🧸 How to Tell a Story (Disney Consultant)

Waddup Part-Time Creators!

Welcome to the newsletter where I talk about writing, marketing, psychology & creating on the internet if you work a full-time job. Today we're talking about storytelling and the mentality of a long-term top 1% creator.

In today's email:

A storytelling masterclass
Incredible content this week
The mentality of a top 1% creator
Content of the week

Read time: 4 minute

A Storytelling Masterclass

How to Tell Better Stories (From the Guy Who Taught Disney)

In 1985, writer Christopher Vogler compiled the stages of the hero’s journey in a 7-page memo for Disney that became the golden standard guide for storytelling.

Here’s the breakdown:

Show the ‘ordinary world’

“If you’re going to tell a story about a fish out of his customary element, you first have to create a contrast by showing him in his mundane, ordinary world.”

Show before so you can contrast with after.

2. The call

“In STAR WARS, it’s Princess Leia’s holographic message to Obi Wan Kenobi, who then asks Luke to join the quest.”

The hero has to be presented with a call to action. There’s a problem, challenge, or quest to go on.

3. Hesitation

The fear of the unknown is common to us all. How realistic is it that you get the opportunity of a lifetime and jump at the chance? That’s how we’d like it to be but the reality is much more mundane.

We doubt ourselves
We stumble
Sometimes we refuse

4. Encouragement

“This is Obi Wan giving Luke his father’s light saber”

A mentor presents a new perspective to the hero. They give words of wisdom and encourage the hero to take action. But they can only take them so far…

5. ‘Crossing the threshold’

“The balloon goes up, the romance begins, the spaceship blasts off, the wagon train gets rolling.”

The hero takes the first step. It signifies the story and the path chosen. There is now no turning back.

6. Tests and helpers

“The hero is forced to make allies and enemies in the special world, and to pass certain tests and challenges that are part of his/her training.”

The path is littered with trials and tribulations. They all serve as practice, for the main event.

7. The ‘innermost cave’

“In many myths the hero has to descend into hell to retrieve a loved one, or into a cave to fight a dragon and gain a treasure.”

Here the hero meets their deepest fear. They walk the path alone, confronting their own demons.

8. The ordeal

“This is a critical moment in any story, an ordeal in which the hero appears to die and be born again.”

This is the moment you question everything.

9. ‘Seizing the sword’

“Having survived death, beaten the dragon, slain the Minotaur, her hero now takes possession of the treasure he’s come seeking”

Signifying success and cementing the hero status.

10. Returning…

“The hero’s not out of the woods yet.”

The dark forces come for revenge plotting to take back what is theirs.

11. Resurrection

“He is transformed into a new being by his experience.”

Now the hero is transformed by the experience.

12. The return

“but unless he comes back with the elixir or some boon to mankind, he’s doomed to repeat the adventure until he does.”

The hero returns to the normal world but there’s a catch, he or she must have come back with the treasure or the lesson. Otherwise, the journey is wasted.

When you write stories, don't rush in. Spend the time in the beginning setting the scene, building tension, showing the audience what is in your mind.

Remember, it's a 12-step process.

Pumped for the week ahead

Why you should get rid of meetings & the cost of them
The 'Wafflehouse' strategy (oldie but a goodie)
Tell your story (and be vulnerable)

Rethinking Strategy

The Mentality of a Long-Term, Top 1% Creator

A year ago I had zero subscribers.

I had ONE realisation and my growth skyrocketed. This is what that realisation was and how you can use it too:

Creators have two ‘buckets’ of problems:

Logical problems:

How do I write great content?
How do I build products & services?

Emotional problems:

How do I deal with the bad days?
How do I build a habit of creating on the internet?

Here’s how I see top creators battling both ‘buckets’ of problems and taking over the internet at the same time:

1. Impulsivity

It’s so easy to get an idea and start writing. It’s the joy of creating. You’re in the shower or walking the dogs and boom, idea strikes.

Excited you run to the laptop, fling it open, down your cup of coffee and start frantically tapping away. It’s liberating. It’s incredible.

But it’s also not the way to create (most of the time). The best creators on the internet I know do one thing really well. They look at their data and let it take a co-pilot in making decisions.

I’m not saying they're a slave to the data, Tim Ferris says he released a pod on crypto and it took off which could have meant he went down that direction but he didn’t.

There is a balance but data plays a huge role.

2. Quick ‘posts’

You could write a post in 20 minutes flat.

You could get the dopamine hit, feel great and move on with your day. But the best creators know that great content is about storytelling (like we've just covered). It’s about weaving an idea into the mind of your audience.

You get better at it over time but they do their audience justice. They’re not lazy. They add stories to every piece of content. They let their stories teach.

3. Slow learning

The best creators I know are those that learn quickly.

They can identify their problems and act quickly to resolve them. They don’t dance. They take action. They know that each problem they solve gets them closer to hitting their target.

The pay for knowledge. I recently heard Alex Hormozi say he paid $350,000 for an hour of someone’s time. His justification? If that hour can help him unlock $1 million, it’s a bargain.

Top creators know that speed is the game.

4. Dependence thinking

It’s interesting. I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts of my favourite creators lately. The one commonality I see? They don’t subscribe to the ‘normal’ way of thinking.

They question everything.

They notice ideas in the ‘mainframe’ and question them often.

I’ll give you an example. I recently heard Alex Hormozi articulate something I was playing around with in my head for ages.

I’m paraphrasing but he said morning routines are counterproductive. A ten-step morning routine is unlikely to be better than just getting up and doing the work.

It’s this questioning and autonomy in thinking that separates great creators.

5. Short-term mentality

I’ve talked about this a lot. But it’s more than giving up the short-term mentality. It’s more like a deep-seated rejection of the concept of doing anything for a cheap reward.

The people I see winning are those that reject any notion that they won’t be playing this game for the next 20 years.

In an interview recently, Codie Sanchez told the tale of asking a billionaire what was the reason he was so insanely successful, his answer… Time. Can you imagine the compound interest for 60+ years?

6. Expectations & Pain

Do you know the one thing that minimises the pain you feel? The expectation of it.

Most of the top creators I see expect the journey to be hard. I mean really tough. A good rule of thumb is to expect it to be x10 harder than you thought and take x10 longer.

The best people just play the longest because they know what deal they signed up for.

If you can solve for both emotional and logical problems you start to level up as a creator.

Content of the week...

Thanks a bunch,

Eve

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