What's Your Story?

The TV series Game of Thrones began a new and penultimate season this week. (I’m not revealing anything here, no worries, a sort of reverse trigger warning.) It’s now “off the (George R.R. Martin) book” so the plots are strictly the result of the current writers’ imaginations. My entire family finds it great fun. (My daughter and her husband brought an Apple TV down here to the Jersey Shore so that we could catch the opening episode.)

We all love a good yarn. I read all 20 of Patrick O’Brien’s novels of the 18th Century British Navy, and even read his handwritten notes of his 21st, made before he died in his 90s. All of our families share stories that we tell over and over at holidays and events. One of my top coaching clients told me that she counted 12 stories within 15 minutes of my beginning a discussion.

Then there are the “stories of our lives.” Are you writing the same page every day, a boring documentary, or are you creating excitement and fascination on each page, an exploit of interest and involvement for everyone else?

That's right. You're writing your story at this very moment. Make sure it's a good one.