The challenge you face when interacting with someone is winning the battle for their attention. Saying something so intriguing that they stick around to find out what’s next…

Are you still here? Good! Because what you need to know is that winning the battle for attention is the most important thing you can do, whether you’re trying to land a job, go on a date, get a promotion, or start a business. Changing the world can’t happen if no one knows what you’re up to, and no one can know if they aren’t paying attention.

The Battle for Attention

One thing that I have been fairly successful at is coaching students through crafting their “elevator pitch.” An elevator pitch is used to introduce yourself and get someone’s (recruiter, boss, etc) attention when you have only a brief moment to do it.

My One Complaint About Snap Stories

If you’ve followed along lately, you know that I’m trying a new experiment: document my life via SnapChat Stories to drive me to live a better story. I want an incredible life story. I could wait and try to make it, or I can start sharing now and rise with the occasion.

But Snap Stories evaporate at the end of the day. I know, that’s the point. Life and Snaps are fleeting. But for what I am using it for, I’d love to give people the chance to catch up on past days.

My plan: save the Stories and post to YouTube. But now I’m in a different medium. YouTube is not SnapChat. People expect something different in each place.

Solution

A pre-roll that I stick in front of my Snap Story before sharing to YouTube. An introduction, that sets the stage for WHY this video is here and WHY you should care to watch it. I need an elevator pitch for my videos.

It’s easy for me to help other people do this. But I can’t seem to summarize what I, myself, am about. And the dentist’s kids have rotten teeth. There’s something extremely difficult about turning our skills on ourselves…

So I struggle on. I’ll write a draft and record it. I’ll be dissatisfied, But I’ll post it anyhow. And then I’ll edit and try again. And again. And again.

Want to follow along? Find me on SnapChat: