The Power of Story : Rewrite Your Destiny in Business and in Life

by Jim Loehr

Book by Loehr, Jim

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Psychology, Personal Development, Self Help, Productivity, Leadership

4 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Dr. Jim Loehr is a world-renowned performance psychologist and author of 16 books including his most recent, The Only Way to Win. He also co-authored the national bestseller The Power of Full Engagement.

Dr. Loehr’s ground-breaking, science-based energy management training system has achieved world-wide recognition and has been chronicled in leading national publications, including the Harvard Business Review, Business Week, Fortune, Newsweek, Time, US News and World Report, Success, Fast Company and Omni. He has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Nightline with Ted Koppel, the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and CBS Morning News, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.

From his more than 30 years of experience and applied research, Dr. Loehr believes the single most important factor in successful achievement, personal fulfilment and life satisfaction is the strength of one’s character.
He strongly contends that character strength can be built in the same way that muscle strength is built
through energy investment.

Dr. Loehr has worked with hundreds of world-class performers from the arenas of sport, business, medicine and law enforcement, including Fortune 100 executives, FBI Hostage Rescue Teams, and military Special Forces. Corporate clients of the Institute represent hundreds of Fortune 500 companies, including Procter & Gamble, The Estée Lauder Companies, FBI, GlaxoSmithKline, PepsiCo, and Citigroup Smith Barney. A sampling of his elite clients from the world of sport include golfers Mark O’Meara and Justin Rose; tennis players Jim Courier, Monica Seles, and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario; boxer Ray Mancini; hockey players Eric Lindros and Mike Richter; and Olympic gold medal speed skater Dan Jansen.

Dr. Loehr possesses a masters and doctorate in psychology, serves on several prestigious scientific boards and is a full member of the American Psychological Association, the American College of Sports Medicine, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the Association for
Applied Sport Psychology.

The Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute is the pioneer in delivering a science-based energy management training solution. Based on over 30 years of proprietary research, the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute has worked with elite performers, including Olympic gold medalists, military Special Forces, Hostage Rescue teams, surgeons, and Fortune 500 CEOs to achieve sustained high performance. In 2015 alone, 25 of the Fortune 100 companies participated in Corporate Athlete® training, delivered across 32 countries, in over 500 sessions.

Reviews

[Merrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jim Loehr describes how stories create meaning for our lives and provide context for our experiences. Most notably, the stories we tell to and about ourselves create our destiny.

Loehr asserts that individuals must create new stories and those stories can only become reality with full engagement, including one’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energy. To become fully realized, new stories must become unconscious habits and rituals grounded in concrete definable outcomes.

I was particularly interested in Loehr’s assertion that we tell stories in five key areas: Work, family, health, happiness and friendship. The Power of Story will truly get you thinking about the stories you tell in each of these areas. I also enjoyed his thoughts about the power of aligning our inner and outer voices.

If you are someone who would like to take control of your story and become the writer, not just an actor in it, The Power of Story will provide you with a framework for the work ahead.

[Elly Call · Rating 4 out of 5]

Narrative therapy is new to me but this book really lead me through it, and concisely. It’s already helped me in my own life, but my one frustration is that it seemed very geared only to CEOs. The proof of success of his approach is nice to read, but I didn’t necessarily feel like the book was immediately inclusive of contractors earlier in their careers. (I’ll grant though… that’s a pretty specific niche 😂)

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was initially disappointed that this book focused so much on business or work performance. However, in the later part of the book, I saw how what he was proposing, his fundamental tenet, that we focus on energy (that is, health) rather than time, would be revolutionary if it were implemented on a wide scale. The work place would change drastically. The structure, the simplistically punative systems, the oversight, all of these things would have to change to accommodate the well-being of the people doing the work.

So I was won over to the focus on business--change that sphere and the possibilities open up for greater personal effectiveness. But of course, businesses don't like change. And so he is trying to effect individuals at the top levels to embrace this idea in all areas of their lives and work.

Another disappointment was that "story" for him essentially means self-talk and self-concept. I was hoping it had to do more with imagination. And while he does give a lot of credit to imaginative self-concept and visualization, he is essentially leading people to create a self-concept and lifestyle that are positive and in harmony.

Grandiose language about an "ultimate purpose" tends to irritate me and Loehr emphasizes that as a way to help people prioritize or focus on what they should focus on. He is catering to type As, so the language and the press toward perfection de-motivates me rather than motivates me (not a type A).

However, I did like his notion of embedding and self-indoctrination. I feel this is an area of self-help psychology that hasn't been adequately brought into the light and Loehr doesn't shy from it. I'm hoping he hasn't written the last word on it because the exercises and suggestions don't seem quite adequate, but he at least gives more guidelines to follow for making a desired change actually stick than many people.

I've kept this book because I feel its a good one to go back through periodically. He emphasizes getting honest with oneself. I think we all develop self-illusions over time. Sometimes we kick them only to have them show up again. Sometimes new ones arrive with new circumstances. It's good to have a guide for reviewing these and reasserting personal truths and priorities.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is funny because the title, in big letters on both the cover and the title page is: The Power of STORY: Rewrite your destiny in Business and in Life. Maybe the title got changed between publications.

I truly loved this book, and I can feel myself already changing in small ways to achieve what I want out of my life.

[Kimball · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, practical, short book.


Notes:


The most important story you will ever tell about yourself is the story you tell yourself. People tell stories about 5 major subjects: works family, health, happiness, and friendships.

Stories impose meaning on the chaos because facts are meaningless until a story is made about them. Some people think the story matters more than what actually happens.

All things denote a story, your fatigued gait, the size of your gut, your shoulders, etc and everyone can see that story. Or there's a story of you and work, TV, food, etc. What does that story say?

Purpose is the one of the three elements of good story telling.

When asked about your why think of that reason on your tombstone. Would you be happy about that?





https://www.humanperformanceinstitute...

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like this book.

I love the whole idea of story, narrative psychology, and believe in the potential benefits of rewriting the narrative of one’s life. But here the author uses the story metaphor way too liberally, talking about life, habits, convictions, and anything else. This to me rather distracts from the power of this metaphor. And there is too little information that is actually about narrative.

Too many unnecessary words. The book could have easily been condensed into a much shorter piece. Why these extended sections on indoctrination and cults… does the author assume an average reader is an adept of one?

Also, to me marking references in the text would have made more sense: a lot of the time the author’s words appeared unsupported by any evidence, and I noticed the reference list only when I finished the book.

[Danny Hui · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review:
I recently took a landmark course, and it showed these concepts in a practical sense. We live our lives as a story. And often times we misinterpret what happens to us, viewing what happens as the single source of truth. Usually, we color that story as negative. Why did I have to fail that test? That instructor had it out for me. Etc... This book goes over how we view these stories and gives some direction on how to change it up.

What I remember:
The narrative we give to our stories is our own. Ultimately it's how we decide the story is being told that makes the life we live a good one or a sad one.

Comments:
To be honest I don't remember much. So my comment is this book should have had some more memorable content.

[Simona Puidokaite · Rating 2 out of 5]

This felt like attending a corporate workshop in 2000s: everything presented as grand and life-changing, but with minimal substance or outcome. The core idea (that we live by internal stories and can rewrite them) is solid, but the execution was flat. Even the tools and exercises were so generic they didn’t feel useful or actionable.

I kept hoping the second half, where you’re meant to write your new story, would bring more clarity or depth, but it only got more repetitive and dull. I skimmed the final chapters.

It might have felt fresh in 2007, but today it reads as dated, vague, and forgettable.

[Kathy Keating · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be a great recipe for reconnecting with ourselves along multiple dimensions (work, family, health). It helps us reconnect with and build habits to optimize our energy along these dimensions. The health advice is outdated per current science, but the intent of that section is still spot-on.

This book is better read, not listened to/audiobook. There are many exercises that would be difficult to grasp in audio format, and there is no companion
PDF for the audiobook

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great concept - the most important story we tell ourselves is our own story. What is dysfunctional about our current story? What in our story is keeping us from going where we want to go in our life? What is our Ultimate Mission? What new story can we create that has the 3 essential pieces of good story telling: purpose, truth, and hope-filled action. The exercises in the last 30 pages of the book sums it all up pretty nicely and you could take away the main points of the book from that.

[Tom De · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect read for anyone who anyone that feels like their life is out of their control or feel like it isn't heading in the direction that they'd like it to. It's a book about direction, values, self-awareness and performance that really makes you reflect on your own life and the stories you tell yourself and others, makes you question why that's so, and guides you to change them for the better.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best practical advice I got from this book was the idea that the stuff which consumes you becomes part of your story (negative thinking begone); and as far as figuring out your purpose, thinking in terms of what you would want engraved on your epitaph. Three stars because the book just wasn't for me, but I think anyone who is far more business minded would enjoy this book.

[Stef Garvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wise, well-written look at how the story we imagine for ourselves and the story we create for ourselves are often at odds with one another. Loehr, doesn't stop at revealing that gap, though. He provides the structure by which his organization helps their clients get back on track with the story they want to be telling, not just settle for the story that isn't working.

[Joshua Key · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book will convince you to take a hard, honest look at yourself and feel good about it.

I like how he addresses the importance of dealing with your demons, while emphasizing forward movement at the same time. Both are important.

[Helen Biersack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one caught me off guard because it is set up so that you do work WHILE you read it. I need to re-read it and do the work this time. I think everyone must read this book!

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

some tough discussions here about work life balance.

key take aways spend the the energy you have on what you are doing, multitasking doesn't help.

exercise helps better sleep

[Teri Temme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great motivation to re-write your story 🤗

[Michael Lodl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good nuggets, but not a page turner.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Crappy dialogue in a messy text. Loehr seems incapable of writing fiction or non-fiction, hence this book that is neither.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

First 25% of the book was tough for me to get though, but it was worth it. Full of strong concepts and examples.

[Oliver Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, if not a little repetitive and long-winded at times

[Handaka mukarta · Rating 3 out of 5]

jangan remehkan kekuatan dan potensi dibalik suatu cerita, melalui narasi yang disusunnya, manusia membangun dunia dan kehidupannya. kira-kira begitu intisari buku ini.

" Ceritamu adalah Hidupmu". Bagi Dr Loehr, cerita berbicara banyak tentang kepribadian manusia. Melalui cerita, seseorang menyusun kembali kehidupannya. Baik keberhasilan ataupun kegagalan. kisah sukacita ataupun duka cita. Pengharapan manusia dan kekawatirannya. Manusia selalu memiliki cerita tentang pekerjaan, keluarga, karir, relasi, hubungan personal maupun interpersonal dengan komunitasnya. Seseorang yang tak pernah menulis atau bahkan berfikir untuk menulis novel sekalipun, sebenarnya tengah menulis sebuah cerita tentang hidup & pilihan-pilihannya setiap hari dengan perbuatannya.

Seringkali cerita bercampur aduk antara kenyataan, harapan dan keyakinan-keyakinan pribadi yang tersembunyi. Karenanya, "sebuah cerita selalu bercerita banyak ". Melalui cerita yang disampaikan, manusia merumuskan tujuan hidup, ketrampilan, kompetensi, tantangan dan peluang-peluang yang dihadapinya. Jika hidup adalah cerita, masih menurut Dr. Loehr, ada beberapa bagian cerita hidup kita yang sebenarnya tidak berfungsi, kurang efektif dan sangat menganggu. Bagian tersebut, seperti halnya sebuah naskah, cerita tersebut perlu proses "editing" atau bahkan "penulisan ulang". Penulisan ulang tersebut tidak berarti merubah sejarah atau memanipulasi data. Apa yang disebut penulisan ulang adalah mengganti cara pandang tertentu dalam memahami sebuah peristiwa. Cerita penderitaan bisa menjadi kisah yang memberi pengharapan, jika pribadi tersebut menaruh perspektif tertentu yang memberi dia pengharapan atau alasan untuk lebih tabah, bertekun. Dalam proses penulisan tersebut, manusia merumuskan goal dan keyakinan penting hidupnya. Menulis ulang suatu "reality based story" akan mempengaruhi tindakan, pekerjaan dan kehidupan personal kita.

buku ini menarik dari sisi gagasan. tapi hemat saya kurang berhasil dalam penyusunan. beberapa petunjuk praktis yang disertakan justru mengurangi/ mereduksi kekuatan gagasan yg ingin disampaikan..

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book with a lot of down to earth ideas. In some ways, it seems to be the practical side of a lot of the ideas that move through therapy and self-help circles. Therapy minus the touchy-feely stuff that makes it harder for a lot of people to swallow. In essence, stop telling yourself lies, tell yourself the truth and take action! Also, I like the practical way that Loehr helps to make that happen. A lot of books have a lot of ideas, but no good ways to implement them in your life. This isn't like that. I also like how Loehr puts a lot of emphasis on the idea that getting all of this stuff in hand will actually help you to get to where you want in life. Do you want to be a high-powered exec? Improve your energy level and engagement to get you there. Sometimes that even means that you have to withdraw and rest and exercise. He doesn't really say what things you should think are important, but he does give you an idea how to get where you want to go. Worth a read, definitely an above average self help book *and* and above average business book. [return][return]Yes, he does apply this all to business. Essentially, you can't be good at your job if you don't take good care of yourself and you can't live up to your potential at work if you are limited by a bad "story." He also says that companies have "stories" and that they need to get them right to have happy employees and a successful business. Employee health for example... promoting healthy employees is good for business. You get the idea!

[Manu · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very in-depth research into the concept of a "story" by Loehr. This book is totally focused on an individual's life story rather than on the art of storytelling (like in other books on story). I felt that this book is more about self evaluation to understand one's purpose in life, how to be totally true about it and what should be done in towards realization of that true purpose. The idea is to do soul searching on 3 parameters: purpose of life, truth and what actions are needed to realize that purpose.

The book is full of excerpts from very successful people (who by the way have taken Loehr's in-person classes on this subject) who talk about how they are being only 1 dimensional (basically work focused) and are missing out on family & health life primarily and how bad they feel about it because if they were to tell the story of their lives, it will be sad at the best. The book then helps to re-write the story of the life in terms of what one would like it to be and what changes one has to make in order to make that new life story come true.

While reading the book, many a times I felt that it tends to get repetitive with so many details and similar examples (stories of different people) trying to reinforce and explain 1 point. Also, it seemed little bit more philosophical to me then I had expected a story telling book to be. I felt that the ideas (of life's story & how to write it) in this book could have been easily explained in half the pages and it would have made the book much more interesting!

[Deepak Chaudhary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book but not as much as his other one "The power of full engagement" which was just amazing. but the book was great still it was a bit boring for a bit atleast that is what I thought but it was quite informative and provided an awesome way to look at your own life and evaluate whether at the end of your life you would consider yourself a success " In your own eyes .... according to what your values are". the book explains how in the eyes of others and even your eyes you could be a success but you would not really really be true and thus it give you the tools and knowledge you need evaluate and break whatever direction you are currently going in life. The question on whether I would recommend this book? The answer is yes, the knowledge you get from Jim Lohrs books is priceless I have only read 2 of his books so far but I am going to be picking up his other ones.



But





But

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't "devour" this book - I found the material repetitive & the writing style not very interesting. Maybe I didn't need 200+ pages to drive home the point that what you tell yourself & others about YOU is very much tied to our success and failure. I was glad for the reminder that how we see ourselves - our "story" - is self-fulfilling but I didn't need chapters of explanations or examples to assist me in identifying ways I might be hard-coding my own story. The CDs were better - more interesting to hear personal anecdotes than read in my opinion...

Funny thing is that I thought book was about something else - i.e. how to use storytelling as a vehicle for sales or team motivation. I'm STILL looking for a decent book on that topic!!

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just skimmed this book in several hours and downloaded the 8 Steps of Storyboarding the Transformation Process.

The basic premise is that we need to be honest with ourselves about what our story really is before we can make meaningful changes in our lives. You must create your ultimate mission, or the purpose; what moves you to action.

Your inner voice matters - need to give yourself positive self-talk.

We should focus more on energy rather than time. Eat healthy and exercise to maximize your energy and bring focus to your activities - don't just "be" there, be present and active.

Rewrite your story by creating your ultimate mission and from that, a number of training missions (smaller goals), and from those, specific individual rituals that support them.

[Steve Bivans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why does our world seem so negative? Why do we struggle so hard to achieve our dreams only to see them disappear? Jim Loehr's book goes right to the heart of the matter, or the mind of the matter would probably be more accurate. According to Loehr it is our internal stories that hold us back. Our stories are flawed, filled with negative, false images of ourselves and those around us. In order to reach our true destiny in life, we must first articulate those negative stories and then rewrite them. Loehr walks you through the process step by step.

If you're tired of your negative story and you're ready to tackle it head on, this is the book for you. It helped me to rewrite mine. It's not a 'quick fix' but it's definitely the path to a more productive and happy life.

[Glenn Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jim Loehr effectively reiterated his premise that energy, not time, is the most valuable commodity in self-improvement. He emphasized the premise that personal success is driven by owning and improving your individual story. Furthermore, he provided tools to reinforce the exercises that he described as leading to personal fulfillment. His ideas seemed valid, and I have implemented more attention to rituals. Overall, the book contributed sound advice and a path to personal development. His target audience skewed toward elite athletes and executives. Other perspectives may resonate better with different audiences.

[Rosa Frei · Rating 5 out of 5]

Your story is your destiny!

Is the story you're telling (publicly and inwardly to yourself) bringing you towards your goals? Do you live the life that is aligned with your purpose and goals? If not, this book is a great help to get you where you want to be. The author teaches a straightforward approach how you can define your purpose in life (Ultimate Mission), identify you're Old Story, write a New Story, and write a Training Mission (hope-filled actions) for those areas that needs adjustment to get you to be the person you want to be. A remarkable road map for people who are serious in reaching their goals in all areas of their life. Inspiring, motivating and action-oriented.