It happened one morning.
I opened my fridge and discovered water drops gathered in the inside top area where the two doors meet.
I let it go for a few weeks, just wiping with a towel the newly formed moisture.
When it became a real nuisance, especially when I was overseas asking a friend to stop by to wipe those drops, I called an appliance repair guy.
This is when the saga started.
Repairman 1: “Yeah, I see the hole when you close the doors.” He added a longer tape to one side of the rubber gasket. “This should do it!” Seriously? I asked in disbelief.
The water drops continued to show up twice a day.
Repairman 2: “Oh, I see the hole where hot air is coming in. This is a bug in the fridge design. Nothing you can do about it. Just make sure to close the left door first.”
Big help!
Repairman 3: After investigating his part database and consulting with a colleague over the phone, he concluded. “Your problem are the bad gaskets. I’ll order new ones. When they arrive, just keep them in the sun for a few days, so they stretch nicely.”
A week after, he showed up and installed the two door gaskets that basically form seals around my 2 doors to prevent warm air from entering the refrigerator.
The next morning I was elated to find the “water drops meetup” had completely disappeared!
Likely moved to another fridge with a gap…
Hi friend,
How are you? I hope you’re doing well.
My opening tale carries a simple, yet powerful storytelling moral.
You need to include enough obstacles in your story for your protagonist to go through before discovering your amazing solution.
The climb is much more interesting than the destination (created with Sora2).
Why care?
Think about what you’re after right now. Let’s say you get it tomorrow. In no time you’ll get bored and look for your next challenge.
We’re all wired to seek challenges as long as they’re not too easy and outcomes are uncertain.
Beyond those fleeting winning moments - which serve as important milestones laden with emotional payoffs and a larger moral - we spend the majority of our time overcoming obstacles.
As such, obstacles make your story more believable and reflective of real-life.
I covered this topic in:
I always like to go back to this theme because, the other benefit of obstacles is that they work as engagement triggers.
Each repairman above, I bet triggered a similar experience you may have gone through fixing an appliance.
This shared human experience is a goldmine to spike relatability to your stories.
Another weak link
In many stories I review, the transition from Act 2 (conflict) to Act 3 (the resolution) is either weak or non-existent.
Rushing too fast, or using an unrealistic helper can kill the impact.
Here pacing and authentic transition - are key.
This is also what makes your brand story different than a classic 30-second ad where life is always rosy and the product is the hero of the action.
In other words, the entire ad is about Act 3 the resolution. No hard work discovering - only winning.
Not that there is anything wrong with ads. You need them for for achieving a steady top-of-mind awareness.
Yet, brands often want to create memorable brand stories that provide much more engaging depth.
Obstacles can appear in any storytelling formula
There are many storytelling formulas you can use to plant obstacles across their story arcs.
Upgrade your subscription and you’ll get my Top 10 Business Storytelling Formulas eBook.
And guess what, if you’re an entrepreneur chasing investors with your pitch story, including obstacles help humanize your story and persistence.
I covered this in:
The rule of thumb, I advise my clients and students is simple
“If your storyline looks unreal to you - it probably is.”
See you next time!
Best,
- Shlomi
Shlomi Ron
Founder, Visual Storytelling Institute
story > visual > emotion > experience
shlomi@visualstorytell.com
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