How to Turn Your CV into a House Full of Stories
Stewart Bewley
I once attended a workshop run by Kate Middleton, not the Princess of Wales but a psychologist. She was talking about 'wellness' — a word which is perplexing and overused. But she said this one thing that has stuck with me and I have been doing ever since. Going for a 20-minute non-tech walk is good for your brain, good for rest, and, as I have discovered, amazing for creativity and allowing stories to bubble to the surface. So to make a house full of stories for yourself, to turn your CV into something you want to read, to be able to answer the question, 'tell us about yourself', the only thing you really need to do is to go for 20-minute walk! You could stop reading this right now and do this, but before your grab your coat, your shades and your watch (or your OS map), here are some things I want you do do on the walk...
For the first 10 minutes, think of nothing. I don’t think it's actually possible to think of nothing but we do need to create space in our brain for stories to flow. If you choose to think of nothing you will find that it is a very cool way of slowing your brain down to be present to you and nothing else. Thoughts may fly at you like a swarm of bees for the first two minutes. Just observe them. You don’t have to go into those thoughts. Just notice that they are there and allow them to pass you by. They will. You just have to choose to let them. It is almost impossible to be creative when your brain is full of fog and mess and must-do’s. So the way you stop it is by starting to notice what is around you: tree roots, broken bits of pavement, hedges, a cat, a dog, the clouds moving in the sky. As you start to pay attention to what is in front of you you will feel a grounding and a calming. I know I am doing this well when I notice my shoulders drop. It is not only a very peaceful thing but you have now prepared your brain to think of stories.
Allow yourself to go back in time to some point in your work history that appears on your CV or LinkedIn profile. Where were you, what were you doing and, most importantly, who were you with? Now take a second look, zoom in and replay it again. You will find more details. Now you have the beginnings of your people CV. That’s all that I did to come up with the story behind my 'Storytelling Coach for Microsoft'. And here is how I would write that as a people CV:
Back in 2015 I sold my Blackberry phone to someone in Nigeria. They told me they would pay when they received it. I don't know why I believed them, I never got the money. I was scammed and lost my Blackberry. Two months later I got an email asking me to help Microsoft sell the Windows phone. I thought this also was a scam. My fingers hovered over the Delete button for a few seconds but I decided to check the address bar... Microsoft had actually emailed me, completely out of the blue! I got on the phone, flew to Finland to pitch for the work and in 2016 delivered two-day workshops for their global sales teams in Brazil, Dubai, South Africa, Poland, Italy, France and India! I will never forget walking barefoot through Milan to get ice cream at midnight, or dancing (illegally I have been told) in Dubai under the shadow of the Burgh Kalifa to Whitney Houston’s 'I Will Always Love You'!
Now it’s your turn. Do it for one job and you will find yourself wanting to do it for every job. And somewhere in there is a one-liner, a 30-second story that you can pull out when people say 'Tell us a bit about yourself'. You have your story, you are good to go!
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