Today I was reading through Tiago Forte’s book, “Building A Second Brain.”
I had read through to page 80 & had a thought come to mind. Even though it had nothing to do with the context, it was Tiego’s organization of his book that made me realize,
Storytelling is powerful.
Simple statement, right?
1 month ago
I was searching through Twitter for book inspiration & stumbled on Building A Second Brain, thinking, “Even if I don’t have a lot of time, I suppose I can give this a shot.”
When I chose books I can get really picky. I might not judge a book by its cover (pun intended), but if the message starting off doesn’t capture my needs then I don’t have a reason to read it.
Well, fortunately there was a preview online else I definitely wouldn’t have considered buying it first to know if I was interested.
I was expecting the beginning to talk directly about Notion or the famous “PARA Method” but nope!
The beginning started with a story.
The book began talking about Tiego’s first-person account of how he got an unknown illness which embarked him on his note taking journey, and how despite always having taken notes — he never quite got a system until having to use notes of his situation to finally diagnose his own illness.
“Wow, note taking did that?”
I thought after reading the first chapter. Then when I read more, Tiago went into his methods for organization & the “nitty gritty” of how the PARA method worked.
Cutting to the point — I was hooked!
What’s the lesson?
Storytelling draws the reader into the author’s mind & prepares them to learn more from what they’re reading.
Even the most complex research article, if given background info with a narrative, could suck the reader into wanting more.
For example, would you randomly look up how molecular tests are done on shellfish to help prevent extinction?
No? (Just guessing)
What if an article produced by a family blogger, talked about their underwater adventure to see shellfish and their experience taking one to a research lab to help out the greater good?
Maybe there isn’t one like that, but which option would you chose?
By drawing our readers into our articles with a story, we can prepare them to digest anything we give them.
Let this be a reminder to any writers out there to get a lil’ creative with your intros!
You never know what might light the match 🔥