#144 How six words can tell your life story with Larry Smith

"We tell stories in times of transition because in good times, bad times, lateral movements, figurative movements, we need to make sense of the world. Stories help us help us process. This is what makes us human."   Can six words help you process change, and tell your life story?    On the podcast Larry Smith shares how a simple Twitter experiment 15 years ago turned into a global storytelling movement - the Six Word Memoir project.    Our conversation is not just word count. Larry shares his closing door life moments, from divorce, to relocation, to career change.   We discuss his unique 'three-part theory' of life balance, the importance of taking things one door at a time, and how sharing our stories creates meaningful connections. This is about embracing change on your own terms.   Here are the highlights: 11:55 A Twitter project on six-word memoirs unexpectedly became a long-term career 13:54 Getting the courage to embrace a storytelling career 19:21 First project smithmag.net failed, but birthed the successful "six-word memoirs" idea 21:00 The importance of concise expression, inspired by six-word memoirs 23:46 Stories help us process the world during transitions and make us human   More about Larry   “A quest to spark creativity in everyone” quoted by Oprah Magazine, Larry Smith is the founder of The Six-Word Memoir® Project, a bestselling series of ten books, live event program, and a global phenomenon found in classrooms, conferences, and corporate settings alike.   Larry has worked with teams on storytelling at Netflix, Twitter, Levi’s, JPMorgan Chase, Dell, ESPN, and Google, as well as foundations, philanthropies, and schools. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, ESPN Magazine, Popular Science, Men’s Journal, Slate, and Buzzfeed, and has contributed essays to anthologies including Modern Love: 50 True and Extraordinary Tales of Desire, Deceit, and Devotion.    He’s the editor of the book, The Moment: Wild, Poignant, Life-Changing Stories from 125 Writers and Artists Famous and Obscure, and director of the play, A Map of Myself: A 70-Minute, One-Woman Revolution on War, Immigration, History, and Home. This summer he’s teaching a five-day workshop, Tell More More: Crafting Your Story at Mid-Life , at the MEA retreat center in Santa Fe, New Mexico.   Website: https://www.sixwordmemoirs.com/   The things that helped Larry navigate change -  Book: "Lost and Found" by Catherine Schultz Music:  "This Will Be Our Year" by The Zombies The one piece of advice: “Trust the process…You might have a plan for your life that you've decided will work. Trust it until you can't trust it.” About your host Eleanor  Eleanor supports individuals, teams and organisations through change. Whether it’s 121 coaching or large scale organisational change through communications and training. Eleanor’s work centres around how we, as humans, work through change, embracing the messy bits, the role of playing, with the aim to see opportunity. “Too often we get stuck in the change happening to us, when just through that next door is an exciting next chapter.”    Eleanor is the founder of Another Door and the author of Why losing your job could be the best thing that ever happened to you.    Instagram:instagram/anotherdooruk LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanor-tweddell/ Website: eleanortweddell.com Produced by winteraudio.co.uk