The Storyteller's Secret

8 annotations • Dec 2022 – Feb 2023 • data

The Kalahari storytellers learned that they had to deliver information, convey experiences, inspire, and entertain. If people aren't entertained, they stop listening and go to sleep, not unlike what happens in millions of business presentations given every day. Humans evolved to perceive stories as entertaining because if they didn't pay attention, they might be a lion's lunch.
Emotion trumps logic. You cannot reach a person's head without first touching their heart and the path to the heart runs through the brain, starting with the amygdala.
Great storytellers look effortless because they put a lot of effort into being great.

It's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.
Disney animation chief John Lasseter, who said he owes his career to Steve Jobs, once said that in developing a story, the plot can change dramatically: the characters can come and go, as can the setting. What you can't change is the heart of the story because it lays the foundation for everything else.

Snyder defines audacity as a go-for-it attitude, the conviction and self-confidence to pursue an idea and articulate that idea "even though the world punches you in the nose."

"People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided,"5 says Bandura.
A person with high self-efficacy believes they can reach their goal and they take the steps required to make it happen. They work harder. They raise their hands more. They ask questions. They practice, get it wrong, and try it again. People with low self-efficacy don't need others to tear themselves down. They do it themselves. They quickly lose confidence. They avoid risk and challenges because, after all, they won't succeed anyway (or so they think). They are much more likely to give up when they hear negative comments.