How to have a bigger story.

Big Story. Small World.

When forced to work within a strict framework the imagination is taxed to it’s utmost — and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom the work is likely to sprawl.  -T.S. Eliot

Our lives are works of art.

I’m convinced of this. In order to have a bigger and better life, we need to have smaller and more well defined worlds.

The more defined we make our world, the bigger the story we can create – God can create through us. Let me give you three examples.

1. Steve Jobs.

We all know the story of Steve Jobs (at least some of it). He created what is now the richest corporation in the world. He inspired the design of products millions of people use daily, hourly, all the time.

He created something massive, but it started with a simple and well defined idea.

Think different.

Computer, MP3 player, phone, DVR, tablet and now watch all began because Steve Jobs and Apple decided they would think differently about technology.

Steve Jobs is known, has a big story, because he defined his world narrowly.

2. Bob Goff.

Bob Goff wrote the book Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World, but Bob Goff is not an author. Bob Goff is a doer, and everything he does seems to be focused around people he loves.

The people he loves the most is his family – wife and children.

Bob Goff was so dedicated to his children that he did things normal people don’t do. He led neighborhood parades, watched his son leave the house with a dollar and return with a car, he took his kids to other countries to have sleepovers with international dignitaries.

Yeah, Bob Goff did that, but don’t be mistaken, Bob isn’t a dignitary himself. Bob Goff encouraged his kids to write letters to the leaders of the world, encourage peace, and invite them over for dinner. I’m serious.

The crazy thing was some of these leaders agreed, and reciprocated. Bob had a choice to make…how dedicated was he to his family? Would he do what he promised and encouraged his kids to do?

Bob recognized this chance came about because of his well defined world, and he would create a bigger story because of this opportunity. He jumped, and his story is amazing because of it.

3. Senior Portrait Artists (spa).

Chances are you have no idea what spa is. Probably because it was small to begin with, got a little bigger and then went away all together.

spa was an organization designed to equip and inspire the professional photographer who specialized in high school senior portraits. I was a part of creating this business, and it started off amazing.

Success is a powerful drug that can dull your sense of reality. Reality was we created a small, well defined structure for our business, but we walked away from that to grow quicker and faster.

We focused less on the photographer and more on the photography industry (who we thought would help fuel our growth and pay our bills). Our world got too big, and we lost our way. In just a matter a couple of years after we reached our peak, spa no longer existed.

Start small. Get smaller.

If you want a bigger story, you need a smaller world.

What I mean is define where you are and why you are there. Here two examples in my life:

• Shawnee, Kansas. My home is in Shawnee because I am a part of a church that believes God wants to transform this city. I don’t know what that looks like or means, but I know the story is bigger than I see today.
• Writing. I’m writing 3-5 times a week. It’s leading somewhere. I can’t see where, but the story is bigger than now.

I struggled for over 30 minutes on the last two points because definition doesn’t always mean clarity. Defining your world means cutting away the excess.

I’ve cut away so much in the last 5 years. It’s leading to a bigger story.

What can you cut away to help better define your world?