot of a tree dying. In the famous children's book, "The Giving Tree," the death of the tree is just a blip. But the meaning of the death, and knowing what occurred after that moment, brings to life the purpose of the narrative: that trees give in many ways throughout various stages of their life and beyond.

In other words, the dot is a hard fact in your story; the meaning is the breadcrumb that helps you uncover the thread of purpose in your story.

Find Your Golden Thread

The narrative of your story is the golden thread, your purpose, the one thing that makes you unique in this world.

How do you find the golden thread?

Only you can find it.

In mythology, it's referred to as your genius or spirit thread, the tiny particle from the cosmos connecting your spirit to the universe.

The golden thread exists as breadcrumbs in the dots of your life journey. How you faced each dot and how that trial contributed to who you are today. When the clues are examined in the greater context of your life story, your golden thread reveals itself.

And as you'll discover, it has always been there. Right now you'll find that it's unraveled at your feet. Grab hold, spool it up, and put it to use by creating the narrative of your life.

Craft Your Story: Thread the Dots

To recap, this process has helped you rediscover the crucial events and dots in your life story, pulled out and examined the breadcrumbs in the meaning of each dot, and helped you identify your purpose in the world and spooled your golden thread.

Now thread the dots of your life story.

Craft your story with the golden thread as the theme of the story. Show us how it comes to life in each dot of your life.

The Garment of Your Life

This is the story of your meaning to the world, your purpose for telling us the story right now. This is why your life experiences have mattered.

It is work but anyone can tell their most powerful personal story. In fact, I have worked with hundreds of folks from diverse backgrounds and they all have made me proud.

Good luck to you as you stitch the garment of your life.

If this information has been helpful, grab my newsletter, Email Gold. Help spread my impact - share this post with your network.

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As mentioned, here's more information about Life Stories Workshops for good folks who want to work with me directly.

Life Stories Workshops for Coaches, Healers and Conscious Business Leaders

Life Stories Workshops are how I'm living my calling and making a positive contribution to the world.

I'm offering coaches, healers and conscious business leaders -- the folks I'm most aligned with -- two ways to virtually work with me personally:

• Join a cohort: learn from one another through a group dynamic, and thread lifelong meaningful connections. We're building a community.
• Go one-on-one: for folks that prefer a private experience that moves at their pace. All my focus is on you and your story.

Next Steps

Watch this video and get information.

With over 20+ years of practical storytelling experience, David All is a Master Storyteller living his calling by helping good folks and organizations tell their story clearly and confidently. He is an oral historian and 2x podcast producer. Grab Email Gold for more of David's tips, tools and techniques to tell your personal story.