Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge & Selection

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One tool that I’ve used for as long as I remember but never realized I did is – Storytelling. I  got into competitive debating back when I was 7 (I’m 20 now) and I’ve come to develop a  habit of creating compelling stories out of facts. It is because of my way of sharing information  that I’m a celebrated speaker almost everywhere I go – both in a professional capacity and a  personal one.

Through storytelling, it becomes much easier to retain people’s attention and get them to  listen to you. I’ve realised storytelling is much more than good articulation – it is a method to  “open people up”, as stories enable empathy like nothing else.

In the recent past, I’ve had the opportunity to work in the development sector – one of the  most emotionally scintillating fronts I put my work ethics to. My storytelling method of  interaction not only made the beneficiaries get comfortable with me, but also led them to  become more cooperative and reactive towards my work.

In college, where everyone is just as smart as you or smarter – meaning homogeneity is  practically unavoidable – where it’s not just academic competition but also social competition  - it becomes increasingly important to be able to hold people’s attention to not just share  your opinions, but for them to matter too. Storytelling helps me do that.

Approach & Application

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When freshers came to college and I became a senior, I remember being on a panel where  we were supposed to address how failure hits us all in some ways and how we can still make  the most of the situation.

I started by telling them about how I’ve always heard – “What do you mean you’ve  encountered failure? You’re the school topper and a national-level debate champion!”

I told the gathering – “Those people are right, I have not seen failure in the more conventional  ways – I’ve not failed classes, but on a lot of occasions, I’ve failed myself. And it’s hard to get  others to acknowledge that, or to get myself to even articulate it well. So many years of  writing and debating, and I still cannot find a way to articulate that failure without making it  sound like a first-world problem, or getting it entirely dismissed.“

The crowd was listening. It was not a How-To Guidebook about navigating one’s way through  failure. It was a real person talking about their story. A lot of people could relate.

I continued.

“Soon after college commenced, I encountered failure, or to put it candidly, rejection. Basking  in the former glory as the ‘prima donna’ of my school, a major shock came along when I  couldn’t make it to the intellectually challenging clubs of my college. Shortly, the resilience of  the human soul endured and I could look back at the disappointment more objectively and  realised that there lied immense opportunity in the awakening; I could outwork and outstudy  everybody who was privileged enough to get access to world-class opportunities growing up.  I comprehended that this rejection was a mandatory step for redirection in the pursuit of  success. Ever since, I think of my life as two phases; pre-rejection and post-rejection. Indeed,  My life didn’t change significantly but I AM CHANGING my life significantly.”

Almost all of the people sitting in that room reached out to me later on, and even to this date,  one year later, juniors reach out to me for help.

That’s the power of storytelling – it makes the listeners take action.

Insight

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Well, this one particular incident not only led me to mentor a lot of juniors but also helped  me navigate my way. Even though I set out to only help people, I got a lot back in return. I  learnt new things – about other people and myself.

I’ve used storytelling a lot of times, unknowingly. But now that I have much deeper insight  into how it can make real impact, I can take more conscious decisions to present all my ideas  in a storytelling manner to get the best results.

