Most of us have done it. Answered "How was your day?" or "How was your trip?" by starting with the one bad thing that happened rather than emphasizing all the good stuff. Sometimes people spend so long on preamble or complaints that by the time they get to the fun heart of the story, time is up or boredom has set in. While I am certainly not advocating for lying, there is no rule that you have to tell the whole truth.
Here are some tips for editing your story:
I've learned it's better to have someone lean in to ask you more than to have them lean back and try to exit. Start with a sentence or two and then see what interests the listener.
You don't have to pretend it was all fabulous if it wasn't, but you also don't have to emphasize what went wrong. Focusing on the positive also helps you develop a more positive mindset.
The way you tell your story is the way you'll remember it. So if you focus on the traffic, the long lines, the high prices, that's what you'll remember. Fortunately the opposite is also true.
Taking a few moments to think about how you will position something will make the story-sharing experience better for everyone. If you know most Mondays someone will ask, "How was your weekend?" think about how you'd like to answer the question in advance.
If you notice people cutting your stories short, pay attention to how much and what you're sharing. It may be that you're sharing too much information or being overly negative. After a while, it's hard to hear about the long lines at Disney World when you yourself would do almost anything to be able to take that trip.
If having great conversations or being more positive is important to you, edit your story.
Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash
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