THE POWER OF STORY TELLING 📖
IS AN ESSENCE OF LIFE
Rarely have I changed, discarded, rewritten, and revised a letter as often as this one, and I don't even know exactly why.
Usually, I start writing, make sure there are not too many spelling mistakes and that's it - I publish.
Maybe it's because I want to get more out of this topic and I'm a little stuck. I like to keep it relatively short and concise and hope it won't become too long. After all, I don't want to write a novel. Forgive me if I jump a little back and forth today.
So here it goes!
I know it may sound rather deep when I state that the power of storytelling is an essence of life. It could possibly even appear as if I have it all figured out. I can absolutely assure you - I DO NOT! But please bear with me anyway.
“Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.” — Robert McAfee Brown
We all tell stories every single day. We actually cannot help ourselves. We even manage to tell these stories, even if we don’t speak a single word.
I worked in very different professions in my life - and yet they were all somehow connected - like Public Relations, Marketing, and Sales, to name a few.
Several years ago I was asked if I could do a webinar on this topic, explaining what PR, Marketing, and Sales are. It is so funny how people sometimes believe there is something complicated and even mysterious about them - the only reason why it is made into something mystical is that then people can charge so much more for their services. At the end of the day, it is rather simple because it is something we all do and we do it every single day - almost at least! This is how storytelling is made…
Let’s start with Public Relations. If you look for definitions, you will find a lot of complicated and lengthy explanations of what PR is. When I started working in public relations many moons ago, I had absolutely no clue what it was. I was very honest about that in the interview (and I really wanted that job) and the owner of the company that hired me, in the end, didn’t care. He wanted my expertise in travel and tourism and there I was the best - not very modest I know. He explained PR to me in a way that I never forgot and I immediately got it. He told me that we all do public relations every single day - everyone does it and we are all experts - more or less at least.
It is how you present things or yourself in public - yep, that’s the big secret!
It is how you dress, how you speak, how you move, how you eat, literally everything you do in public. I hope you are not disappointed that it is really that simple, almost banal.
What is so important though is knowing that the image you put out there is the one that you will be perceived with - the good and the ugly. What you may risk when it is not your authentic self is that some people might figure it out and your PR bubble bursts and backfires on you big time.
It is quite interesting, that lies, if they are repeated often enough may become the truth - or at least appear as such for some and in the case of the past three years for many. It is horrific seeing the abuse of public relations and the fact, that in the past three years especially, the PR machinery has been working in only one direction. Journalists have become puppets of the WEF and the broken governments of the world. I do apologise though to the handful of real investigative journalists who still know their trade and work it with honour and pride by trying to uncover and report various perspectives and doing their homework. So whether it is your personal PR, which consists more of lies or a fake image than of your authentic self, or the general narrative, that is nothing but PR, sooner or later the truth will prevail and no matter how often you repeat the lies, at a certain point, the house of cards will fall.
Now let’s demystify Marketing a little. Here is a definition:
Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
Sounds flashy and is yet so much more simple. Just like PR we all do marketing every day, simply due to the fact, that we put ourselves on the market every day. When we decide to smile at someone, or not, or when we think of ways to make our partner, family, or anyone else happy. It is the photo and the comments we put on social media or even the wallpaper we use on our phones and so much more.
The marketing strategies of the past three years have been one of gaslighting. No matter what you believed, you were not allowed to voice it without having to fear repercussions. Social media platforms were brutally censored, and accounts suspended, blocked, or even deleted to ensure that only one narrative is heard and seen. But the greatest example of what marketing can do is making billions believe a new vaccine, that has not been properly tested, is „safe and effective“. Marketing at its very worst and certainly not safe but VERY effective. Essentially marketing is the art of making gold out of 💩!
So, this brings us directly to Sales - the three are very much intertwined so that even if you wanted to, you cannot really separate them from one another as they absolutely belong together.
When we think of sales, we usually think of the sale of material goods or merchandise. That's certainly a big part of it, but sales are also something we do on a daily basis, or at least almost daily. We sell ourselves! That sounds more naughty than it should but it is true. In every conversation we conduct, every opinion we express, when we are looking for a job, offering a service, or an idea, we are selling. When we teach our children something, we are selling them the idea of what is right and good. That is sales!
What has been sold to us in the past years is far from right and good. I mentioned it in my last Special Issue, and I am disgusted at what is being told to us by our governments that are in cahoots with the media. Always question what people are trying to sell you, whether material goods, information, or an idea. Do your research not only when you buy a new car, a television, or a washing machine. Do your research when they tell you to put something in your body that you do not understand and most likely don’t need. Question the climate narrative - do your research away from the mainstream media. You get the gist.
Storytelling is an essential in life but whatever you do, don’t believe every story you are told.
This video is a brilliant deconstruction of the generally accepted storytelling of our time and is very much worth watching and sharing.
“You're never going to kill storytelling, because it's built into the human plan. We come with it.” — Margaret Atwood
When you look at Public Relations, Marketing, and Sales from this perspective, you realise how essential they are to all of us in all we do every day. Together they all tell our very own and very different stories - the good and the ugly ones. So the next time anyone tries to tell you that Public Relations, Marketing, and Sales are complicated, you know that you are an expert yourself - if you care to consciously look at what you are doing on a daily basis and why.
I really believe that an essence of life is storytelling. When we acknowledge that everyone that crosses our path has their very own, and very personal story, we can learn so much from that.
“Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.” — Hannah Arendt
Your own authentic story is important, as are you!
🎶My Song of the Week
Is one by Ady Suleiman (ft. Frankie Stew) - Something to say!
For more good music, go to this Spotify playlist where you can find all the songs from the Change & Evolve Letters!
📚My Poem of the Week
Is by the American poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)
Silence
We are anhungered after solitude, Deep stillness pure of any speech or sound, Soft quiet hovering over pools profound, The silences that on the desert brood, Above a windless hush of empty seas, The broad unfurling banners of the dawn, A faery forest where there sleeps a Faun; Our souls are fain of solitudes like these. O woman who divined our weariness, And set the crown of silence on your art, From what undreamed-of depth within your heart Have you sent forth the hush that makes us free To hear an instant, high above earth's stress, The silent music of infinity?
👀Impressions
Waking up to this sight fills me with joy!
If you would like to connect with me, find out more about the Enneagram and yourself, and how it can transform you and your life, I would be happy to take the time for a speed coaching call that you can reserve right here go to my website or simply hit reply and get in touch with me directly.
What you should never forget is that you are the storyteller of your own life! So, make your story one worth telling!
I wish you an amazing weekend and look very much forward to hearing from you.
Yours
Tanja 🤗
Neil Oliver is very good, but I rarely get to hear him, connection speed issues mostly. I like the Margaret Atwood quote too. and I wonder if that is the key to successful politics - if you can get a good story, and a good story teller, then you can sell anything. The tragedy is, of course, that we get sold all sorts of rubbish if we don't have the knowledge to discriminate.
Really good thoughts Tanja and the video by Neil Oliver who is always worthwhile listening to. I have been working with my niece who is interviewing for a college scholarship and sent this post on which has such simple and useful ideas. Thanks!