About 3 years ago, I was reading one of Cal Newport’s blog posts, and this parable stuck with me and helped guide a lot of my outward-facing campaigns.
Imagine 2 hypothetical people.
Person A is the start football player in his state.
Person B made a speech at the United Nations?
Who’s more impressive? Most of us answer Person B, but why?
In order for Person A to become a start football player, he essentially ahd to spend all of his high school years waking up at 6AM, practicing relentlessly, beating out other competitors, leading his team.
Person A did not shy away from work, so why do we think Person B is more impressive? It’s very unlikely that person B would have had to work as hard as person A.
So what’s impressive about person B?
It’s impossible for us to replicate his path the United Nations in our brains. We immedietly discount anything that we can figure out.
So, when we ask ourselves, how would I go to the UN, your answers turn out blank, but with Person A you can imagine yourself waking at 6AM.
When telling your narrative, try to see how you can fram it as being person B, rather than person A.