TODAY’S CONVERSATION IS DESIGNED TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE. 

Oftentimes, the stories we tell ourselves as leaders dictate where we go next. The good news is that we can consciously choose to identify and change those stories. And my guest today, the amazing Kindra Hall, is here to walk us through a piece of her proprietary process to do just that. 

If you’re feeling stuck, if you know there’s another level calling you, if you feel like you’re made for more but can’t quite figure out what’s holding you back from getting there, you’re going to want to tune in to today’s episode, with the one and only Kindra Hall!

IN THIS EPISODE, WE COVER:

[3:07] Kindra’s Story

Even though it didn’t seem like a really straight path, Kindra knew that storytelling would be the thing she was meant to do since she was 11 years old. As soon as she told her first story, she saw the power of storytelling to draw people in and get their attention. She grew up going to storytelling festivals and competing on the speech team in storytelling but all this time, she thought of storytelling as a hobby. 

One of the crossroads in her life was in her mid 20s while she was working as a VP of Sales for a company. She was frustrated that they kept missing key opportunities for really compelling sales or marketing messaging because they kept leaving out the story. So, she decided to make storytelling her career. 

[9:34]  Role of The Story in The Evolution of The Leader

According to Kendra, the most pivotal role of storytelling is the story that the leader tells themselves. The stories that we allow into our consciousness come in two different levels; the ones that propel our professional action or personal action which leads us closer to our calling, or the ones that simply siphon off the joy.

[13:51]  Choose Your Story, Change Your Life 

Kendra’s new book “Choose Your Story, Change Your Life” is a deviation from the path she thought she would be going, which is writing a series of very straightforward business books. She wanted her new book to be similar to her first one called  “Stories That Stick”, focusing more on leadership this time. As time went on and she got more feedback from her readers, she decided to focus more on personal development and the stories we tell ourselves. As a mother, as an entrepreneur, as a wife, she noticed how important it was that she tells herself stories that served her instead of just listening to the stories that were already written.

[19:32]  Lean Into the Evolution of Your Story, Break Through to the Next Level

Our stories become our truth. The human brain is programmed to want to hear stories, this is how we evolved, this is what made human beings who they are, because we had the ability to share stories with others and therefore make sense of the world. Over time, what happened is we also developed the ability for the internal narrative and to take the situations, the experiences around us and to log them, to later retell those stories, those experiences to ourselves. 

Your ancient brain has stories happening all the time that are just under the surface level of your consciousness. The problem is those stories often aren’t the stories that are designed to bring you to the next level. Those stories are there to keep you safe, they’re there to mitigate risk, they’re there to keep you a part of the tribe and not get kicked out. So, how do we, first and foremost, see these stories that aren’t serving us then replace them with stories that do?

[26:51] Kindra’s Methodology

We have all these stories that are lurking just below the level of consciousness and all we ever see are these little tips of the iceberg that pop up above the surface. In her new book, Kendra shares a four step process you can go through to systematically make a change and replace the stories that don’t serve you:

• Catch the stories. 
• Analyze the stories.
• Choose a different story.
• Install your new chosen story.

[35:54] We are Our Children’s Main Source of Stories

There are so many stories in our life that serve us, that we can use as tools, as support for going forward. If there are enough people that pass this on to their children, think about the pain that they can bypass. As parents, we are our children’s main source of stories they tell about  themselves and it’s extremely important that we equip our children with vivid memories and vivid stories of who they are and what they’re really about.

It is our job to look at our children’s challenges, the moments where they exhibited leadership, where they faced an obstacle head on and to distill that down and feed it back to them any opportunity we can, so that that becomes the story they tell themselves in the future.

Are you ready to step into your next level of leadership? Then make sure you are choosing the right stories so you can change your life!

RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:

• Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business by Kindra Hall
• Choose Your Story, Change Your Life: Silence Your Inner Critic and Rewrite Your Life from the Inside Out by Kindra Hall
• What is Your Invisible Story? Take the Quiz!
• Connect with Kindra on Instagram 
• Visit Kindra’s website
• Did this episode resonate with you? Help spread the message by rating and leaving a review for the show here!
• Connect with me on Instagram!