3 Steps to Optimizing Your Personal Narrative

Here’s how to respond when a job interviewer asks, ‘Tell me about yourself’

Illustration: Abbey Lossing

The human brain loves stories. Think about interviewing job candidates; we’re much more likely to remember the candidate for that head of strategy job who recounted checking her town calendar as a kid in order to open her lemonade stand next to big events (and changing her price based on the weather… and working out the ROI of bendy straws) than a candidate who just notes that she’s had four years of experience.

But much as we love stories, telling good ones about ourselves — about who we are and why we do what we do — takes a bit of work. And so we tend to sell ourselves short.

3 Ways to Go From Burnout State to Flow State

Here’s a classic story structure: The protagonist (who we sympathize with) overcomes a handful of obstacles in turn until the goal is achieved. No matter what you’ve been through, you can construct a compelling, memorable personal narrative. You just need to do three things.