One of my goals for 2022 is to read a book each month. Not an entirely impressive goal. However, judging by the number of books that I have read at my own leisure since graduating high school, attaining it would be a marked improvement on my current reading habits. As part of this journey in self-development, I want to recount my experiences with each of these texts on my HIVE blog for a few reasons:
- To hold myself publicly accountable for my goal, so that I am more likely to achieve it
- To share some things that I learn with everybody and make some recommendations on what I believe to be worthwhile reads
- To have a condensed version of these books that I can look back upon to provide as a reference for myself in the future
In 2022 I hope to read on a vast array of subjects... and if any of you have book suggestions for me from any genre, I would be more than willing to check them out.
For January, I chose to read the book Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling by Matthew Dicks. I initially became aware of this book through Ali Abdaal, a UK based youtuber, doctor, and entrepreneur through his 15 books to Read in 2021 video.
From the first paragraph of the preface to the book, I was stunned by the way Matthew Dicks was capable of painting a scene in my head. I remember rereading the page just to marvel at how quickly I was able to envision the events detailed in the passage. It is a skill that is consistent with both Dicks's written transcriptions of stories in the book and the live performances I have seen on his YouTube. From the jump, I knew this guy was the real deal...the right source to derive some insight on the art of storytelling from.
Prior to this book, I never really viewed story telling as much of a skill one could develop, or honestly a particularly useful device for much other than entertainment purposes. My perspective entirely changed as I progressed through book. Though I will likely never tell my personal stories in front of an audience of strangers like Dicks does at the Moth - an organization with multiple venues dedicated to the craft of storytelling - I came away with a reverence for those who have such a command over language that they are able to take the audience through a moment in such a vivid way that makes them feel like they were actually there. This had started me thinking on how each individual will paint a separate picture in their minds eye when reading or hearing a story. So much is left for interpretation, therefore the brain automatically fills in the holes to complete the picture, giving us a complete scene for a story to take place. Really it is the concern of the storyteller to give just enough information to set the scene without becoming too overbearing with details to the audience.
I really appreciate all of the technical suggestions that Dicks provides throughout the book... each broken down and exemplified in his own stories. I would rather not go into detail on these strategies in this space, but I did find them all quite enlightening and will try to implement them not only in me casual storytelling, but also in my writing. We all have coworkers, family members, or friends whose stories drag on for excruciating amounts of time without any theme, or overall arc. Maybe recommend them this book. They could learn a lot from a master of storytelling.
While Dicks has lived a remarkable life, riddled with hardship and unique circumstances and moments, one of his central themes is that we all have stories to tell - we just have to find them within ourselves, within our memories. He goes on to give strategies to help find those stories, including free association writing and journaling impactful moments each day. I find his message of each individual having storyworthy stories very compelling. Often times, I feel like the endless buzz pop culture, the news, television, and social media has such a strangle hold on what we think is worthy of a story, ultimately conflating our interpretation of how interesting the lives of others are. Sometimes we need to be reminded of our own life, that we are crafting a narrative, a legacy in real time.
I thought this was a wonderful piece of work by Dicks. It transformed the lens that I view stories through and will forever change the way that I tell them to friends, loved ones, or strangers. Previously I had been under the impression that good stories were just the product of the course of our life's events. I thought that the quality of a story was proportional to how humorous, unlikely, magnificent, etc. the situation that the storyteller is accounting. This could not be further from reality, as it is usually the small moments that make for really impactful stories. To become aware of this, and also be tooled in crafting these moments into a compelling narrative is truly a gift.