by Jim Loehr
What Matters Most (Smith)
“What’s Your Story?” (Ibarra and Lineback)
Wie, Michelle
Winn, Denise
Wizard of Oz, The (film)
Woods, Earl
Woods, Tiger
work. See also corporate stories
accountability about
“Because I Can” syndrome
breaks at
energy crisis in
extreme jobs
faulty assumptions about
friendships at
happiness in
rituals for
story around
workaholism
Working Identity (Ibarra)
WorldCom
worry
yoga
Zimbardo, Philip
Zinbarg, Richard
About the Author
DR. JIM LOEHR, Chairman, CEO and co-Founder of the Human Performance Institute, is a world-renowned performance psychologist, co-author of the bestseller The Power of Full Engagement, and pioneer in the growing field of Energy Management. He has worked with thousands of world-class performers from sport, business, medicine, and law enforcement, including Fortune 100 executives, FBI and Army Special Forces, and athletes such as Mark O’Meara, Michelle Wie, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, Eric Lindros, and Olympic gold medal speed skater Dan Jansen. Dr. Loehr’s work has been chronicled in the Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Newsweek, Time, and US News and World Report, among other publications. He has a master’s and a doctorate degree in psychology, and serves on numerous scientific boards.
* Fortunately, many chief executives and other senior leaders who’ve come through our program, while understanding that it’s up to each individual participant to face the truth to improve his or her life, have realized that their companies or divisions must also do so. We’ve witnessed dozens of institutions make large-scale organizational change, enabling their story to be more easily aligned with the individual worker’s.
* A longer list, compiled over years of gathering data from clients and including obvious subsets of these five categories:
(1) Work/Job/Boss; (2) Family; (3) Health; (4) Happiness; (5) Friendships; (6) Money; (7) Self-Indulgence; (8) Fame/Power; (9) Death; (10) Sex/Intimacy; (11) Trust/Integrity; (12) Parents; (13) Religion; (14) Spirituality; (15) Love; (16) Food/Diet; (17) Exercise; (18) Children; (19) Spouse/Partner; (20) Other.
* Andre Agassi, the fantastically talented and inspiring tennis player, had a brilliant early career; then seemed to lose some desire and focus and faltered to the point of career oblivion; then, after rededicating himself physically and mentally (and emotionally, and spiritually), returned for another brilliant run that lasted for several years. On the eve of his retirement, he said, “This is a close of a certain chapter of my life.”
* This formulation is the brainchild of Agnes Hankiss, who first used it in her 1981 article, “Ontologies of the Self: On the Mythical Rearranging of One’s Life History.”
* “Aligned” and “identical” are not the same. If one’s public and private voices are identical, then one treats both voices without regard for the special, necessarily singular role each plays; whenever convicted mass-murderer Charles Manson has been interviewed from prison, he spoke as if no boundary existed between his private voice and the public expression of that voice. If one’s public and private voices are aligned, then they support each other, each in their unique way, for one’s greater benefit. An example of this might be Lance Armstrong, whose outward expression of his internally voiced desires lead him to achieve his goals.
* You won’t spike before working out because you’re about to consume an extraordinary number of calories; you won’t spike after working out because you have a glycemic debt and you’re ready to absorb carbs quickly.
Table of Contents
Praise
Colophon
Also by Jim Loehr
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Contents
Introduction
Part One: Old Stories
Chapter 1: THAT’S YOUR STORY?
Is Your Company Even Trying to Tell a Story?
Presenteeism
Old Stories
Your Story Around Work
Your Story Around Family
Your Story Around Health
Your Story Around Happiness
Your Story Around Friends
Write Your Current Story (or Try to)
Chapter 2: THE PREMISE OF YOUR STORY, THE PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE
The Words on Your Tombstone
Your Ultimate Mission, Out Loud
Outing False Purpose
Purpose Is Never Forgettable
Questioning the Premise
Lining Up
Flawed Alignment © Flawed Ending
Chapter 3: HOW FAITHFUL A NARRATOR ARE YOU?
Faulty Assumptions
“Because I Can” Syndrome
Cooking the Books
The Four Scenarios
Pessimists, Watch Out
Optimists Should Watch Out, Too
Chapter 4: IS IT REALLY YOUR STORY YOU’RE LIVING?
Big Battle for a Little Voice
Lessons in Storytelling 101: Communist China
Everyday Indoctrinations
Promises, Premises
How Your Values and Beliefs Affect Your Storytelling
Where Do Our Values and Beliefs Come From?
The Dilemma of Flawed Values and Beliefs
Your Crap Detector
Chapter 5: THE PRIVATE VOICE
When Stories Collide: The Two Voices of the Storyteller
Voice Lessons: Ten Inner Voice Skills
Chapter 6: THE THREE RULES OF STORYTELLING
I Couldn’t Be Happier
Rewriting: Turning Points
The Three Rules of Storytelling
Write Your New Story
Part Two: New Stories
Chapter 7: IT’S NOT ABOUT TIME
What Mr. Rogers Teaches Us
The Lie of Time
A Different Kind of Energy Problem
The Energy Pyramid
From Stories Flows Energy
Chapter 8: DO YOU HAVE THE RESOURCES TO LIVE YOUR BEST STORY?
Our Physical State Influences the Stories We Tell
Getting Your Story Straight About Eating
Getting Your Story Straight About Exercise and Movement
Getting Your Story Straight About Recovery (Rest and Sleep)
Chapter 9: INDOCTRINATE YOURSELF
Deep Diving
From Subconscious to Conscious and Back Again
Embedding
Chapter 10: TURNING STORY INTO ACTION: TRAINING MISSION AND RITUALS
The Training Effect, the Story Effect
Ritualizing
Chapter 11: MORE THAN MERE WORDS: FINISHING THE STORY, COMPLETING THE MISSION
Accountability (About Work)
Accountability (About Everything Else)
Chapter 12: STORYBOARDING THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS IN EIGHT STEPS
The Final Chapter: RAYMOND’S STORY
Acknowledgments
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author