Find Your Red Thread

You may have one idea, but you can’t ever have just one message about it. There is no such thing as a “one size fits all” version of your message.

My goal? Find a way to structure a story that would be simple enough for busy people to learn, remember, and apply easily, be flexible enough to cover multiple applications, and still capture the most critical elements, and benefits, of story.

Defining your message’s application is generally pretty easy. Simply ask yourself, “Where do I need to talk about my idea?” For the exercises in this book, use the idea you wrote down for the TEDx test in the first chapter.

Story is the map of the maze.

Every time you need your idea to produce a different outcome, it needs to “wear” a different message,

Step 1: Define an “Application” of Your Message

Step 2: Define the Outcome Your Message Should Achieve

your Red Thread will give them, and their brains, a map to follow.

Goal. Problem. Truth. Change. Action. These five elements are the answers to the questions your brain—everyone’s brain—asks about ideas.