Skip to main content

Pointless Stories

Point of Light (by ~Andross01) I was talking to a teen tonight at Starbucks who was asking to hear my life story. We’d started that conversation over a week ago, and I never finished. The main reason I finally figured out tonight, is that there was too much detail without a point.

Every other time I tell a story about my life, it’s been in conjunction with either a talk or some point I want to make. Here I was just going through my life and I actually think the teen was more interested in the story than even I was.

Truthfully, stories don’t stick unless they impact the person hearing them. There’s no point in telling a story without a point. Really, it needs a point that resonates with the listener.

So, the next time you’re telling someone, even your spouse, about your day, think about what the point is. If it’s simple information then it’s probably going to go in one ear and out the other. It it’s going to make the listener feel something new, both the story and the feelings are tied together and may never be forgotten.

I wonder how many times I’ve told stories that never get remembered?

Peace,
+Tom

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Red-Gate SQL Compare

Every now and then I come across a program that becomes so ingrained in my daily work that I hardly know how I'd get by without it.  I'll probably break down a couple over the next few days, but for database work, I have never found anything as good as Red Gate's SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare .  Essentially these tools let you compare two SQL Server databases (all objects, users, permissions, functions, diagrams, anything) and update changes to whichever database you want.  This is amazingly useful for deploying database changes to a test or production environment (do it to production with ridiculous care, even though it will generate a SQL Script for you and run all updates in one transaction), and making sure everything is synchronized. For releases we can just generate the compare script, confirm that the changes match the updates we want to go out, and store it all in one place with the release details.  This is true for both the structure and the d...
6 comments
Read more

Using an Array of Objects in C++

 I've been programming for years (over 35 at this point, which is crazy  to think about). My career right now is much more Software Architecture, and much less Software Developer, but I still get some time to write out GraphQL APIs in TypeScript, Vue 3 UIs, GitLab pipelines, and just generally making "big" decisions and helping make them a reality. It's nice every now and then to come across different articles and ideas that get me to remember life in college when I was using C++. Who would have thought C++ was the "hot new thing" right now (though I suppose it's more like Rust and Go, both great languages as well). One of the things I find frustrating with most technical posts is where they focus on the "how do I build an app" and not so much on "how do I do this one slightly useful thing". I figured I'd throw one together what was front of mind, using user attributes for permissions (i.e., Attribute Based Access Control - ABAC) ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Microsoft Access

I've answered this question in some form or another far more times than I care to count.  Most often it's a question of "why do I need a fancy Web application when I can just build this myself in two days in Access.  I mean, the data's already in Excel."  So I figured I'd post out what I threw together, I know I've missed some points. Overview Microsoft Access is an ideal solution for relatively small datasets and a limited number of users. From the Microsoft Web site: “As a desktop database, Access is well suited for small, departmental applications. These applications may start as one user’s project. For example, an employee realizes that productivity can be increased if a paper-based process is automated with an Access application. Other users in the department recognize that they can take advantage of the application if additional features are added. As more features are added, more employees run the application. As time goes by, more and more Access...
8 comments
Read more