From ancient traditions to worldwide religions, from cultural values to family traditions, stories are the primary mode of communication, of transference.
You are what you are because of the stories that you end up believing.
You got a pair of Nikes? Possibly because you believe the story of ‘doing it’ or ‘making it count’.
If you have a pair of slippers your Mother bought from China Market, your story is about ‘being intelligent about purchases’ or ‘buying the best quality at cheapest rates’.
Doesn’t matter if the story is false or true. What matters is that there is a story. Everything else are details.
That’s why I don’t mind that my laptop has a glowing fruit for a logo. Those are details. What matters is that I believe the story Apple Computers likes to tell.
A leader can weave a story that can change the behavior of millions. Pick your book of religion, and you will see it filled with stories.
Stories work.
But there is one story that is possibly the most powerful story you will ever hear.
The story you tell yourself about yourself.
Whatever You Say…
You are whatever you think you are.
It’s worth repeating: You are whatever you think you are.
But it’s not that easy to think when you have the wrong story.
For example, what’s the number one reason for not starting your own business?
Pretty much everyone who responds to this question, are telling me the same thing in different forms. The number one reason is fear.
But fear is an emotion. And almost by definition, an emotion can not stay with us for long. So how come fear is always there?
Because fear finds a home.
Fear finds a story. A story that you keep telling yourself.
“I am not good enough”
“I am not skilled enough”
“I don’t have the money right now”
“My family doesn’t understand”
“Everyone will laugh when I fail” (notice that you say ‘when’ not ‘if’).
Stories give us comfort. They rationalize. Makes it acceptable. That can be dangerous, right?
See what we are doing here? We are telling a story that doesn’t help us. A story that disempowers. A story that keeps us at the same place.
We need better stories. We need to be better storytellers.
“Once Upon A Time…”
The problem is that most of our stories are given to us. We didn’t write them.
Call them scripts, cognitive maps, stereotypes, genetics, family tradition, whatever – but we must understand that the stories we tell ourselves control us. They define us.
If you want to change, you tell yourself a different story about yourself.
Science backs this up. The whole field of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is pretty much based on identifying the bad stories you tell yourself, and then replacing them with the ones that will work. The success that comes out of this is well documented.
You are a confident person with great potential. That story will change the way you work, change the way you wake up tomorrow morning, change the way you are even reading this article. It is that simple. And that powerful.
Who are you? Are you someone who can not, or someone who can find a way?
Who will you be five years from now? Successful and happy?
What are you fighting against? Who are the enemies? What’s stopping you?
What’s your mission? Where’s your prize, your mountain to climb, your goal?
What is your story?
You are your own storyteller.
Your story starts now.
#BISMILLA
The story I used to tell myself is I am not from a business family, so I will not be able to do business 🙂 quite strange but that’s true for me.
yeah, FEAR , confused due to “when” and “If” as told by momekh and this is also common for many others….
Not strange at all. I know “exactly” how you feel 🙂
Rewrite your story, rewrite yourself. 🙂
Stories do mean a lot! Thanks for the reminder.
Mohammad!
This is a wonderful refresher! I really enjoyed reading it.
I’ve been doing the same all my life; day dreaming used to be my favorite and
almost full time hobby, I used to make stories about myself I didn’t know
at that time that Carl Yung and many others were working out theories
based on this simple thing.
My uncle always laughed at me when I was a little kid because deep down in the valley of my day dreams I used to forget the world around me and was caught talking aloud alone with me and the characters of my stories 🙂
I used to suspect myself to be a seeress 🙂 when things of my thoughts used to materialize. Later in life I realized this was actually the power of mind. We keep searching for the hidden treasure, travel miles & miles to faraway lands while it keeps lying within ourselves every
single moment of our life, waiting to be discovered by us!
I wonder how could people cry & complain that Allah has not given them anything!!!
Powerful words indeed Amna.
It’s great to see one get ahead of the naysayers.
All the best and thank you for sharing your “story” here 🙂
Dude. Its awesome.
You are becoming the first ever motivational Speaker of Pakistan. I really like your stories and I want to tell you mine:
Once upon a time, There was a boy named Ali R. Khan, Who use to think that everything got some flaws and mistakes, Then he realized that everything is Perfect and Great. People are Great and they are doing great jobs. He started appreciating things and that boy was me.
I wanted to start a business when I was in 2nd year but I got so much plans and so little resources that I was unable to decide which one should be the best. Then I came up with a conclusion that “Just Start and learn from your mistakes” after many years of wondering.
I strongly believes that learning without doing and experience is not learning. You cant learn to drive until you sit on the driving seat. You cant find your destination until you explore your own way. Dont go for Destination only, Enjoy the path as well.
Now, I’m trying to establish a small business related to natural stone in Karachi. Life is good and You are beautiful.
Thank you for your time.
Regards
Ali R. Khan
Boom de yadaaaa!!!! 😀
Aoa! Your posts are always amazing.
That being said, what if a story is too messed up and the writer can’t go two sentences without experiencing writer’s block, making rewriting it almost impossible?