Unlock Your Power with Diane Wyzga: Storytelling for Women

when we're telling stories we're looking for those Universal themes what I call Universal truths with a capital T that regardless of where you are in the world you know it people know super they know love desire betrayal achievement fear and so when we tell our stories paying attention to those Universal truths then we will resonate with people and their experiences [Music] welcome to Super entrepreneurs podcast I'm your host Shahid danani today we have with us Diane whsa Diane has helped professionals take their story from a message only they could hear to the publish world the courtroom the hospitals board meetings the airwaves and more stories that suede juries built markets spread ideas changed things today she helps women become successful original story creators to connect with engage and liven Their audience to en liven Their audience to action while transforming the lives of those they serve Welcome to our show Dian thank you Shah it's a it's just a pleasure to be here oh no it's great I know we had some technical issues in the past so grateful that we finally made it third time's the charm yes yes so speaking of yes yes can you share a story how yes changed everything in your past I can I can there was a time when I I asked for a fresh start so be careful what you ask for because you most likely will get it get it and in the space of in the space of n months I lost my mother because of a cancer Miss diagnosis I lost my marriage because of my husband's year-long affair with Fillin the blank and I lost my Law Firm position because the firm merged with another one and there wasn't room for all of the associates and so my life was pretty much dried you could have snapped my life like a dry twig and I was there for a long time but then I got a call from a friend of a friend who said that she needed a keyo she understood that was something that I could do and do well for this conference and I didn't want to go I didn't want to meet her for lunch there was no way that I was interested at all no way no how however she would be driving 4 hours round trip from where she lived because she thought it was that important and she was the friend of a friend so crawled out of bed and I went to meet her for lunch and we had lunch it was wonderful lunch and she pitched this idea of retaining me as a keyo and I said no I'm not who you want I can't do this don't have it thank you very much for lunch and go back home and she said to me I know where you are you are in the valley of death and scripture says that you are supposed to walk through the valley of death you are not supposed to build a brick house P put up a fence and lay out a garden and so she said starting today you are walking through and I'll be waiting for you on the other side and that was the change that was the yes that was when I said that was a deep yes deep message to leave you with it it was that but more importantly it was an awareness of where I was and I share that story because my first question is what did she see what did she understand but the farther away I've gotten from that experience the more I understand that my story is her story and it's all of women's stories meaning that there are times in our life where we feel like we can't put one foot in front of the other and someone comes along and says I believe you can because I've been where you are and I know the way out and so when we're telling stories we're looking for those Universal themes what I call Universal truths with a capital T that regardless of where you are in the world you know it super people know super they know love desire betrayal achievement fear and so when we tell our stories paying attention to those Universal truths then we will resonate with people and their experiences and my hope is that as I became a stronger and stronger Storyteller I wanted to do for others with my story what that woman did for me at that time and and yes I went on to be her keynote speaker that was the path and the road that's when I had to make a choice and pay attention to the consequences of that choice which meant no more hiding in bed you had to say yes yes amazing great share I like that you are definitely a good Storyteller thank you it's a good story so you work with women specifically to help them discover their authentic stories can you share a go-to method to bring out those untold stories that may be buried within yes yes and I tend to work with professional women just because that's what we gravitate to each other like filings to a magnet and I find that a most women most people but most women feel that they don't have a story to tell or that the story that they have to tell as professional women is lame so what and so we have to start at the place of okay okay everyone has a story and you have a story you just don't know the words to the story and someone's got to listen to out of you and the way to begin with that I was taught by a mentor a story Mentor decades ago and he said the story you want to tell you just need someone to listen it out of you and that has never left me because that's a very guiding statement it's not directing it say says the person who's telling the story they're empowered they're the ones who have the story they're the ones who have the voice they are the ones who have the words and my job is to listen it out of them so one of the places we start is what I call an archaeological dig on your life and so an an origin story think of an origin story as in the corporate world people might call it a personal Brand Story I call it an origin story because it shares with us something about how you got from there to here so if I was going to ask you we're in a better position to say okay this is where the Story begins let's start to listen it out the archaeological dig is the way to do that we're looking back at the story of where you came from so that we can begin to craft how you got from there to hear and so to close the loop on that the story that I shared with you helps me explain to people how come I became a Storyteller it shares how I got from there to he and why I think that helping others with story is what I was put here to do that's a an amazing realization like finding your purpose and times it can be easier said than done for many people they may ask these questions to themselves and they might not get the answer they're looking for even get anything that they may think that's worth telling but when they're with someone else and they shared a story it could make a bigger impact on them because they might realize together that they have something special that's where we're going with this you're absolutely right you are and it's because we are speaking speaking our story Our Truth aloud now it becomes real and there's a novelist by the name of Zora Neil Hurston she wrote a book called Their Eyes Were Watching God and in that novel there's a line it goes there's no greater burden than carrying an untold story and so when we begin to share our stories and they could be big they could be small they could be some secret they could be some achievement it doesn't matter but when we share the stories the person listening to us will probably say what you too I thought I was the only one and so what we're doing is true as you said it's our human connection it's the way that we are meeting up with each other yes d and said can you share how someone could work with you potentially meaning if they don't feel comfortable going all out is there baby steps they can take with you like an initial call where you can dig to find out some information and say okay from here we need to meet again is that the type of process you provide or can you elaborate more on how you work with people initially that's an excellent question thank you so I offer a 45 minute free story startup session and it's an opportunity for a potential client myself to get together on Zoom or a phone call so I can learn a little bit more about what do you want to do how come it's important to you and what are you willing to do to bring that about if there is potential after that then I'll I also offer a paid 60 or 90 minute conversation and that in that's space we drill down a little bit more on four questions about what you want why it's important to you how you think you're going to get there what you can do and so based on that and how well we work together then I offer okay we can work together for some months we can work together for a year it really depends it really depends good on the client and what it is that they want to accomplish and so on my podcast stories from women who walk usually Wednesdays on Whidby I offer some ideas about what communication challenges women might be experiencing so that they can read something and go oh okay that fits me that looks like me I want to pitch an idea I tell I try to tell people what I do and why it matters but it's all mucked up it's so every person wants to tell a story and why why so that we are seen heard understood and listened to I think that's all any human being wants and then when we have that power for ourselves we can turn around and understand and listen out someone else's story and those two plans the 45 minute and the 60 to 90 minute would you mind sharing if there's a cost or what the cost is so the 45 minute session is free and you can get to that by going to my website so quarter moonsto arts. net and there's a place where you can sign up for that free 45 minute session and we'll arrange that and once that's done then we'll make a decision about whether to go to a paid 60 or 90 minute session and those th that paid session is tiered so I have a lower end spread and a higher end spread but it falls in line with what other I'm not a coach but I'll say it falls in line with what other coaches uh ask for on an hourly basis okay very good that's good that you allow that um U ease of of approaching you because I know there's people in the audience that hear these things and they never even take a step and they might miss out on such on a wonderful opportunity so that's why I came to heart to ask you that and I had a feeling that your world is very comfortable so I had to bring that out in the open thank you yes it's designed that way I don't think anybody else offers 45 minute discover what they call Discovery chats but for me it's important because that way there's something I do to prepare ahead of time I have questions that I ask and then we have the the conversation and then after that there's more notes and exercises so people get a lot they get a lot of value in 45 quote 45 minutes of free time and then after that we make a decision together about how to collaborate and you have an email list that you send uh regular emails as well newslet I do in fact the news what I do is a little bit different I offer a free news audio letter and that comes out I'd say every now and again I just posted one the early part of February it's a 12-minute listen and it's designed to offer storytelling tips and techniques and understanding cool for people who want to do more and it's also nice to get something and you can look at it yourself and then say I'd like to work with Diane because this has sparked my imagination of course and Diane can you add me to that list if you don't mind I can absolutely do that it would be my honor so yes I will do that thank you so regarding vulnerability especially in storytelling since Co a lot more people are becoming incredibly comfortable with it in preco I think it was very uncomfortable for many people to take advantage of this the superpower because sharing your vulnerabilities really helps you connect with others on a human to human level where the eag is not in the driver's seat but more the soul to soul is when someone is sharing vulnerability to create that deeper connection are there any tips that you can share how they could uncover such vulnerabilities that may leave an impact on someone else's life why more great questions yes so to begin with we don't need to share some deep dark secret and probably better that we don't in the beginning especially unless we I really you don't just want to go hello here I am no it's better to find something small you can talk about for example what it felt like to you to be to be with inside during covid how is that for you how did that change how you related to your business to your family to your partners how was that for you and that is saying to someone we've all experienced a global pandemic and this is how I responded to it what about you so that's a way to do it if you are going to share something a little deeper like the story that I opened our conversation with then you must have done your work on that and by that I mean understanding whether it's through therapy but understanding what it is that you want to say to whom you want to say it and how come you want to say it and so I've told that story before when you asked about it I knew where I was going with it and why I wanted to share it with you because it informed the how did I get from there to hear being a Storyteller one tip that I would suggest is that start by writing the story of yourself as a main character but put yourself in the third person because we're very uncomfortable saying I me mine but if you were to write your story about this character as if she was someone else and then you can put attributes and characters to her and you want to be asking who is she what makes her different what does she want what does she desire what does she long for what is standing in her way what will she go through to get it and once she has it then what so those would be starting places of going into your story and the last thing I would say is if you're structuring a story be easy on yourself everything is a draft until it's not you can keep working on it but in the beginning write and the best two two best tips I have from teaching is write by hand and the reason I suggest we don't know what a pen and piece of paper is anymore we type on our computers but our computers and our keyboards remove us from the story if we write with a pen down on paper and we're writing our story down that way yes we have a more intimate relationship with the story we're slowing ourselves down we're not going clickity CL and we have the opportunity to embed the story more closely in our brain that's tip number one and tip number two is whatever you're writing read it out loud you can read it to your cat you can read it to your partner read it to yourself in an open room but read it out loud because we hear and see things differently when we read them versus when we hear them and when we are reading our words out loud then we can see where the hiccups are where the where it doesn't make any sense yeah so that's a lot of information but it all works no that's good it all works to get your story done excellent that thank thank you so much for sharing that that point that you mentioned about being accustomed to typing and losing that connection because what that's so true even when we work with clients the default state is that we do a lot of journaling right in our work when we're shifting paradigms and the first the nature is to start typing and we always tell them that listen you got to shift that and start writing to connect more with where that is coming from and you're writing it you need to connect more while you're writing it's a very artistic thing to do and then art has a very close connection to your heart as well so when you're writing scripting for example your thoughts or your feelings they penetrate your subconscious a lot better I could not have said that any better yes thank you well that means a lot from you so I have a lot to learn but um no it was it was great to have you on a show Diane it's wonderful speaking to you your calmness is Cate and it's very much appreciated if you have anything in the future future that you wanted to come back on the show and discuss please do because this kind of topic obviously we can talk for a very long time and there's so many different areas that we can start discussing thank you so much I hope that this was of use to your listeners and anyone who wants further help I it was they can reach out to me on LinkedIn good you can reach out to me too all your information and I will get that new yeah yeah for sure yeah we chat a lot of L to you I know we're practically neighbors yeah I know right I love that I love the fact that whoever comes on the show we have we build this relationship like friends because at the end of the day life is so short trying to figure out other people's intentions and all that kind of stuff it wastes so much precious energy if you just lead with heart and you just connect with people and not expecting anything just there just present you get so much done and so much more connection so much more value and where we can impact a lot more people that way it's not just me anymore it's us us us so yeah great to have you and keep in touch thank you so very much bye-bye for now my [Music] pleasure [Music] super super super