Reflection Shorts - "Win that Communication" - episode #3

Tell 'bounded and humorous' stories

You must have heard this before:

“A great way to explain or present something is telling an engaging story about it.”

This works because people listening can relate to stories, remember those for a long and can share them with their friends and feel smart about it :)

🏰 So, next time you write a document, newsletter, book, or even talk casually to someone, try portraying information in the form of a story. 🏰

But telling a story is an art, which only few cracks well. Here’s how to do it:

1. 🍰 Tell short meaningful stories. Telling long stories just messes up the whole point of it. Think when your uncle Henry starts to say: “That reminds me of…” and everyone’s eyes would start to roll and you know it would take an hour for him to finish - that’s not worth it.

2. 😄 The second point is about adding humor to your stories. Humor makes it easier to remember and multiplies laughter. But there as well, you need to be cautious:

• Don’t make fun of other people.

• Don’t make fun of yourself multiple times, otherwise you’d lose credibility

• Don’t make it funny forcefully. It should come naturally.

A good story starts well, delivers the peak point, and ends with a smile on the listener’s face.

An example of a good story goes like this:

“There’s a pub just outside of Dublin….
….When I visited it last year….
The point is that it was making good profit in a way…
That’s why we must learn from it so that….

Key Takeaway

📜 Tell bounded stories that deliver the key message with humor sprinkled over it carefully. 📜

That’s the ‘Short’ for today. If you are wondering “What’s a Reflection Short?” Read here.

Shoutouts 🔊

• How I Aced Machine Learning Interviews by

  Kartik Singhal

• Traits of a 10x engineer by

  Arpit Bhayani

• Data Modelling Using Complex Data Types by

  Junaid Effendi

• How to fix slow loading apps by

  Caleb Mellas

• How I plan my week as a Senior Engineer in Big Tech by

  Jordan Cutler

References

• Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work and Beyond

Let’s Connect 🤝

👋 Hey there, I am Gourav. I write about Engineering, Productivity, Thought Leadership, and the Mysteries of the mind!

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