We turned the page on another calendar. The idea of a new year comes many times during the 12 months. For some, New Year could be the turn of calendar, it could be your birthday, a festival, the financial year, or any other day that would mean the beginning of a new journey.
But this ONE day brings us all together, albeit a few hours ahead or later than each other.
Every year, we begin what we call a #GolpoProject, a project to create a storytelling resource. It’s like a building a habit that helps us flex our storytelling muscles, creating an original body of work that we continue to use in myriad ways.
In 2021, we created ABC of Storytelling 2.0, a web resource of Storytelling Tips, Tricks, Techniques (and Secrets).
In 2022, we created 365 Days 365 Stories, a year-long endeavour to create prompts that trigger stories. This project was born out of the trauma of the worst pandemic wave when we realised that our stories were being lost. We wanted to create a resource that helped us document the memorable moments of our lives so we could share it with others.
In 2023, we powered up my podcast Golpo: Stories from Around the World to bring together stories that can told in Classrooms, Living Rooms and Boardrooms.
In 2024, we are researching on Sleep & Stories. What are the Stories that keep us awake? Which are the stories that put us to sleep? What will come of this? We are hoping to find the answers.
Storytelling is all about HABITS. It’s a skill that gets better every time you practice it. No matter what we know about stories, one has to work on it to get better.
Why? Because stories are about people, places and conflicts. People & places evolve with time. We humans deal with conflicts new and old. Our context changes with times, so do our values and instincts to deal with a situation. Look at the films & OTT we consume, and you will know what we mean.
So this year, we are beginning a new series of Storytelling Habits.
Every month you will find ONE tip every month, with a step-by-step guide to help you build that habit.
Ready for the first Storytelling Habit?
Daily Journaling
Yes, you know about Journalling. So what’s new?
A Story Journal is a place of documenting your stories, the ones that you have lived in the past, or the one you are living everyday. It is an attempt to document your life in the small and big moments of life.
📘A Story Journal is a conscious effort to recall, retrieve, recollect, reconstruct and retell a story.
📘A Story Journal is an essential way to travel inward with your story, of spending time with yourself to tell the stories that matter to you.
📘This is an exercise that will help you find personal stories that help show who you are.
📘Your Story Journal will give you stories that reveal your values, your motivations, your ethics, your approach, your perspective.
📘Your Story Journal holds the key to your relationships at home, work and the world, no matter whether you share them or not.
📘Your Story Journal would be your go-to resource anytime you want to tell a story. You may discover that some stories are more private than the other. Or you may feel you need more time to be able to share one. No matter, which story it is, each one will be useful to you.
📘There are many kinds of journals out there, however, without a bias, we would like you to consider 365 Days 365 Stories.
We closed 2023 with #100Days100Stories, a movement to help you document 100 story-worthy moments of the year.
Going forward, we will play the Story Bingo in our Newsletters. Every month, we will share a set of story prompts that will help you document a story from your life.
YSB Story Bingo Jan 2024
The prompts are direct & simple. They refer to a specific time, place or event in your life that you can choose to write.
Or they could be metaphorical, nudging you to interpret the word, phrase in your own way to suit the story that you can attach to it.
Some prompts will trigger happy stories. Some others may bring out uncomfortable stories. Since you are writing a Story Journal, don’t shy away from difficult stories.
Be truthful to yourself. This is your chance to be honest and vulnerable. You don’t have to impress anyone with your Story Journal. There is no right or wrong way to journal. However, you can follow the steps outlined in Small Stories to journal your stories. Don’t discriminate between your stories. Not all stories are about earth-moving transformations. Even the small stories are precious.
So here we are, with the first storytelling habit that you can build in this year. Next week, we will lay out ways you can use these prompts and stories.
Next month, we will have another tip to build the Storytelling Habit, so remember to gather 12 tips through the next one year!
Can you guess which one would it be?
Storytelling Habits is a year-long series where we share actionable steps to build ONE HABIT per month.
Here are the other Habits in the list:
