You Are Special: Tell Your Story
- Judith Praßer
- Aug 2
- 6 min read
The fact is: every person has an individual life, their own biography. It's also a fact that people love stories and have done so for thousands of years. From campfire tales to feature films and gaming narratives - we are captivated by the experiences of our heroes. So if we love stories and everyone has a story, why don't we tell our own story in such a way that others are immediately convinced of our life's achievements? At least I often find it difficult, although autobiographical storytelling is important in a professional environment. How do you feel about that?
Do you sometimes have the feeling that although you have worked towards a coherent CV, you are asked a lot of critical questions when you tell your story? Do you sometimes notice that others integrate their biographical jumps and gaps into their story so confidently that there is not the slightest doubt about a well-rounded career? How do they do it? What can we learn from them? I have made a few observations and would now like to share my thoughts on successful storytelling with you.
1 The Storyline: Always Include the Common Thread
Let's keep it short: at the beginning, we need to ask ourselves at least once what a story actually is. How does a narrative differ from mere talk? Without going deep into narrative theory, let's make these points:
A narrative has a chronological sequence.
At the end, its events form a big whole - the so-called coherence.
In our life stories, there is of course always a chronological sequence. (First point is ticked off.) But what is coherence all about? Psychology has established that in autobiographical storytelling, the more coherent the story, the more credible it is and the more comfortable the narrator feels with their identity.
Coherence can be seen as the common thread that runs through our story. If you look at your own life, it is not always easy to find this common thread. Sometimes there are coincidences and spontaneous decisions. But at least it is reassuring that even great stories of mankind seem like a wild jumble at first glance: e.g. the Odyssey, the ancient Greek story about the king of Ithaca, who goes through various adventures on his way back from Troy: he fights with a Cyclops, is almost enchanted, eaten, seduced and in the end mistaken for a beggar.
Is it possible that one of the most famous stories in Western culture has no coherence? Or does it?
For as different as the episodes are, they all take place during Odysseus' journey home to Ithaca. He repeatedly travels through the Mediterranean on his ship and pursues a single mission from start to finish: to return to his wife Penelope. So it exists, the common thread. And it certainly exists in your life too. It doesn't have to be consistent from the first breath to the present day, but can be a loose bracket.
If I take myself as an example, I have to admit that I have often stumbled when I have told people how I came to work in industry as a literary scholar - and in a highly technological sector at that. Recently it occurred to me that I could make these two sides of my personality, the technical and the artistic, my central theme: I can simply present myself as a hybrid construct. I can expand on this storyline by referring to my parents - my mother: linguistically gifted with a degree in science, my father: technically adept with a humanistic education. Both sides were always there. I have both sides in me and can easily explain why I became a marketing manager in an industrial company after studying literature.
And that brings me to the next point: the personal touch.
2 The Perspective: Don't Shy Away from Personal Storytelling
It's never too late to get rid of a few prejudices and break old habits. We often tend to justify our inclinations and interests in a purely professional context. This results in statements such as: “In product management, I've always been enthusiastic about designing things.” But in this day and age, in which work-life balance is a top priority and Gen Z is emphasizing private goals, we can add our personal touch.
Perhaps product management in control and regulation technology is so interesting because people were working on an automatic garden gate opener long before smart homes, right? The story already has more depth. And I also think it's legitimate to mention my parents' influence, for example. Or how do you see it? Do you see personal stories as taboo? Feel free to write me your opinion on LinkedIn. And stick to the topics in your story that you would like to disclose and tailor your personal note to how open or conservative you think the other person is.
3 The Main Character: Be the Hero in Your Story and Not an Extra
Let's return to our superhero of antiquity, Odysseus. What makes him so heroic? Although his fate is repeatedly influenced by the gods, in the end Odysseus always manages to continue on his path. He uses many tricks, such as tying himself to the ship's mast, to protect himself from the irresistible attraction of the Sirens. His clever maneuvers earn him the nickname “the cunning one”. In this sense, he is by no means at the mercy of higher powers, but acts actively.
A good story means that we perceive our own story as a challenge.
I have noticed in myself that I am often too modest to present the paths I have taken as my own decisions - e.g. the decision to write a doctoral thesis or to close the university chapter afterwards and switch to business. I would then often blather something like “it just happened” or “it was made possible for me”. In retrospect, I don't understand why I let my own inner drive that led me to do all this fall by the wayside.
After all, it is so important to act as shapers of our own development because it shows that we are interested in our own history. Of course, everyone has made spontaneous gut decisions, had to bow to external influences or experienced lucky coincidences. It's not a problem to call it that. Dare to say: “I spent a few years in a job that I later realized wasn't right for me.” What I would rather avoid is presenting yourself in a purely passive way (à la “it just happened”), because ultimately it signals a certain lack of interest in yourself.
And if we ourselves are not interested in our unique story, how are we supposed to convince others of it?
4 The Punch Line: Humor Is Allowed if It Is Placed Appropriately
The last point is close to my heart: Humor. Because I am convinced that humor not only makes our lives more beautiful, but also creates charisma. And I have often listened to people who have underlined their story with self-deprecating comments such as: "At school, math was my problem subject. That's why I became an auditor. Because I knew my way around errors and would recognize them immediately in calculations." If such a punchline is incorporated with a certain aplomb, it can work very well.
However, it is important not to forget that a sense of humor can be very individual and depends on cultural and social conditioning. The better you can assess your counterpart, the more unerringly you can find the right dose of humor. What experiences have you had with humor in a professional context? Have you been successful with it or have you ever put your foot in your mouth?
And that brings me to the end of my journey through the four tips for autobiographical storytelling. I'm looking forward to seeing how I implement them in the future. And I'm looking forward to your feedback. What do you think of the tricks and methods and which others would you add? Let me know what you think on LinkedIn.
* Nicole Mahne: Transmediale Erzähltheorie. Eine Einführung, Göttingen (2007), pp. 23-24.
** Ann Rigney: The Point of Stories: On Narrative Communication and Its Cognitive Functions, in: Poetics Today (1992), vol. 13(2), pp. 263–83, here p. 267. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1772533. Accessed 6 July 2025.
