Set your story compass
The stories you tell about yourself are powerful. They can lead you to action, profoundly influence your interactions, and inspire others to give you new opportunities.
People work with me to discover and tell those stories for themselves. And it doesn’t matter whether they are a CEO or a musician, an electrician or an executive coach, the first thing we do together is to set their story compass.
Why do you do what you do? So much more interesting than What do you do?
When you can explain that – to yourself and to others – you are grounding yourself in what you value, what you are passionate about, what makes you tick. That’s your story compass.
From Montreal to Manitoba: The "why" behind Amy's story
Amy Nikkel owns Adagio Acres in the Interlake, Manitoba
Last September, before code red descended on Manitoba, I drove up Highway 6 to meet Amy Nikkel, owner of Adagio Acres. Amy took me on a tour of the farm’s grain mill where the organic oats, beans and millet are milled and packaged. She pointed out an older piece of machinery that she has had to fix on more than one occasion – it’s the reason she learned how to weld.
Before Amy and her husband bought the farm, she was a school teacher in Montreal. How did that prepare her for this venture?
"As a teacher, I think it's really important to always be thinking of the whole picture of why it is that you're doing the things that you're doing. What is it that people are getting out of the experience you're giving them. With farming, it's very much the same thing. I don't think of our farm or our food business, as primarily giving people calories. I like to think of the whole experience…we are collecting and gathering food from around the province that has a story to tell. And so drawing people into that story of where we are and the province that we're in, and the food that grows here is a really big part of why I'm farming and why I love it."
Amy has such a solid connection to her ‘why’ and during our conversation I could see so clearly how that informed how she ran her business, and the stories that she chose to tell me.
Three questions to set you own compass
The stories you tell about yourself are powerful. They can lead you to action, profoundly influence your interactions, and inspire others to give you new opportunities.
People work with me to discover and tell those stories for themselves. And it doesn’t matter whether they are a CEO or a musician, an electrician or an executive coach, the first thing we do together is to set their story compass, by working from the why.
Why do you do what you do? So much more interesting than What do you do?
When you can explain that – to yourself and to others – you are grounding yourself in what you value, what you are passionate about, what makes you tick. That’s your compass. It’s key to connecting, networking and pitching as well!
Why do you do what you do? So much more interesting than What do you do? Try it for yourself.
There are three prompts that I come back to again and again when I need to ground myself, remind myself about my own true north, reset my compass – and what better time to do that in the new year?
I believe...
I am passionate about...
What gets me up every day is…
Set a timer for 10 minutes and write about one or all of the above. Circle all the words or phrases that resonate the most. This is your heart talking. What is it telling you about yourself?