Never Go to Bed without a Story to Tell
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\n"Never go to bed until you have a story to tell," says Kevin Lynch, Creative Director at Oatly. I heard him interviewed on a podcast and stopped jogging to write down what he said about that daily story:
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\nIt could be a deep thing that you learned, it could be a movie that you saw, it could be a way you took home, it could be a conversation that you had\u2026it could be anything.\u201d1
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\nIndeed, we can live a \u201cstoried life\u201d without a celebrity-level lifestyle full of famous people and fabulous soirees. We\u2019re living \u201cstory-worthy\u201d moments each day\u2014we simply need to notice them\u2026and capture them.
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\nEvery day we have understated interactions and flashes of insight that create meaning. In fact, simpler, subtler, more relatable stories can captivate readers far better than wild escapades that don\u2019t show any change.
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\nThese daily stories serve as fodder for our work, weaving into what we write as anecdotes, illustrations. Sometimes they serve as the narrative spine of a full-length project.
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\nThus, the more stories, the better\u2014as Kevin Lynch observed in that interview, capturing a story each day gives us 365 stories every single year.
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\nTo start your story collection today, try these three ways to ensure you have a story to tell by the time your head hits the pillow tonight:
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\n* Reflect to discern your "story-worthy\u201d moment from the day
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\n* Create a story worth telling before closing your eyes for the night
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\n* Gather memories that come to mind and use those as story prompts
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\n1. Reflect on the Day to Discern Your \u201cStory-Worthy\u201d Moment
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\nIn his TEDx Talk, on his podcast, in his book Storyworthy, and at his blog, storyteller Matthew Dicks invites every person, not just writers, to document their \u201cmost story-like moment from the day\u201d for what he calls Homework for Life.
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\nHe takes five minutes at the end of each day and thinks back: What made this day different from all the rest?2
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\nThe idea is so simple. He writes a sentence or two\u2014sometimes just a string of words\u2014and later, when he has time to write it out in full, he\u2019s got what he needs to bring back that memory from that day: the moment he chose to document.
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\nWith his Homework for Life, we note the small discoveries, the daily surprises, those meaningful moments we don\u2019t want to lose. In other words, these daily stories don\u2019t need to be earth-shattering events. They can be quiet, understated internal shifts.
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\nHe keeps his in a spreadsheet, making it easy to search keywords and find connections and themes from year to year.3
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\nBegin this process, and you\u2019ll be transformed by seeing how ephemeral interactions, observations, and moments are actually filled with meaning\u2026that a day that seems like any other day is packed with specificity.
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\nWe are living stories every single day.
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\n2. Create a story worth telling
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\nThe next way to avoid going to bed until you have a story to tell is to create a story.
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\nThat\u2019s what Kevin Lynch suggests: \u201cIf someone asks, \u2018How was your day?\u2019 and you don't have a story to tell them, go create one."4
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\nHe continues, "By doing so, it pushes you out of your comfort zone and kind of gets you used to doing a little more experimentation and being vulnerable and putting yourself in vulnerable places or situations."5
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