Donald Miller is best known for his business and marketing books, training and coaching. In this book he takes the storytelling principles he applies to businesses and brands and uses them to help us shape a more meaningful life. It’s a simple idea, and a nice way to cover some key personal development principles in a framework that is easy to understand.
Inspired by Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, the idea that having something to look forward to in life can drive us to live with more meaning, the main thrust of the book is to help you develop a narrative that can lead you to a better future. Having read a number of other books in a similar vein this is definitely very accessible.
The core principle is to frame your life as a story where you are the hero on a journey, and the book guides you through a model to help create stories to help shape your life. There are a number of exercises to follow and some templates to get you started. One of the interesting tools is to write your own eulogy, and think about what you would like to be said at the end of your life. This is a bit of a wake-up call and reminder of how short our lives are.
You then build 10-year, 5-year and 1-year plans and add a daily planner to the mix to enable measurable progress towards achieving the aims of your story. A downloadable version of the templates is provided with the audiobook but Donald also has an online tool that manages the whole process.
This is where I have to take a star off the book. Ultimately the book is trying to lead you towards using the software, and while it looks like a useful tool for applying this framework, I fundamentally disagree that journaling and reflection is better done digitally.
Numerous studies show that hand-written is best, and so, for me, I’ll be taking some of the ideas from this model and adding to my arsenal, but am not going all-in with the digital service. However, you might love the idea of the digital version, it’s $10 a month, and does provide a community of support. It’s up to you.
In conclusion, nice book and model that’s worth a read.
