You don't need an excuse for your story

If you want to say something, tell it. You do not need to make an excuse on why you are telling it. Why should you start your article or presentation with a vague reference as “Many people ask me….” or “When I was at location X, a frog came up to me, and we had a conversation about…”

It might feel comfortable to package your story with a preamble that you are telling it because of other people, whether they are imaginary friends or actual people. Though is that what the people you are addressing are waiting for? You tell them that because of other people than them or a different situation than now, you are telling them this story? How does that create relevance?

The reason people are looking up to you is because you’re you. They’re not looking up to you so that you’ll tell them something that you would never actually tell them. They’re looking up to you so that you tell them something that you would tell them yourself.

Bille Eilish

The reason why people want to hear from you is because of you. Make up no excuses about why this story matters. It matters without an excuse as long as you make it relevant for those listening.

Don’t wait till people ask if you could share your story with them. Be courageous. There is a reason why they are hanging out with you, even when it is a corporate meeting (they could have declined it if they did not want to be there).

Make the story relevant for those who want to listen to you, and focus on what they can take out of it. Do not create an excuse for why it should be suitable for them. If there are relevant takeaways, you were fabulous.

When you tell them why ten other people were asking you about this topic, and there are no takeaways, what did you do besides fill time with words? Be courageous and tell your story.