Four Ways to Prepare for 2026

Success in storytelling is not an accident. You don’t just wake up one day a confident communicator. To some degree you have to work at it. And I am big fan of all the unseen stuff. Because behind all great work is a great culture and rituals that are followed intentionally. So what are the rituals that you can create and live by for storytelling success?

1) Find your object

Find an object or photo that inspires you and put it on your desk. Create an inspiration photo wall behind your screen – photos of you in different places around the world, with friends, phrases or places that make you smile. Only you will be able to see it, but it will inspire you and make you smile, and that joy comes across on screen. Find your object or photo and let it become part of your daily ritual.

2) Find your trampoline

My neighbours used to think I was crazy because at some point in every week they would see me bouncing up and down on the trampoline making shapes in the air. It’s how I let off steam after a meeting online. I love the feeling of being weightless and the joy of throwing my arms out. It means I go into the next meeting energised. The trampoline has gone now (sadly it was killing the grass) but I still take the time to walk, dance, sing, or be still. Whatever it is, it is about finding space. Find your trampoline: you can do ten quick press-ups, or lift some dumbbells. But do it. Regularly. Your body will respond by giving you energy back.

3) Find your lunchtime

Cal Newport in his brilliant book Deep Work says our brains are learning shallow patterns. We need to learn to work for uninterrupted sections of time, 60 minutes plus. Then, after that, we need to take a brain break because our brain literally aches and needs to recover. Lunchtime is that recovery. And it means you’ll give your best to the rest of your day. Go for a walk, read for ten minutes… However long you can take, take a lunch break. You will be surprised how good it is for the soul.

4) Find your white space

White space is simply 60 seconds of you being silent, not looking at any tech or listening to anything. To get this right you may need your phone as a timer or a good old fashioned watch. Once you have done this a few times, you will know what a minute feels like. And then you can do it instinctively

i) Find a spot to focus your eyes on – it could be a toilet tile (I have done this in Delhi and many many other bathrooms around the world), it could be a blank wall, a view of a tree through the window. It doesn’t matter.

ii) For 30 seconds breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth as you focus on that object. You will feel your mind start to climb down from the previous meeting and you will notice things – the size, the shape, the look of whatever has your attention.

iii) After 30 seconds, playback the previous meeting in your mind like a movie. As I play through the meeting I pay attention to what was good, what was life-giving and what was hard. Then after 30 seconds I stop.

In one minute I have stilled my mind, played back the meeting and I am ready to move onto the next thing. Yes you could spend five minutes doing this, but it means you will never do it again! Forcing yourself to do this in one minute will mean you do it again and again. And that makes you ready for that day of back-to-back meetings and ready to be fully you.

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