The One Social Skill That Beats All The Others

If I had to pick just social skill to have it at 10 out of 10, it'd be the one in this video. It can make you rich and famous all on its own and it's also the one that lets you connect on a date or stand out in an interview or hold the attention of an entire room. And it's actually something that I did for 24% of

my speaking time in my Diary of a CEO interview, which sounds great until you realize that the highly charismatic Matthew McConaughey did it for 47% of the time in his interview, which is twice as much as me. So, what is this skill? Well, it's storytelling.

>> My dad was at a ranch one time with his friend. It's late at night. They're sitting out in the bar and drinking and all of a sudden the subject comes up of how high everybody can pee.

>> Little Mr. Texas. >> Six years ago, but I said, "Well, let me just zoom in on this picture." I look at the trophy and it says runner-up.

>> I have three things to my account that I need each day. >> You considered becoming a monk. >> I talked to a good friend of mine, Brother Christian at Monastery Christ in the Desert. His opinion was, "No, no, no. That is not what you're here to do.

You're a communicator. You're a storyteller." >> Now, I've said this before and I am sure that I will say it again. Storytelling is inception. It allows you to communicate with a person's unconscious mind. You're actually bypassing the rational part that evaluates facts and you're speaking directly to

the part that actually makes big decisions. For instance, the intro story of the 4-Hour Work Week, which is Tim Ferriss in a tango competition. I remember it to this day, made me quit my job as a consultant and become an entrepreneur. That story and the others in the 4-Hour Work Week completely

altered the course of my life and made me start this channel. So, storytelling is a superpower for creating transformation, not to mention just being a great way to captivate people.

And that's why I want to take you through an example of an incredibly well-told story from Matthew McConaughey. I'm going to explain the key things that he's doing so that you can use them to shine on your next date, interview, friend hangout, or business presentation.

>> [music] >> And I know that most of you don't need to hear this, but just a caveat. Do not tell stories that pretend to be true, but aren't. Stories really do move people, and moving them towards a lie can be truly damaging. So, let's begin with the thing that kills many stories before they even start, the hook.

>> Let me Let me Let me tell you one uh in in in Africa. [clears throat] >> The hook is what gathers attention at the onset. And to be fair, this isn't Matthew's best, but he's an hour and 10 minutes into this podcast, so he's already got the audience's attention.

When you tell stories though, you need a first line that grabs the group's attention, something like this.