Everyone has a story. Here are 10 unique questions to help you nail yours:
Stories are centered around three things: – a hero (you!) – the hero’s goals – the hero’s obstacles These questions are designed to help you nail each of those pillars. I’ll include my unfiltered answers as an example.
“What makes you tick? What gets you excited to get out of bed in the morning?” Purpose: Uncover what motivates you. My answer: I love building worlds and creating content. My ideal morning looks like a massive iced coffee and two hours of writing a fiction manuscript.
“What would you tell your (current or future) kids about your beliefs?” Purpose: Figure out what you believe in. This can be religious or not. We all believe in something. My A: I’m a christian. I also believe in the power of human ingenuity to solve hard problems.
“What about yourself would you not tell your kids?” Purpose: Identify areas of your life you want to improve. My A: I struggle with imposter syndrome and not living up to my own expectations.
“What was the most challenging time(s) in your life?” Purpose: Identify the obstacles you’ve overcome. My A: After surgery, I couldn’t walk for a month and had another two of no exercise. Moving to a country where I knew one person and didn’t speak the language.
“What is holding you back?” Purpose: Identify the obstacles you need to overcome. My A: The fear of not living up to my own expectations. Bad time management.
“What would I do if I wasn’t scared?” Purpose: Help overcome the fear of failure. My A: Do another edit on my book manuscript and start aggressively querying literary agents.
“What excites me the most about the future?” Purpose: Tease out what you’re looking forward to. My A: Seeing my book on a shelf in a bookstore. Building a badass company.
“What would shock most people to learn about you?” Purpose: Tease out what you’re really like. My A: Despite being super laid back, I’m one of the most competitive people you’ll ever meet.
“If you had to say one thing about yourself with the sole purpose of bragging, what would it be?” Purpose: Force yourself to find what you think is most impressive about yourself. My A: I taught myself to be a good writer by copying Neil Gaiman’s entire book Stardust by hand.
“What gets your imagination going?” Purpose: Identify what you should be doing more of. My A: Experiencing genius in action – reading a great book, talking to an entrepreneur, listening to an amazing comedian, watching an artist create.
