Hi there. I’m Susan Young and I’m the founder of Get In Front Communications. The website is www.sueyoungmedia.com And it’s actually this month my 20th year in business, so really excited to share this milestone with you and I want to use this video today talk about storytelling. I’m a former radio news reporter, was an on-air anchor for 10 years, and interviewed everyone from homeless people to presidents. And as an entrepreneur for the past 20 years, I’ve been doing publicity, and PR, and now teaching people, entrepreneurs like you, how to get publicity and work with online influencers to showcase your business.
Getting Our Story Straight
Well, what I discovered, first, before anybody can pitch their story to a reporter, is that first we have to get our story straight in our own heads. That negative self-talk that’s going 24/7, that soundtrack that plays incessantly that tells us you’re not worthy, you’re not good enough, you’re a screw-up, you did this wrong, or you made a mistake, or you don’t look good in red, or Joey’s always been a better piano player than you. All of this nonsense that we listen to that is not true. It’s just not true. We hear these stories that started from zero to eight years old and they stay with us all these many years later.
Look, I’m 57 years old and I learned just recently, okay, that I needed to understand that there is nothing wrong with me and there never was. That’s a gem, okay? And you know what? There’s nothing wrong with you and there never was. We need to re-record that soundtrack in our heads and tell ourselves that we are good enough, that we are worthy, we are deserving, we are smart and courageous and strategic and all of these things.
We need to plant seeds of optimism and hope instead of going with the weeds of pessimism and doubt.
We are our own garden in our heads, okay? And when you plant seeds of doubt, you cannot be successful because if you plant an apple seed, you will get apples. You will not get cucumbers or tomatoes. Whatever seed you plant in your head, in your mind, in your bio-computer, is what you are going to live in your external world. If you are planting seeds of doubt, you’re going to say, ”Oh my gosh, there’s more bills in my mailbox. I can’t afford this, the car broke down,” and just this momentum of a pity-party. I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to have those-those weeds of doubt anymore. Okay?
I am a storyteller for 30+ years. And once we get straight and changed the story in our heads, get over that negative self-doubt, then, only then, can we start to promote and confidently and proudly publicize our stories and our journeys with folks online, with prospects, and businesses, with people who we’re networking with who we can refer and get business from, all because we change our story, we change our outlook.
We want to build momentum on the positive and not the negative. Look, I know there’s a lot of negative things going on outside in the world right now, and you know, when I see posts on Facebook and a different groups of what’s the worst thing that’s happened with coronavirus or you know, how-how bad you need a haircut or how-how hard and stress that is your life with your kids home, I went away from it. It’s toxic. People are leaking poison, okay? And I’m just encouraging you to start to pay attention to what you’re getting involved in in these conversations and what energy you are giving to this and move away from that and change your attention, move your attention to being positive. Don’t get involved and engaged with those conversations. Instead, go for the positive.
Observe My Thoughts
And what I’ve learned is that instead of OMG, you know, online, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, everything’s drama, all this stuff. Instead, I focus on OMT. Observe My Thoughts. I want to be self-aware, observe my thoughts, what am I thinking in my head? And then immediately move my attention.
And here’s the secret, okay? This is the gem. The whole point of this video is that you can move your attention at any time in that split-second, snap of a finger. This is the way to do it. Consider this example–
You’re driving home from work, okay? And you have been thinking all week. It’s Friday now. You’re thinking, “Oh my gosh. I need a doughnut. I gotta have a donut. You know, I’ve been great on the diet, I’ve been exercising all week, I deserve a treat. I’m getting a donut on the way home from work,” and you’re thinking about it, thinking about it in your head all about the donut. All of a sudden a car comes this close to you and almost have an accident, right? In that split-second your attention moves from that silly donut to, “Oh my God, we almost wrecked the car,” in that split-second. That’s how fast you can move your attention and tell yourself a different story.
So when you are caught up in this toxicity, and I’m not saying to ignore what’s going on, we have to be pay attention to it at some level, but don’t get so caught up in it that it derails your life, and your plans, and your hope, and that deep-rooted optimism that you can have inside of you. It takes more energy to be negative than it does to be positive. So let’s go with happy, right? I’ve got posters and pictures in my office of you know, the Three Stooges. I want to watch Seinfeld and Modern Family. I want to laugh. I want to watch Big Bang Theory. I don’t want to watch all this trauma and this news and all this garbage.
And remember, I was the news, okay? I was a reporter. I was on the radio and telling and delivering the newscast but I don’t want to be involved in that because it just drags me down. It sucks the life and the energy out of me. And even if you have not been on radio ever, think about the stories that you are listening to, and the conversations you’re engaged with, the people who are near and dear to you who may be planting this, you know, these weeds of pessimism and-and of disgust. We want to move away from them. The way to do it, OMT – Observe My Thoughts, and then move your attention. Just think happy. I mean, it’s that simple and it’s that hard.
Inside-Out Storytelling
So one thing that I want to share with you too is that as we talk about inside-out storytelling, once you get the story straight in your head that you are worthy, you are deserving, you are a smart, successful, entrepreneur with wonderful experience and gifts to share with clients and prospects, only then can you go out and start to share your story, your real story, with the world, your gifts with the world.
So this is the key. You want to share your gifts once you have that positive outlook, it fixes the story, the soundtrack in your head, and you go out networking, and go online, and share your story and be positive, share your value with your blog posts and your videos, and then you can go out and get media attention. This is what I coach people online all about is that you cannot pitch with confidence and tell reporters this is why you want to cover my story, this is why it’s important to your audience if you don’t feel, genuinely feel, valued and worthy.
So the story starts first in your head and then once you work through that new soundtrack and tell yourself over and over again that you are worthy and deserving of sharing your story, of being an entrepreneur, of running a successful business instead of, “Oh my gosh, where’s my next check,” or “where’s my next client going to come from?” So switch your attention and I will share this with you.
As I mentioned, I was on the radio every-every day for ten years and the voice was a big thing for me. And what I realized was I had this recurring dream, it was really frightening, that I walked into this small, very small, convenience store near my junior high school in Edison, New Jersey. Store-store called Hector’s,
and I walked into Hector’s and the store was getting robbed and I open up the door and I see that there’s a robbery going on and I go to scream and nothing comes out. I have no voice. And this dream kept coming up to me all the time. I’m like, what is this and why is it so scary and frustrating for me?
Well, it turns out that I was busy telling everybody else’s stories, because I was a reporter and I was in PR, and I never really had my own story straight. My opinion never mattered. This was before the 24/7 news cycle. I was a trained journalist and I was taught that I always shared other people’s opinions. I didn’t have to have my own opinion. I just had to share the facts and then the audience would decide what to believe or what to what position they wanted to take.
So when somebody asks my opinion, I didn’t know. I got lost in the storytelling and it took me a long time, some deep work, and frankly, if, you know, it took some therapy to figure out that my voice mattered, that my values, I had to figure out what I held true in my own life, and my own world, and my experiences and get my story straight. And that’s why I call it inside-out storytelling.
We have to get through that deep, hard junk that has been with us all these years before we can tell and share our story proudly, with confidence, and with humility with the world. So that’s what I’m encouraging you to do today. Be aware of the negative self-talk, that soundtrack in that story in your head. How to overcome it? OMT. Switch your attention, observe my thoughts, move your attention to happy. It is okay to be happy. Children laugh three to four hundred times a day. Adults only laughs 15 to 20 times a day. So let’s get our happy on. It doesn’t matter about coronavirus or anything else.
We are fine. We have always been fine, and we will always be fine. There’s nothing wrong with you and there never was. That’s my message today all about storytelling. Thanks for watching. Be safe, be healthy, and most of all, be happy. Bye for now.
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