Your story. Your legacy

Public speaking and story – vital forms of communication,

– connecting, convincing

and

leaving a legacy.

I have long loved this from Neil Gaiman, storyteller extraordinaire:

I do love Neil Gaiman’s understanding of story … so much.

When I first saw this quote, I wrote …

This, in a nutshell,  I’ve just lately realised, is why stories have always mattered so much to me.

Libraries, books, stories are collections of what we know deep in our cells is treasure beyond wealth or money.

It is our creative stimulus, our survival, our reminders of why we exist and what is possible….

creative stimulus, survival, reminders of why we exist and what is possible.

There is so much we can discuss around that in terms of connecting/convincing, but let’s look at legacy.

What might be your legacy – the legacy of your communication, speaking and storytelling

and perhaps in terms of stimulating creativity, making meaning of existence, seeing possibilities?

And if that sounds a bit pompous, a bit beyond the realms of your everyday life, please think again.

If you are a speaker, if you are a storyteller, if you are a communicator of any sort, within your family, within your community, at work, in business you are influencing people whether you think you are or not, whether you choose to or not.

And that

might change a LITTLE piece of history,

or you might be able to contribute to one of the BIG movements for change that is happening around us right now.

How will we use story to be a part of the constant change that IS history, to leave even just a tiny legacy as part of it all?

I love the way we can use story, whenever we tell it, to encourage our teams, our communities, our audiences, ourselves, in fact,

to strive to

be the best of what it is that makes us human – to remind ourselves of that.

It can also show us our shadow side and how we need to work at accepting and working with that too.

If you are a change-maker, a history-maker – story is your most potent tool  !!

And I’m going to own that one!

You can too!

There is always some way we can make the world a better place, change our culture, inspire change and growth, if only through our workplace, our children, our incidental conversations.

Elon Musk, who is doing so much to move us forward in useful ways, is also aiming to take us to Mars, in case we need an alternative home to this one.

That’s altruistic perhaps, but let’s not contribute to making it a necessity!!

Whatever way we choose to harness the power of speaking and story, it will be our legacy – yours and mine.

My question to you today is …

What is the story you will contribute to our shared history?  What would you like your legacy to be?

Think about that as you go about your daily tasks.

Feel free to visit the comments below and let me know what you would like the legacy of your speaking and storytelling to be,

and it you do want to chat with me about using story to leave a legacy, find a time that will suit you here.