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Storytelling is a superpower.

A key to unlocking growth in your writing, startups, marketing, business, or career.

THREAD: 10+ principles of effective storytelling (that you can start using today):

 Clarity of Purpose

The best storytellers always define a clear purpose prior to crafting their story.

What is the story trying to achieve? What does success look like with this story?

Commit to answering these key questions before doing anything else.
Define the Audience

Every great story begins with a well-defined audience.

Who is the audience? What do they consciously (or subconsciously) want from the story?

Be deliberate with this exercise.

Be honest with yourself. The audience may look different than you expect.
Establish Structure

“People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don’t have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.” – Steven Spielberg

Stories need structure.

Clear narrative arcs (like Pixar’s “hero’s journey”) work well.
The Story Spine

Playwright Kenn Adams created a neat framework - “the story spine” - for establishing structure:

Once upon a time there was [blank]. Every day, [blank]. One day [blank]. Because of that, [blank]. Until finally [bank].

Fill it in and watch your story take shape.
Weave in the Emotion

Emotion is what makes great stories stick with you.

Think about your favorite stories. How did they make you feel?

It’s a safe bet that they elicited a strong emotional response.

Learn from this. Weave emotion into the foundational fabric of every story.
Infuse Novelty

Every great story is infused with novelty.

Novelty comes in many different forms:

Fresh, new perspectives. Surprising insights. Shock-and-awe moments. Unexpected twists.

The goal is to make your audience say: “Oh, wow!”

If you’re falling short, dig deeper.
Create Contrasts

Storytelling expert @nancyduarte coined the “what is vs. what could be” framework.

First, describe the reality (“what is”).

Next, describe the potential future (“what could be”).

This framework forces you to create contrasts to craft a captivating narrative.
Suspend Reality

Disney is the greatest storytelling empire of all time.

Walt Disney was famous for his focus on suspending reality for his audiences - allowing them to experience his new reality while still being in their reality.

Take a lesson from the best. Suspend reality.
Keep It Simple

“Make it simple, but significant.” - Don Draper

A good story may be complex, but a great story is always simple.

Try to elevator pitch the story to an uninformed party. Are they able to understand it? If not, you still have work to do.

When in doubt, simplify!
Foster Community

Shared community is an insanely powerful force.

The best stories (and the best storytellers) foster community - they elicit a sense of shared purpose, shared membership in a group, or shared experience.

Stories that build communities last forever.
Shareable

Stories are meant to be shared.

The story “K-factor” - a viral marketing metric for growth - should be high.

This requires high shareability.

To enhance it: Keep it simple and make it easy to “take down” into shorter, alternative versions.
Draft Fast, Edit Slow

Most great writers and storytellers agree on one thing: starting is the hardest part.

There is nothing more daunting than a blank page.

So start fast - get a draft down (and don’t worry about how bad it is).

Then slow down - write & rewrite as necessary.
Those are 10+ principles of effective storytelling that you can start using today.

If you start using them, I guarantee you’ll unlock growth across the diverse realms of your life.

Enjoy this post? Follow me @SahilBloom for more writing on writing, business, and mental models.
I will be turning this thread into a longer-form piece for my newsletter, where I will explore and cover these topics in greater depth.

The piece will be released in the coming days.

Subscribe below so you don’t miss it! https://t.co/qMB8i60ney
And if you are a job seeker looking to leverage improved storytelling to advance your career, check out my curated job board, where I share unique roles at high-growth companies in finance and tech.

New roles added every single week! https://t.co/UhW76VmjrH

More from Sahil Bloom

Sahil Bloom
Sahil Bloom
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Circle of Competence 101

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger often reference the importance of knowing the boundaries of your circle of competence.

But what is a Circle of Competence and how does it work?

Here's Circle of Competence 101!


1/ First, a few definitions.

A Circle of Competence is the set of topic areas that align with a person's expertise.

If the entire world of information were to be expressed in a circle, an individual's Circle of Competence is the small sub-circle that represents their expertise.


2/ The idea surfaced in the 1996 BH annual letter.

"You don’t have to be an expert on every company...you only have to be able to evaluate companies within your circle of competence. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital."


3/ A Circle of Competence is built over time.

It is built through experience, reading, dedicated study, and effort.

It is dynamic, not static.

It can expand as you deepen your knowledge in new areas. It can contract if you fail to nurture your existing areas of expertise.

4/ To engage this mental model in your life, there are two key processes to go through:

(1) Identify what falls within your circle
(2) Identify the boundaries of your circle

(1) is all about figuring out what you know, while (2) is about humbly admitting what you don’t.
TRADING
Sahil Bloom
Sahil Bloom
@SahilBloom
THREAD: With #silversqueeze trending on Twitter, it appears that this week's market spectacle may well be in the silver market.

A perfect moment for a thread on the Hunt Brothers and their alleged attempt to corner the silver market...


1/ First, let's set the stage.

The Hunt Brothers - Nelson Bunker Hunt, William Herbert Hunt, and Lamar Hunt - were the sons of Texas tycoon H.L. Hunt.

H.L. Hunt had amassed a billion-dollar fortune in the oil industry.

He died in 1974 and left that fortune to his family.


2/ After H.L.'s passing, the Hunt Brothers had taken over the family holdings and successfully managed to expand the Hunt empire.

By the late 1970s, the family's fortune was estimated to be ~$5 billion.

In the financial world, the Hunt name was as good as gold (or silver!).


3/ But the 1970s were a turbulent time in America.

Following the oil crisis of the early 1970s, the U.S. had entered a period of stagflation - a dire macroeconomic condition characterized by high inflation, low growth, and high unemployment.


4/ The Hunt Brothers - particularly Nelson Bunker and William Herbert - believed that the inflationary environment would persist and destroy the value of their family's holdings.

To hedge this risk, they turned to silver.

They began buying the metal at ~$3 per ounce in 1973.
HISTORY
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Sahil Bloom
Sahil Bloom
@SahilBloom
In 1983, a 52-year-old senior executive at Texas Instruments was passed over for the company's top job.

He would go on to found and build the most strategically important company in the world.

Who's up for a story?

👇👇👇


1/ Morris Chang was born into a middle-class family on July 10, 1931 in Ningbo, Chekiang, China.

The early years of his life were set against a backdrop of hardship.

Wars and widespread poverty had overwhelmed the country, exposing him to this suffering at a young age.

2/ His father - an official in the local government - encouraged Morris to focus on school.

Fleeing the violence of the ongoing wars, Morris and his mother moved frequently.

His studies became his respite.

In 1948, at the height of the Civil War, they moved to Hong Kong.


3/ In 1949, Morris Chang was accepted to Harvard University.

He moved to America.

After just one year at Harvard, he transferred to The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to study engineering.

He graduated in 1953 with a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering.


4/ While he had originally intended to continue his studies and get a PhD, he failed his qualifying exam, so was forced to enter the job market.

He took an entry-level job with Sylvania Semiconductor, but quickly realized the company wasn't forward-thinking enough for his style.
ALL
Sahil Bloom
Sahil Bloom
@SahilBloom
These paradoxes will change your life:

The Brakes Paradox

What allows a Formula 1 driver to fly around the track?

It's not the engine, the tires, or the suspension.

It's the brakes.

Strong, reliable brakes unlock the driver.

Build brakes into your life that allow you to accelerate and hit turns without fear.

The Advice Paradox

Taking more advice leaves you less well-equipped.

Most advice sucks.

It's well-intentioned, but it's dangerous to use someone else's map of reality to navigate yours.

Winners learn to filter and selectively implement advice—take the signal, skip the noise.

The Opportunity Paradox

Take on less, accomplish more.

Success doesn’t come from taking on every opportunity.

It comes from deploying energy on the opportunities that matter—the 10x opportunities.

Time and energy are finite.

Say yes to what matters & no to everything else.

The Persuasion Paradox

Have you noticed that argumentative people rarely persuade anyone of anything?

Persuasive people don’t argue—they observe, listen, and ask questions.

Argue less, persuade more.

Persuasion is an art that requires a paintbrush, not a sledgehammer.
PRINCIPLES
Sahil Bloom
Sahil Bloom
@SahilBloom
Life rules worth breaking:

Wait for the Perfect Moment

This rule has paralyzed would-be action-takers for generations.

The reality: there is no such thing as the perfect moment.

Sometimes you just have to open the door, jump out of the plane, and hope you packed the parachute tight.

You Have to Work Hard to Succeed

Hard work is important—but it's relative, not absolute.

In the Digital Age—when creative and inspired work stands out and is rewarded—what you work on is more important than how hard you work.

Play your game, not theirs.

You’ll play it better.

Let Things Play Out

This isn't a movie that you're watching on your TV. You are not a passive observer of your own life.

There are times to sit back, and there are times to push.

Learn to identify the difference and never be afraid to provide a little push.

Don't Ask Too Many Questions

Children are born with an insatiable curiosity, but somewhere along the line, we are told to stop asking questions.

The most successful people in the world never listened—they broke this rule.

Ask questions. Be curious. Be interested.
LIFERULES

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Jean-Denis Greze
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I promised threads about recruiting for the next week. Here's the first one on referrals. In growth/marketing speak: referrals are your organic growth, inbound is your brand, and outbound/sourcing is your ad spend. You want to growth-hack your referrals. Here's how. 1/n

2/ Referrals (people on your team referring candidates into your recruiting pipeline) is great because it scales with your org size. They also convert higher since one of their friends is trying to convince them to join, plus they are generally not interviewing at many companies.

3/ The main disadvantage is that they tend to re-enforce your current team makeup. So if you have a diverse team, referrals will continue that diversity, but if you do not, you'll be entrenching your existing makeups which can have some real cons.

4/ A common tool for incentivizing referrals is the referral bonus (the coolest version of which is in equity IMO, although $ works well too), but I think you can do a lot more by leveraging process (referral parties) and culture (creating real pride about your referral culture).

5/ Referral parties are about making a game out of referrals by (virtually) locking 2+ teams in a room for 60 minutes and asking them them to go all out putting together a referral list. Here's how to do it.
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George Mack
George Mack
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If I had to give a lecture series on marketing, here's 11 points I'd include:

1. Data is like protein:

It’s valuable - but it shouldn’t be your *only* input.

If all your decisions are guided by A/B tests, you’ll eventually end up with a porn site.

2. The infinite ROI skill stack:

A. Understand how people work - Lindy.

B. Understand platforms + culture - Ever-changing.

Live in the barbell.

3. The best marketers are open source for the *first time ever*

• You can visit ad libraries
• You can sign up to newsletters
• You can see the copy on their website

There's no centralised database like Github - but it's there for the resourceful

4. Copy or reverse-engineer

A. If you want to do good marketing, just copy the greats.

B. If you want to do great marketing, reverse engineer the principles behind great marketing.

Warning: You will then be copied.

5. Think with headlines first

Mr. Beast has full time staff who's sole job is to write headlines for YouTube videos.

If the headline is good, they then make the video.

This is the inverse of making the headline fit the story.

Think of distribution before creation.
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Alex Garcia \U0001f50d
Alex Garcia 🔍
@alexgarcia_atx
5 Tactics I Used To Improve My Open Rate By 12%.

And Sometimes Even By 15-20% 🧵

Currently, my open rate ranges between 45-47% with nearly 15k subs.

My last email had a 48% open rate.

With iOS15 putting fear into every email we send, I thought I'd break down how I've been able to increase my open rate by 12% on avg.

Gimme 4 min...

1. Emoji Identity

This is something I stole from Morning Brew.

Morning Brew includes a "☕️" in all of their subject lines for good reason.

Because the repeated use of the "☕️" ingrains their identity in a reader's inbox.

And so I did the same.

Example: Morning Brew


Every email I send, the subject line starts with the "🔍"

And when you signed up for Marketing Examined, I let you know in the welcome email that each email subject line would start with the "🔍" " so that you would know it's me.

Example: Marketing Examined


2. Ask For A Reply In Your Welcome Email

The almighty spam and promotion folder where open rates go to die.

And where newsletters go to be forgotten.

One of the most effective ways I've found to combat this is by asking for a simple reply in your Welcome Email.
MARKETING
Alex Garcia \U0001f50d
Alex Garcia 🔍
@alexgarcia_atx
Compelling copy combined with good storytelling is an unfair advantage.

An unfair advantage that the Wall Street Journal used to drive $2 Billion in revenue over 28 years using the same sales letter.

Here are 7 copywriting tips to help you write sticky stories 🧵

1. Use Familiar Words

Every audience has words familiar to their interests.

Injecting these words into your stories connects the familiarity gap.

And unfamiliar words create seclusion.

Gary Provost with a great example:


2. Inject Real Stories

Your story is your social proof.

The more a consumer can see that you were once in their shoes, the more that consumer will see you as the guide they’ve been looking for.

Customers want to know you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.

3. Your Brand Isn’t The Hero

The customer is always the hero.

And their goal is the destination.

Your brand provides the map.

The visualization from start to destination is how you sell them.

4. Use Emotional Tones

Emotions are your best friend.

They’re what get people to take action.

And the best writers use emotional tones to transfer information through characters, plots, and conclusions.
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Jesse Pujji
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“Targeting” doesn't mean what it used to in the marketing world - the days of targeting different ages etc are GONE - algorithms do that now.

“Targeting” means crafting messages that resonate with your customer.
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Anu Satheesh \U0001f1ee\U0001f1f3
Anu Satheesh 🇮🇳...
@AnuSatheesh5
Thiruvizha Mahadeva Kshetram
#Alappuzha 
#Keralatemples 🚩

Thiruvizha Mahadeva Kshetram is located in Cherthala and it is believed that Prathishta of temple was done by Vilwamangalam Swamy. Paramashiva is Swayambhu here and is worshipped as Kalakandha which means who swallowed


Halahala visham to save the world during Samudra mathanam. 

It is a famous temple where people seek the blessings, for curing the Kaivisham. The poison given by someone to destroy a person is made to vomit here. This is removed by making them vomit the poison by a special


medicine.
The medicine for vomiting is made from a plant near temple by Palodathu family. The milk offered to Bhagwan is mixed with the extracts of the plant.

Story says that once this place was a dense forest, and a woman was looking for the presence of a tortoise in the pond


and the tip of her stick hit the bottom and it started bleeding in the pond. 
Frightened, the lady informed every one and after searching in pond people found Swayambhu Lingam inside the pond. Thus Prathishta was done here.

Om Namah Shivaye
Shambo Mahadeva
🙏🕉🙏
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Daoyu
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@franciscodeasis https://t.co/OuQaBRFPu7
Unfortunately the "This work includes the identification of viral sequences in bat samples, and has resulted in the isolation of three bat SARS-related coronaviruses that are now used as reagents to test therapeutics and vaccines." were BEFORE the


chimeric infectious clone grants were there.https://t.co/DAArwFkz6v is in 2017, Rs4231.
https://t.co/UgXygDjYbW is in 2016, RsSHC014 and RsWIV16.
https://t.co/krO69CsJ94 is in 2013, RsWIV1. notice that this is before the beginning of the project

starting in 2016. Also remember that they told about only 3 isolates/live viruses. RsSHC014 is a live infectious clone that is just as alive as those other "Isolates".

P.D. somehow is able to use funds that he have yet recieved yet, and send results and sequences from late 2019 back in time into 2015,2013 and 2016!

https://t.co/4wC7k1Lh54 Ref 3: Why ALL your pangolin samples were PCR negative? to avoid deep sequencing and accidentally reveal Paguma Larvata and Oryctolagus Cuniculus?
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Jaya_Upadhyaya
Jaya_Upadhyaya
@Jayalko1
GHATI SUBRAMANYA, DODDABALLAPURA (KAR)
#bharatmandir

One of the most important place for snake worship.
The murtis of Kartikeya and Narasimha are self-manifested.
There is an anthill which is opposite the shrine. Bhaktas pour milk on it as part of rituals.


Here Subramanya performed penance in the form of snake. He sought protection from Narsimha for Nagas from Sri Vishnu’s vehicle Garuda, known for his dislike towards serpents.
The Pushya Suddha Shasti is one of the biggest festivals here believed to be appearance day of Subramanya


It was in this region where Subramanya vanquished Ghatikasura, the demon. Hence called Ghati Subramanya.
Childless couples visit here to seek blessings for getting a child.
The installation of snake murtis near the shrine is believed to be an auspicious act.


The murti of Karthikeya with a seven headed cobra faces eastwards while Narasimha faces westwards.
To ensure that both are visible to bhaktas at the same time, a huge mirror is placed in the rear in the sanctum sanctorum.
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An irony of facebook's situation.

Sheryl got her MBA at Harvard. One of the most famous cases (Extra Strength Tylenol) in one of the most famous classes (Business History) she took: in 1982, someone put cyanide in Extra Strength Tylenol capsules and killed 7 people in Chicago.

What do you do when someone turns your product into a weapon? When they use the system you built to harm? James Burke, CEO of J&J, was shockingly open with the public, he pulled the product and made significant packaging changes to make product safer (but not tamper-proof).

He over-shared every step along the way re investigation, redesign, stood up as both CEO and human. The reintroduction of new Extra Strength Tylenol succeeded. Burke saved the brand.

But four years later it happened again. A killer put cyanide in the capsules, this time a woman in Yonkers died. Same CEO, Burke, pulled the product again, completely changed the form factor from capsule to caplet and relaunched *again*. It worked *again*. How'd they do that?

Burke (CEO) tapped J&Js goodwill bank account w/ the public. Two big withdrawals from that bank account in four years + 8 dead bodies! But his honesty, openness, humanity (choked up about the deaths more than once), humility kept the goodwill bank balance positive the whole time.
TECH
Anu Satheesh
Anu Satheesh
@AnuSatheesh5
Sri Mridanga Saileswari Temple Muzhakkunnu, Kannur KERALA

The temple is established by Parasurama and it is one among 108 Durga temples.
Devi will answer all the prayers of her devotees who pray to her with utmost devotion lighting the ghee deepam.


It is the family diety of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja.
Devi is present in three forms Kali, Saraswati and Lakshmi.

Legend...👇
Once a Mridungam ( musical instrument) shaped rock fell from heaven here.
@SriramKannan77


Devi originated in the form of Mridangam and Parasurama captivated the essence of Devi into a Vigraham. Vigraham is made of Panchaloham.
Kathakali, an art form of Kerala originated here.


Temple Vigraham was stolen 3-4 times, but because of power of Devi all the attempts were failure. Police records says that Whenever the thieves try to steal, they lose their senses, and they will be in a confused state. So they will abandon the idol.
🕉
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