storytelling is one of the most powerful
skills you can learn the people who have
the most influence on this planet are
good storytellers teachers use them to
convey important concept comedians use
them to make us laugh companies use them
to sell their products and politicians
use them to campaign and take power a
recent study even found that good
storytellers are seen as significantly
more attractive and are even considered
more important so how exactly do you
become a good storyteller
well every good story is told in the
same exact format that is comprised of
three parts if you can learn and master
these three parts you can become a
significantly better storyteller the
first part is to set up this is where
you set the scene for your story you
give the listener enough detail for them
to know what you're going to talk about
think of it as the cover of a book if
you don't have a proper set up a proper
cover people will not listen to your
story they're not going to pick up that
book you'll hear comments like oh you're
so random or haha you're so weird
if you do not have a proper setup what
you want to make sure to is that your
story is relatable to the subject at
hand for example if my friends were
talking about their crazy college
roommates I could bring up a story about
my old roommate if my friends are
talking about people they looked up to
in the past I could bring in a story
about my boss who I used to look up to
the second part is the content it's here
where you get to the meat of the story
describes events that occur but if you
spend too much time covering unnecessary
details people will quickly lose
interest
I'm sure we've all met those people who
just talk and talk and talk and never
get to the point it's safe to say people
don't really listen to their stories a
good principle to remember here is kiss
vs kill keep it short and simple versus
keeping it long and lengthy if a piece
of information is not crucial for the
story to make sense
do not included think back to the last
time you watched a good movie what was
going on in your head while you're
watching this movie that made it so
great it might have been funny or
beautiful but the most important factor
it had was tension by building more and
more tension the listener gets more and
more invested they wonder
oh my god what's going to happen how
will this story and now in order to
build tension the meat of your story has
to be interesting the events that occur
has to be something that doesn't
normally happen for example you can tell
a story about you going to the
supermarket and all that happens is that
you buy groceries
there's no tension the story is boring
if people stopped paying attention
halfway to your story it's because
you're either killing it or you're not
building enough tension the third and
final part of a good story is the
resolution is here when you release all
of the tension you built up in the
previous step in comedy the resolution
is the punchline in presentations your
resolution is your conclusion if you
don't properly resolve your story people
will not realize your story is done now
I know that this is a lot to take in
so what we're going to do is we're going
to analyze a couple of stories and break
down exactly what part is what so you
can get an idea of exactly how you
should tell a story I think it's very
important to have a mentor you can look
up to the man who taught me everything I
know about hustling work at the chasing
your dreams with my old sales manager so
one day he was out trying to make
himself he knocks on the door and the
guy opens up and says what do you want
so my boss starts his pitch
hi nice to meet you my name is Jim we
did some updates in the area i'm just
here to talk to you about your internet
and the guy goes oh you're a Salesman
right we'll get the fuck off my porch
now the thing about being a good
salesman is that you have to stay
persistent you'll be surprised how many
extra sales you can make by just
standing your ground so my boss goes
look I understand you're busy but it's
only going to take 30 seconds so the guy
reaches behind his back pulls out a gun
and pistol with my boss right across the
face course and you know what my boss
said ok so now can we talk about your
internet man I couldn't have asked for a
better mentor so if we take a look at
this top part right here this is to set
up the listener knows that i'm going to
talk about a mentor of mine someone who
inspired me if we take a look at the
second part this is the context the meat
of the story
what you'll notice is that I'm only
mentioning the most crucial details i'm
not telling you about the weather that
day or what time it is because frankly
none of that stuff is important for the
story to make sense
but you'll also notice is that I throw
in sound effects this is something that
a lot of good storytellers will do it
will add sound effects facial
expressions and even change their voice
in order to make the story see more
animated the listener can see a clear
picture of exactly what is happening
this line over here
the thing about being a good salesman is
that you have to stay persistent disk
builds tension the listener now knows
that my boss is going to do something
and if we look at this line right here
and you know what my boss said this line
right here built a tremendous amount of
tension the listeners thinking to
himself oh I can feel a punchline coming
I wonder what it is and that's when you
hit them with the resolution it closes
up the whole story shows the listener
why I looked up to my boss so much and
what you'll notice that i doing a line I
couldn't have asked for a better mentor
this is what's called a closing
statement
it shows the listener that the story is
now over here is another example when I
was in college my roommate had a funny
habit of hurting himself in the weirdest
ways possible he was by far the
unluckiest person I had ever met in my
life
so one day he comes back into our room
looking really really sad so I say Adam
what happened man he looks at me and
says my girlfriend just broke up with me
will do you want to talk about it now be
fine
sounds like okay understand sometimes
guys need to get over things by yourself
I turn around and go back onto my laptop
and suddenly I hear I turn around and
Adam is clutching his arm and there's a
knife about an inch deep into his hand
looks just spraying everywhere it was
crazy
so it turns out he had taken out his
pocketknife and he threw it at the wall
in frustration the knife somehow bounced
off the wall and stabbed him back in his
own hand
I don't know what he did in his previous
life because that man definitely did not
have god's favor
so again the first part of this story is
the setup the listener knows that we're
going to talk about a roommate of mine
who somehow hurt himself the next part
is the content is here why describe what
happens you'll notice that this content
is very dialogue heavy when you have a
dialogue heavy story you have to change
your voice and make it very animated
give each character
a slightly different voice for the
listener knows who's speaking
the last part is the resolution it
closes this story and throws in a little
joke about luck and karma almost all of
the best storytellers out there we'll
throw in a pinch of humor
regardless of what type of story they
are telling if you want to learn more
about humor you guys can check out my
video on humor which are linked to in
the description below
not everyone has a different style when
it comes to telling stories but you'll
notice that the best storytellers will
always follow this three-part format if
you want to get better a storytelling
the best way to do so is by practicing
so we're going to do a little exercise a
little challenge in the comments below
try and write your own story tried to
follow all of the tips that I mentioned
in this video as well as the three-part
format after posting your story i'll
give you some constructive criticism