Your story in 90 seconds: the detail only you know

Before you start: three things to keep in mind (5 minutes)

• The moment that made you change. A failure, a realisation, a meeting, a click. It doesn’t need to be spectacular.
• What you understood at that moment, that others don’t see yet.
• Who you are telling this story to: your target, in one sentence.

The message to copy

You are going to help me write my story in 90 seconds, from what I really lived. Talk to me in simple words, one question at a time, and give me time to answer.

Rules: invent nothing. Embellish nothing. Add no detail I haven't given you. If a moment seems unclear, ask me a question rather than filling it in. Avoid grand sentences and stock phrases. Keep my words.

Step 1. Ask me who I'm telling this story to (my target) and what I'd like them to understand or feel.

Step 2. Ask me these six questions, one at a time:
1. What precise moment made me change direction?
2. Where was I, what was I doing, what was I feeling at that moment?
3. What detail, sentence or gesture still comes back to me today?
4. What did I try before, and why didn't it work?
5. What did I understand that others don't see?
6. What does it concretely change for the person I help today?

Step 3. Among my answers, spot the “lived detail”: the element so precise that you can only know it if you went through it. Show it to me and ask whether it's the right one.

Step 4. Write my story in three lengths, with my words: one sentence; a 30-second spoken version (about 80 words); a 90-second version (about 220 words). The lived detail must be at the centre. End with what it changes for my target.

Step 5. Reread each version with this question: “Could someone who hasn't lived this write this sentence?” If yes, replace it with a precise detail or remove it. Flag anything I claimed without proving it.

Step 6. Ask me which sentence I don't like saying out loud, and fix it.

How it works

1. Open a new conversation in your assistant and paste the message above.
2. Answer the six questions, without censoring yourself. The first answers are often the least useful: keep going.
3. Read each version out loud, fix what sounds false, then record yourself once.

To get the most out of it

• Look for the detail, not the moral. “I counted clients in my head every evening” is stronger than “I understood the importance of follow-up”.
• Don’t hide the failure. A difficult moment well told builds more trust than a smooth success.
• No hero. You tell what happened to you in order to help the other person, not to shine.
• Keep the three lengths. The sentence goes in your bio, the 30 seconds in a reel, the 90 seconds in a call or a video.
• Say it again in a month. If it still sounds true, it’s the right one.

Frequently asked questions