AARP magazine this month has a great article entitled “Everyone has a Story to Tell.” Abigail Thomas, the author of A Three Dog Life and Safekeeping, teaches the art of memoir writing, and provides some wonderful advice on tapping into your creative side.

Thomas says writing is important to her, because it’s how she makes sense of her life. I agree. Writing doesn’t just allow you to make sense of your personal life. It’s a fantastic tool for getting perspective on your business life and the life of your company.

Whether or not you have a “secret dream” to write personal memoirs, writing stories is a fabulous way to bring pizzazz, perspective and a personal touch to your presentations. And you don’t need to get “ultra” personal with a story. To make it work for a business presentation, it just needs to be yours…so that people connect with you and understand your perspective.

Everybody, and I mean everybody, has a story. One of our senior consultants, Craig Bentley, likes to say, “If you’re breathing, you have stories.” We’ve found the best way to “discover” your own stories is to recall scenarios like this:

• A successful (or unsuccessful) team project
• An awkward moment in business you’ll never forget
• A failure that taught you an important principal or value
• A person who has inspired you in your personal or business life

Just like writing a memoir, writing a business story really helps you get perspective. But don’t try to force the point. As you write, put it all on paper and then, go back and look for the point of the story.

My favorite part of the AARP article is “21 Ways to Start Writing”

Again, these are memoir tips, but try them out when looking for business stories:

• Write two pages of apologies
• Write two pages in which something is broken
• Write two pages on taking your time

Storytelling is a leadership skill — every leader should have an anthology of stories that reveal something about them.

So carve out a couple of hours at home on the weekend, put up your feet, get a legal pad or a laptop computer and just start! You’ll be amazed at what happens when you set aside time for personal creativity.

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