The Power of Collecting Your Stories

Imagine how long ago – maybe 20,000 years – the very first story was told around the fire circle. Stories have fascinated humankind for ages and are a powerful way to communicate, teach lessons, give insights and entertain us.

Stories provide us opportunities to learn from mistakes, emulate our heroes, and envision a future beyond today. We would be clueless about the past and paralyzed about the future without them.

For decades as a leadership coach, father, friend, team member, and colleague I have told stories to illustrate a point, to influence, to motivate and inspire.

Stories are so important to me that I have collected and documented 1,000 of the most important stories of my life.  This is a collection of my top 100 signature stories that I tell over and over again to help other people think in new ways.

Every story here serves a purpose – they have a point. And instead of just stating the facts of what happened, I will make these points through stories as a way to share the emotions along the sequence of events so you can sympathize with the characters.

It is my hope that as you read these stories you will think just a little bit differently about something, and that your new thinking leads to a different way of doing, which will lead to a different way of being.

New Thinking – New Doing – New Being

It is also my hope that these stories will inspire you to recall your stories. As you read these stories, perhaps you will be reminded of a moment in time when something made more sense, was clearer, or was able to motivate you to some new behavior. I hope that you will collect your own stories and tell them in ways that will help others to think better, to do better, and to be better.

Tell your story and you will build relationships and inspire others to think, act and believe from the lessons learned.

Want to discuss your story? Send me an email: peter@germanngroupconsulting.com

6 thoughts on “The Power of Collecting Your Stories”

  1. Thanks for sharing, Peter. I still remember (and retell) the story of your daughter, in the middle of “having a moment,” paused, answered the ringing telephone with a very polite, customer-service voice “Germann residence” and then tried to go back to being angry at her brother. The point was in telling of the Stephen Covey 1st habit, being proactive. Powerful, funny and memorable!

    1. Gail, it really shows the power of that story that you remember it from so long ago. That story was about an 8 year Julia who is now a mother of three children (three of my five my grandchildren). It is one of my favorite stories too. Look for it in other upcoming stories on this website and on my linked in site.

  2. Peter – I was thrilled to see your post on LinkedIn a few months ago and immediately went to your website to see the stories you had posted up to that point. Am looking forward to continue to read, learn and hopefully continue to grow – just like so many years ago when I could just stop by your office to gain your insights! Not quite the same – but it will have to do!

    Keep up the great work and thanks for continuing to share!

    1. Those were the good old days at Fortis Financial Group sharing insights with each other. Can you believe it was 20 years ago? I will keep the stories coming. Thanks for your note.

    1. Thanks Henry. It means something to me that you enjoy the stories because I consider you a master storyteller. I am still using the tips you gave me on how to capture stories and moments in Evernote so that I can reference them in an easy way. I have over 1600 stories in spreadsheets and Evernote for future reference. Will keep them coming, one a month until I run out of stories.

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