Why Stories Matter: For the World, and Your Life.

Stories are the operating system (O.S) of our minds. They direct our attention and shape our personal as well as collective destiny. If you want to change your life (or the world) - you have to start by changing your story. 

Stories as an O.S

Stories are the internal filters that we use to sort through the complexity of our lives in a way that allows us to make sense of the world and take action. 

They are the internal narratives in our head that we use to explain what’s going on in our lives and the world around us. We have stories in our minds of who we are, what life is about, the state of the world among many others. 

Stories tell our brains what to pay to pay attention to, what meaning to give our experiences and what actions we can and should take in response. They operate like programs that direct human attention in making meaning of the past, understanding the present and projecting into the future. 

Stories have a profound influence in shaping our personal as well as collective lives. The stories we entertain in our minds function like launchpads for our imagination that determine what we believe is possible both for ourselves and society.

Stories as your personal O.S 

As the operating system for your mind, stories play a significant role in shaping the quality of your personal life. Both in who you are in this moment and who you will become in the future. 

As human beings we have many stories that have an influence on our lives. The question is: what are the stories that run your life? What are the stories that have the greatest influence shaping your perception of the world? 

The stories we feed our brains shape the filters of our perception. They provide information to our brain to sort through our experience in favor of the things that our stories place emphasis on. As entrepreneurial coach Dan Sullivan says, “our eyes only see and our ears only hear what our brain is looking for”. 

The stories that you entertain in your mind - about what is going on in the world or in your life - shape what you pay attention to, the possibilities you imagine for the future and consequently what actions you take as a result. 

If your story is that life is a gift and the challenges you face are lessons for you to grow then you’ll act very differently than if your story is that life is a battle and that all the forces in life are always working against you. In the first case you pay attention to your challenges and reframe them as lessons for growth whereas in the second case you pay attention to challenges and use them as a confirmation of your story that life is a battle and that life is always working against you. 

Whether the story is true or false is besides the point - the fact is that each story you tell yourself frames your life in a different way and presents you with a very different range of possibilities to take action. 

The real question is whether the stories you tell yourself serve your well-being and success. 

Stories as our collective O.S 

Stories filter our collective perception of the world in the same way that they filter our personal perceptions. 

As a collective operating system - stories guide human attention to particular dimensions of our collective experience, assigning meaning to them and guiding actions in response to those meanings. 

In the context of a community, nation or global society, stories are incredibly powerful in their ability to coordinate collective action between groups of people. Rather than having to know people personally, a shared story can unify strangers to act and cooperate with each other towards a common goal. 

As historian Yuval Noah Harari puts it, “any large-scale human cooperation — whether a modern state, a medieval church, an ancient city, or an archaic tribe — is rooted in common myths that exist only in people’s collective imagination.” 

Stories or ‘myths’ function as a frame for people’s experiences in a way that shapes collective action and determine the direction in which a group of people move into the future. 

Stories Matter

Stories are the operating systems we use to make sense of reality, to imagine possibilities for the future and to determine the actions we take in the world. They shape us as individuals as well as collective. 

The quality of our stories will shape the quality of our lives - whether they are empowering or disempowering - our stories will determine our focus in life and forge our destiny. 

If we want to change our destiny as individuals and a society - we have to change the stories we use to make sense of the world in a way that empowers us to create the future that we are most compelled to create.