Who doesn’t love a good story? Since the dawn of time there’s been that image of a roaring fire and a group seated around it, each with their own story to tell. The lives they’ve lived, the adventures they’ve journey upon, the funny anecdotes they’ve heard; humans are simply blessed with excellent memories which allows us to share our knowledge, experience, and growth. We may not all be great storytellers but each of us has a storyteller inside of us.

The storyteller is simply the part of the brain that remembers things.

• That time you received a compliment from your boss?
• When you walked across the graduation stage?
• Or maybe that time you received a promotion?
• Or maybe even the time you left a lousy job in exchange for bigger better opportunity.

A storyteller is very good at not only remembering these moments but also capturing the images and ‘feel’ of the moment, too.

“I made the sale and my boss was floored! He told me with a look of astonishment, ‘Wow! I can’t believe you sold to that company, we’ve been trying to do business with them for years!’”

My storyteller tends to remember what the weather was like, what I wore, and even what I ate for lunch on a certain day. Having a storyteller is oftentimes a beautiful thing, but other times, it can be very, VERY painful. 

Like a good buddy, my storyteller is always there when I need them. Easy-going, steady, and consistent. But other times, my story teller is a monster. A large behemoth that sulks, dwells, and stews. Its tentacles wrap around me and slowly constrict, paralyzing me to move forward in a career or life even.

• I really blew it in that meeting last month. I can’t believe I said that… the buyers looked very annoyed.
• I was late for a conference call because of bad traffic and my boss was furious…I’ll never forget that tone in their voice.
• It’s been 3 weeks and I haven’t made a sale. Will I ever make another sale again?
• I messed up that repair and the customer really needed the car for her family.

Like most good stories, we tend to exaggerate the details to add a little more drama into the mix and our storytellers are no exception. Life is not all sunshine and rainbows, but it is important to know when your storyteller is telling the truth or exaggerating for effect because you’re already in a sour mood.

What helps me is sitting myself and my storyteller down and coming to terms with what exactly happened.

• The buyer looked annoyed? Send them a gift for staying so faithful to the company.
• You we’re late for a meeting. Learn the proper ways of handling a traffic jam.
• It’s been 3 weeks since you’ve made a sale, will you ever make another sale? If you are properly motivated, of course you will. Everyone has peaks and valleys in their occupation.

·    I’m my own worst critic and my storyteller is very responsible for that, so it’s nice to sometimes just tell him to shut up and let me live my life. It’s easy for me to overcome the bad stories if I can come to reason and learn a lesson from my screw-ups. I try my best to learn what feels the best in the good stories and learn how to capture that feeling in each story I tell. Eventually, if best practices are kept up, there will be fewer bad stories for my storyteller to tell.