Thread by @dickiebush

If you can tell a compelling story, you can shape the world.

But most people think they don't have any stories worth telling.

And that's because they've never learned how to spot them.

So here are 3 simple ways to find viral-worthy stories in small, everyday moments:

Before you can craft and tell great stories, you need to learn to spot them.

And in his hit book Storyworthy, @matthewdicks explains three frameworks to build your story-spotting muscle:

• Homework for Life
• Crash and Burn
• First, Last, Best, Worst

Here's how to use them:

Framework #1: Homework for Life

Most people think stories have to be some incredible adventure, like the movies.

But the truth is, you have storyworthy moments every day.

You've just never stopped to capture them.

And that's because you've never done Homework for Life.

Doing Homework for Life is simple.

Every day, you take five minutes to reflect:

If you had to tell a story from today - a five-minute story about something that took place over the course of the day, what would it be?

And all you have to do is write one sentence about it.

Finding stories is a skill - and you need to practice it every day.

And that's the beauty of Homework for Life.

It's simple enough to do even on your busiest days.

Two columns: date and story.

Five minutes, one story, one sentence.

And once you start doing it, time slows down.

You start to recognize storyworthy moments in the simplest things.

You become appreciative of moments that for years you've overlooked.

And you start to assemble a list of hours of future stories - all in five minutes per day.

Framework #2: Crash and Burn

The goal of Crash and Burn is to clear the ideas clogged up in your head and get them onto the page.

@matthewdicks calls it "dreaming from the end of your pen."

It's a simple five-minute stream of consciousness writing exercise with three rules:

Rule #1: You must not get attached to any one idea

During your Crash and Burn session, new ideas are going to fly from every direction.

Ideas you forgot about, never thought about, and everything in between.

Lean into this - every time a new idea pops up, let it take over.

Rule #2: You must not judge any thought or idea that appears in your mind

Every idea that pops into your head must make it onto the page.

Give yourself permission to spill your guts on the page.

Also - handwriting, grammar, punctuation, capitalization - forget about all of it.

Rule #3: You cannot allow the pen to stop moving.

This is the most important rule.

Whether you're freewriting or on a keyboard, you cannot stop.

If you feel yourself slowing down, start listing items until they trigger a memory.

• Fruits
• Colors
• People
• Numbers

Dicks recommends doing Crash and Burn every day for 15 minutes.

The freewriting session lasts five minutes. And afterward, you spend 10 minutes reading it over, finding the storyworthy threads.

The first time I did this, it blew my mind how many stories and ideas I found.

Framework #3: First, Last, Best, Worst

The third and final framework is my favorite.

As you go about your life, you forget many of your storyworthy moments.

They're like gaps in your memory, waiting to be filled.

And First, Last, Best, Worst is built to fill in those gaps.

To do this exercise, make a grid with five columns along the top

• Prompt
• First
• Last
• Best
• Worst

And under the prompt column, list any of the following prompts:

• Pet
• Job
• Skill
• Gift
• Book
• Travel
• Trouble
• Advice
• Investment

For each prompt, find your first, last, best, and worst moment or memory for each of them.

This creates an ABSURD amount of raw material for storytelling.

To reflect on what you wrote, look at each box in the grid to find anything worth keeping.

Hint: look for repeat answers.

Aaaaand that's it!

I've been practicing these three exercises for the last few weeks.

And now I have TOO MANY stories to tell.

Block some time today and get started:

Here's each of them so you can remember:

• Homework for Life
• Crash and Burn
• First, Last, Best, Worst

If you're interested in finding, crafting, and telling stories, I recommend picking up a copy of @matthewdicks' Storyworthy.

It's the most fun I've had reading a book in a long time.

amzn.to/2WJYpFQ

If you found these frameworks useful, toss me a follow → @dickiebush. I'm writing threads like this every day for 30 days.

Also: jump back to the top of this thread and share it with the next generation of great storytellers.

https://twitter.com/dickiebush/status/1432714944387158023?s=20

If you're looking to start writing online, capturing ideas to write about and stories to tell is a crucial skill.

We devote an entire lesson in this free 10-day email course to it (along with 9 other can't-miss frameworks)

Check it out:

ship30for30.com/sneak-peek

Here's @MatthewDicks breaking down the power of doing Homework for Life:

A must-watch.

So many gems on @MatthewDicks' YouTube channel.

Going down the rabbit hole now.

youtube.com/c/StoryworthyT…