Story: How To Finally Change Your Life

Imagine yourself in this scenario…

You’ve tried to make a life change: grow your business, boost your career, lose weight, quite smoking, increase your income, improve your relationships.

Sometimes you’ve had limited success, and sometimes none at all.

Oh, you can make a temporary change, but it never seems to last.

Until…

You read that one book… or attend that one workshop… or hear that one piece of advice from a friend… and something clicks.

You make the shift instantly.

How do you do that?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the ability to replicate that experience so you could just draw on it whenever needed?

I think I know why it happens, and I think I have at least part of the key to replicating the experience.

What finally makes the shift for you, and gets you to make the change you desire… is not that you discovered some long-sought “secret” that had always held you back.

No, it’s much simpler than that.

It’s this: you finally found a story that you believed deeply enough, and then the change became effortless.

That’s why we can read 10 books on getting our financial act together but make zero progress; and then something about book #11 sparks us to action and suddenly we’re doing what we should have been doing all along.

And that’s another key thought: usually we knew what to do all along, we just couldn’t get ourselves to do it. For instance, most people who want to get rid of that extra fat around their midsection know what to do: eat less, exercise more. Yet there’s a new diet book, plan, or pill every day. The reason is, we’re all looking for that story that will finally make a believer out of us… and spur us into action.

The message to consumers: don’t feel bad that you bought 20 books on marketing before you found the one that got you to actually do something… celebrate the fact that you took action until you found the story that worked for you.

And the message to marketers is: the story you tell your prospects is crucial to your success. Find a story that connects with your audience, one that gets them telling the story to their friends (Zappos, Disney, Four Hour Workweek, Trust Agents)… and you can transform your business.

Story. More important than you thought.

Ray Edwards is a world-renowned copywriter and communications strategist, writing for some of the most powerful voices in leadership and business including New York Times bestselling authors Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul) and Tony Robbins. Ray is a sought-after speaker and author, hosts a popular weekly podcast, and blogs at RayEdwards.com.