First I will thank Nathan Baugh, for his WorldBuilders emails I savor every day and especially for his August 5 post with 100 historically- and -culturally relevant ideas for personal storytelling.

We all need to improve our storytelling, to be more memorable. It’s one of the oldest professions in world history (let’s not argue what is the oldest!) and its fascination transcends all cultures.

And it is even more relevant now, to rise above the din, offer your voice, to help yourself and to energize others. Just like I am doing here.

Today I am starting a series of 4 posts that each use 25 of his 100 ideas. His words in non-italic; I added my ideas in italics at the end of each of them to answer the questions I get so often:

What should I post about?

How can I garner the right story ideas to tell others?

Why should anyone care?

You are no longer unable to relate just one personal aspect (hopefully more!) of your career narrative story!

Over the next days you will get 100 great archetypes as Baugh calls them, and the same quantity of my self-curated idea jogs to tell us a story about:

  • why you,
  • how you won,
  • how you lost and resurfaced,
  • how you put in the time and emerged victorious,
  • how,
  • why,
  • never what. Because that’s what all the others do. Be unique in your story.

Here are the next 25. (The first 25 are at https://wp.me/pT2tC-uc8_ and 26-50 are at https://wp.me/pT2tC-ucn)

 

100 Timeless LinkedIn Post/Article Archetypes

51. Heir to the Throne: A character must step up and take on a significant responsibility or leadership role. This situation needed to be fixed right away and the responsibility was left to me, so this is what I did

52. Corrupting Influence: Characters are influenced or manipulated by a malevolent force or individual. (There’s that toxicity theme again as shown above in other contexts.) I rose above the common denominator by…or I differentiate myself from the current state of customer service by

53. The Big Game: The story centers around a high-stakes competition or tournament. We entrepreneurs eat what we hunt and this is how we took down a mastodon project to feast for months

54. Cursed Object: A cursed item or artifact brings misfortune or danger to those who possess it. The project seems hopeless to complete but this is how we revamp[led our usual methods to finish it successfully

55. Journey to the Center: Characters venture into the heart of a location or object to uncover its secrets. With group analysis, we got to the heart of the matter and solved it collaboratively

56. Mistaken Identity: Characters are mistaken for someone else, leading to humorous or dramatic situations. Who knew this {project} would turn out this way and give us such attention? Read how

57. Apocalypse Survival: Characters navigate and survive in a post-apocalyptic world. It seemed impossible but it wasn’t. We worked it out creatively

58. Immortality Quest: Characters seek immortality or eternal life, facing challenges and consequences. We will be known for this work in the industry, the result of our work on {project}. You can too

59. Sworn Enemies: Characters who are bitter enemies must join forces to face a common threat. What seemed a pact with the company devil actually turned out to be a boon for all of us

60. Impossible Love: Characters from different species or existences fall in love, defying the odds and challenges. Yes, interdepartmental cooperation can work, but only if you come with an open mine. Here’re some ideas

61. Revenge of the Underdog: The underdog protagonist seeks revenge against those who have oppressed or wronged them. They snickered I could never do it, but I did and they all admitted they were amazed

62. Prophecy Fulfillment: The protagonist must fulfill a prophecy, often with significant consequences for their world or destiny. Like a Greek myth, the gods smiled on me and I saved the project and the company from the embarrassment of failure

63. The Artifact: Characters quest to find or protect a powerful, magical, or ancient artifact. We resurrected an old method of working on {project} and it was the key to our success

64. Betrayal of Trust: A character experiences betrayal from someone close to them, leading to emotional turmoil and conflict. They tried to derail the project but we exposed their perfidy

65. Man vs. Machine: The story centers around the conflict between humanity and advanced technology or artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence had no answers so we used our head and experience to resolve the issue

66. Amnesia: The protagonist has lost their memory and must piece together their past to uncover the truth. Pieces of the electronic puzzle were misplaced or lost from memory but we took a fresh view and made it work

67. Forbidden Power: Characters grapple with the responsibility and consequences of possessing a dangerous or forbidden power. I never knew I had the ability to…and I made it a success

68. Mentor’s Redemption: The mentor figure seeks redemption or reconciliation for past mistakes or failures. As CXO, I let the department take over to correct my misjudgments and I am glad I did

69. Madness and Sanity: The story explores themes of madness, psychological struggles, and the thin line between sanity and insanity. The company culture dictated otherwise but we added a new chapter in this project

70. Framed for Betrayal: The protagonist is set up or framed for a betrayal they did not commit, leading to a quest for vindication. No one wanted to volunteer for this impossible task and to see me beat the odds, but I did and here’s how

71. Race Against Time: Characters must complete a task or reach a goal before a crucial deadline or impending disaster. Time, budget, and peoplepower seemed insufficient to meet the deadline but here’s how we worked with all three to actually hit the goal

72. The Last of Their Kind: The protagonist is the sole survivor or last representative of their species or group. Being a one-person department means it’s on me to add my perspective  to decision-making

73. The Secret Society: Characters become involved with a secretive and exclusive organization with hidden agendas. They secretly worked against me and I beat them at their own game, honorably

74. Forbidden Journey: Characters venture into a forbidden or dangerous place against warnings. I willingly traveled to {country/area} to get the job done because no one else went there to finish it

75. Parental Sacrifice: Parents or parental figures make sacrifices for the sake of their children or loved ones. Despite financial mayhem in my home life, I knew the group needed my full attention and I came home with a performance bonus

25 more tomorrow.

I’d love your comments on how helpful this is to you. Then I’d really like to move you to be courageous and write your first one and publish it to LinkedIn as a post or Newsletter article. Once you try, the more you will find your voice to talk more about why you in deeds and stories. Now try for two in a week. See? not so hard…