Scott (0:00)

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Their platform automates up to 90% of the tedious compliance work, and it helps you respond to those endless security questionnaires up to five times faster. And and they also connect you with experts to get your security program running immediately. And the results? They speak for themselves. A recent IDC report found that Vanta customers achieve over $535,000 per year in benefits, and the platform pays for itself in just three months. So join over 10,000 global companies like Atlassian, Quora and Factory who use Vanta to manage risk, improve security in real time, and don't miss this for a limited time, only my listeners can get a thousand dollars off Vanta. That's real money back in your pocket. Visit vanta.comscott now before this offer expires. That's V A n T a dot com Scott for a thousand dollars off in this Lessons episode, I want to explore why success isn't about having it all figured out. It's about storytelling. I want to talk about how some top performers aren't these superhumans who never fail. They've just mastered the art of strategic authenticity and effective commun. You're going to discover why combining genuine competence with powerful storytelling creates an unstoppable advantage in how to position yourself in a world obsessed with manufactured certainty, the ability to share your journey honestly yet strategically. It isn't just a marketing tactic. It's the path to truly breakthrough opportunities that sets you apart from a culture that is addicted to success. Theater. This isn't about faking it. It's about translating your real value in a way that others understand and appreciate. Your entire life will change when you realize this simple truth. Success is just survival with better storytelling Let me say that one more time. Success is just survival with better storytelling. I have spent the last six years studying the most quote unquote successful people on the planet. I've gone deep into their content, I've analyzed their businesses, I've joined their communities, I've even worked alongside them. Here's what I've discovered. Nobody has it figured out. That eight figure founder still wakes up with crippling anxiety. The influencer with 2 million followers still questions if they're good enough. The investor with the perfect portfolio is one bad decision away from collapse. Everyone's winging it, but some are just louder, more confident and more polished in how they present the chaos. And this isn't some feel good, cope. It's reality. And once you understand it, it changes everything. Because the world doesn't reward competence, it rewards the perception of competence. If you look at any industry, you're going to see this pattern. The most successful people aren't necessarily the most skilled. They're the ones who position themselves as authorities through storytelling. Now, I'm not saying they're not skilled, but. But there are lots of people who are incredibly skilled who aren't in positions of authority. The gap is storytelling. The people that win. They package their journey, their insights, even their failures into a narrative that suggests mastery, that projects certainty, that implies they've cracked a code that you haven't. But here's what they won't tell you. Behind the perfect morning routine is a person who hits snooze four times. Behind the crush it again LinkedIn post is a week of existential dread. Behind the How I Built My End Empire tweet thread is a founder who's secretly wondering if it's all about to fall apart. And I've seen it firsthand. I've been in the private conversations, the backstage moments, the late night strategy sessions. The gap between public perception and private reality isn't just big, it's the entire game. I remember sitting across from someone worth nine figures. I'm not going to say who they are, but they were on stage. I was listening to them talk about their perfect life, their business success, their exit. Two hours later, I found them at a hotel bar. Three drinks in, they were telling me everything. About their divorce, health problems, sometimes wondering if any of it was worth it. And that's not the story that they sell on stage. That's not the story that built their empire, but that's the reality behind it. And here's the thing. Their audience doesn't want the messy truth. Even if they say they do. They want the clean narrative. They want the illusion that if they just follow the formula, they can have those results without the suffering, the uncertainty, the constant fear of it all falling apart. Now, this creates a massive opportunity that most people completely miss. Most creators and entrepreneurs get this backwards. They think that once I master this skill, I'll be successful. And they spend years in the trenches developing competence while ignoring the more important skill, storytelling. Meanwhile, the person with 1/10 their ability but 10x their storytelling skill runs laps around them. And this isn't about being fake. It's about understanding a fundamental truth. How you communicate your journey is just as important as the journey itself. Now you see the opportunity. Because if mediocre people with great storytelling are winning, imagine what happens when you combine elite competence with elite storytelling. It's game over. And let me be clear. I hate seeing people with mediocre skills but great storytelling outperform truly talented people. I'm not telling you to become all story and no substance. What I'm saying is that you should aim to have 11 out of 10 ability, but also the 10x storytelling skill most people choose one or the other. Be the rare person who masters both. The creator who fails nine times before succeeding on the 10th try, but only shares a success. They're telling a fake story of overnight mastery, of overnight success. But if a creator or an entrepreneur who documents all 10 attempts shares insights from each failure, you're actually telling a story of persistent growth. Same outcome, different narrative, radically different perception. And you have to ask yourself, what kind of story do you want to tell? What kind of audience do you want to build? For me, it's the latter. The first story, the one where you leave out the nine failures, you build an audience that's hungry for a magic bullet. The second story, where you include all those failures, you build a community of fellow journeyers. Some people don't do either. Some people only focus on their failures, and they never get good at telling their story. And they don't build any audience, they don't build any credibility. And maybe they are competent, but then they're missing a huge opportunity. But between those options, you tell a fake story or you tell the real story. You have to be good at storytelling for both of them. But which is more valuable long term? I have learned this lesson personally multiple times. I just learned it on a small project where I try to start a business, lost a significant sum of money about 18 months of my life. My immediate instinct was to hide that failure, to pretend it never happened, to start fresh with something new. But that's not the lesson I'm teaching you. That's not what you do. Instead, I wrote about it, I spoke about it, I broke down exactly what went wrong, what I learned, how I would approach things differently next time, the things that I took away from that failure. And this content, some newsletters that I've written about it, some posts, some of the times I've spoken about it on podcasts. It has generated more followers, more connections, more opportunities than anything I'd written about before. And why? Because strategic authenticity is the ultimate pattern interrupt in a world of manufactured success. If you look around, you'll see it everywhere. People telling these polished stories while hiding their lack of competence and leaving out the ugly messy parts. I am proposing something different. Include the ugly messy parts, tell the full story, and also develop real competence. That combination is how you win. Now, I don't think it'd be fair to tell you that you have to be a better storyteller and then not give you some strategies on how to tell better stories. And I've been very fortunate because I've been able to study hundreds of successful creators, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and I've seen five storytelling patterns that they all use. Some of them are not competent, but that's not the point. The point is if you understand how to tell these good stories, you pair them with true competence. That's when you win. So the first storytelling pattern is the transformation frame. So one thing that you have to know is that you never present success as innate talent. You want to present success as a journey from struggle to breakthrough. This invites others to identify with the starting point. An example of this would be I was broke. I was sleeping on my friend's couch three years ago. Now I run a seven figure business. Here's what changed. The second storytelling pattern is the selective reveal. Where they share vulnerabilities but strategic ones. So struggles that humanize them without undermining their authority. Past failures, not current uncertainties. So you can say I failed at my first three businesses before finding this model that works not I'm not sure if my current business will survive the next six months. The third pattern is the pattern recognition flex. So one thing that good storytellers do is they do position normal observations as these profound insights. They use language like I've noticed that or most people miss this but to suggest unique perception. So they could say something like most people completely miss this about building an audience. But the algorithm actually rewards it's a great storytelling tool to codify your wisdom. The fourth storytelling pattern is the accessible expert position where you balance aspirational achievement with relatable humanity. So saying something like, I've built multiple seven figure businesses, but I still forget to unmute my zoom calls. This creates a perfect combination. They're successful enough to teach me, but human enough to understand my struggle. Or the fifth storytelling pattern is the future past bridge, where they connect where they were, which is relatable, to where they are, which is aspirational, to where they're going, which is visionary. And they create a narrative path that others want to follow. Something along the lines of, I started with just 10 followers three years ago. Now we're at 500,000 followers and we're getting. We're just getting started. The mission for the next decade is to reach 10 million people with this message. Now, if you master these patterns, you've mastered the game of storytelling. And I'm telling you these patterns in hopes that you will use them ethically, you will use them to amplify your competence. People can use these patterns maliciously. But if you're listening to this, I know that you are a competent, ethical person. And I want to give you these tools to allow you to build a connection with your audience and to elevate your own person. I just want to take a second and thank Cornbread Hemp for supporting today's episode. Now, Cornbread Hemp CBD gummies have been this really nice addition to my wellness toolkit. I don't use them every day, just when I want to unwind after those extra busy weeks, but they're perfect for those moments when you want to take the edge off and just find your balance. Really just shut off from work. And what makes them special is how Cornbread Hemp crafts them. They only use a flower of USDA organic hemp plants. That's the best part for the purest, most potent experience. No fillers, no artificial fluff, just clean, full spectrum goodness and delicious watermelon, berry and peach flavor. I keep them in my nightstand for those moments when I just need a little extra help relaxing. And I love how transparent they are too. Every batch is third party lab tested so you know exactly what you're getting. And they put together a special offer for all Success Story podcast listeners. All listeners can save 30% off their first order. Just head to cornbreadhemp.com success and use code success at checkout. That's cornbreadhemp.com success code success for 30% off your first order of these amazing gummies. Now, we've covered how successful people tell their stories But I want to shift gears and talk about why they tell them this way. And I also want to talk about some of the more complex psychological reality behind these patterns. Because these storytelling patterns aren't inherently good or bad. They're tools. And like any tool, the impact depends entirely on how they're used. And when these patterns are used with integrity, backed by real competence and genuine value, they serve an important purpose. They help people understand complex ideas, see possibilities in their own lives, and connect with your message on a deeper level. But when these same techniques are used to mask incompetence or manipulate others, that's when things get psychologically complicated. That's where the problems begin. You see, most discussions about storytelling are overly simplistic. They're either these are cynical marketing tactics, or these are essential communication skills and the truth lies somewhere more nuanced. And after spending time with hundreds of successful creators behind closed doors, I've learned that even those using these patterns effectively, they often struggle with the psychological weight of how they present themselves versus how they feel inside this performance of certainty. It isn't just marketing. It's actually a psychological coping mechanism. And the entrepreneur that projects unwavering confidence, they're usually managing their own crippling doubt. The creator that sells transformation, they're usually trying to transform themselves through you. And the productivity expert with the perfect system, they're usually trying to control their own chaos. We teach what we most need to learn, we sell what we most want to buy, and we project what we most fear we lack. This isn't cynicism, it's human psychology. Every creator working in the public sphere, including me, is working through their own shit while challenging others to level up. Now, the honest ones admit it. The rest hide it behind performative mastery. The problem is that maintaining this performance takes a psychological toll. The bigger the gap between your public image and private reality, the more exhausting it becomes to bridge that gap every day. And here's where it really gets insidious. Your honest uncertainty feels like weakness compared to their manufactured. And your authentic journey feels inadequate compared to their curated highlight reel. And your real time learning feels slow compared to their retrospective wisdom. And this comparison doesn't just hurt, it paralyzes. Now, the problem isn't just external either. It's internal. You start to believe that your messy reality isn't just different from their polished presentation, it's inferior. And that your doubt isn't just normal, that it's disqualifying. You start to think, well, if I was really cut out for this, I'd Feel as certain as they seem to be. But that's the greatest illusion of all. And this is where the opportunity exists for you to build something more authentic and sustainable than the fragile success theater that's all around you. But here's what makes this challenging. Just recognizing the problem isn't enough to solve it. Recognizing that uncompetent people are good at storytelling, it's still easy to fall victim. Because even when you see through the illusion, it's easy to fall into the same psychological traps. Now why? Because we are hardwired to compare ourselves to others. We naturally measure our messy insides against others, polished outsides. And in a world saturated with these curated success stories, those comparisons are happening hundreds of times per day and usually below your conscious awareness. So to build something truly different, to be different, you need to first understand exactly how this comparison trap operates. Sort of this specific psychological mechanics that keep most people stuck in this mode of feeling perpetually inadequate. And then, only then, can you disarm it in your own mind and create an alternative that actually works. But when you are constantly exposed to success theater, it creates a predictable, very predictable psychological pattern because you start to compare your messy reality to someone else's curated presentation. You start to feel inadequate because you're uncertain while they seem so certain. And you conclude that there must be something wrong with you. You try to fix this defect by seeking more knowledge and more certainty. You consume more content from people projecting certainty. And this cycle repeats. And it drives you deeper into comparison and further away from action. And I would say for the good people out there, it drives you further away from building your own story and telling it with confidence. And the cycle isn't just accidental, it's profitable. The entire personal development industry thrives on this gap between where you are and where you think you should be. And that's why the most successful people in this space don't actually want you to become truly self sufficient. They want you dependent on their frameworks, on their systems, on their secret sauce. But the truly transformative thinkers, the ones who create lasting change, they do the opposite. And that's who I want you to be. Because they demystify success. They normalize the struggle. They give you permission to be exactly where you are while equipping you to move forward. So the question becomes, how do you break this cycle and build real success and tell real story? That doesn't depend on fake certainty. Because the true opportunity here isn't just avoiding the traps of someone else's success theater, it's creating a better alternative and being Aware of this performative culture isn't just enough. You need to actively build something different, a story that's authentically aligned with who you are, while still strategically crafted to connect with others. It's not just about your success. It's about becoming the kind of role model that you wish you had when you were starting out. Someone who delivers real value while maintaining genuine integrity. So how do you leverage storytelling as a powerful tool? It is without falling into the traps that come with it. How do you communicate your value without compromising your values? There's a better way, and it actually combines the best of both worlds. So step one, I want you to embrace strategic transparency. I want you to share your process, not just your outcomes. I want you to document the journey, including the failures, but frame those failures as necessary iterations rather than evidence of incompetence. So I know somebody personally that built the $600,000 per year business in 14 months, not by hiding her struggles, but by documenting them. And every single setback became content. Every challenge became a lesson. She wasn't perfect, she was relatable. And relatable beats perfect every time. And what made her approach different was that she shared the struggles after working through them with perspective and lessons learned, not in the heat of raw emotion. This is a very crucial distinction between strategic, strategic transparency and reckless vulnerability. Second idea, build in public, but not in real time. So I want you to document everything but share with a slight delay. And this gives you perspective to extract insights rather than raw emotions. The best build in public content isn't truly real time. It's reflection, shared soon enough to feel current, but with enough distance so that you can extract some wisdom from it. When you're in the middle of a crisis, your emotions are too raw and your perspective is very limited. So I want you to document that privately and then share it once you've gained enough distance to turn it into wisdom, rather than just venting. And it's not about being inauthentic, it's about being responsibly authentic. It's a difference between dumping unprocessed emotions on your audience and offering them processed insights that actually serve them. The third idea is to focus on frameworks, not formulas. So don't sell certainty. Sell better ways to navigate uncertainty. Not do this and succeed. But when facing this challenge, here are three approaches that I found useful. The most valuable expertise isn't knowing exactly what will happen. It's having multiple strategies for whatever might happen. And this approach does something very powerful. It positions you as the thoughtful guide, rather than this infallible guru. You're not claiming to have the answer. You're offering tools that worked in specific contexts. The fourth idea? You have to master parallel processing. You have to learn to hold two truths simultaneously. I don't have all the answers, and I know enough to help others make progress. The tension isn't a contradiction. It's the essence of authentic expertise. The most trusted voices aren't those who claim to know everything. They're those who clearly define what they know, what they suspect, and what they're still figuring out. And this is perhaps one of the most difficult skills of all. Because most people, people swing between unearned confidence and paralyzing self doubt. The true master of storytelling, they stand firmly in the middle, very comfortable with knowing some things deeply while still being a student in others. And lastly, create at the edge of your understanding the most valuable content lives where your knowledge meets your questions. I want you to share what you know, but also what you're still figuring out. This approach isn't just more honest, it's more effective. And when you stop pretending to have it all figured out, you develop a superpower. The ability to learn, adapt, and grow in public without the crippling pressure of performative certainty. And when you do this properly, when you tell your story, understanding these five ideas, you start to tap into the underrated advantage of honest uncertainty. And it's ironic. But your willingness to acknowledge uncertainty isn't a weakness. It's your greatest strength. So while everyone else is exhausting themselves maintaining the illusion of perfect knowledge, you're conserving that energy for actual growth. When they're stuck defending outdated positions to protect their status, you're free to evolve your thinking as new information emerges. And while they're attracting followers who expect magic bullets and secret formulas, you're building a community of fellow thinkers who value honest exploration. And it's not just morally superior, it's strategically advantageous. In a world of fake certainty, real curiosity is the ultimate differentiator. This is where storytelling transforms from a marketing tactic into something much more valuable. It's a tool for genuine connection and growth. Think about who you trust more. The person who has an immediate answer for everything, never admitting any kind of doubt. Or the person who sometimes says, that's a great question. I don't have a perfect answer, but here's my current thinking. The second person isn't displaying weakness. They're displaying intellectual honesty. And in a world drowning in confident bullshit, that intellectual honesty is rare and valuable. So you have two paths forward. There are two Ways to build your career, your business, your creative work. Path one is the confidence game. You protect your story. You hide your struggles. You project unwavering certainty. You attract people who want that fantasy. And you exhaust yourself maintaining this illusion. Eventually, you burn out or you become what you once pretended to be. That's not the way that I want to do anything. Path two is the integrity game. You refine your thinking. You share your journey strategically. You navigate uncertainty with confidence rather than projecting some false certainty. You attract people who value truth over comfort. You build sustainable success on authentic foundation. In the first path, the confidence game might get you there faster. The second path will keep you there longer. The first path might make you rich. Second path will make you fulfilled and rich at the same time. The first path requires you to become someone else. The second path allows you to become your best self again. The point isn't that storytelling itself is the problem. The problem is when storytelling becomes disconnected from reality when used well. Storytelling is how we make sense of reality and help others do the same. So if you've been feeling like you are somehow falling behind because you don't have the perfect roadmap while everyone else seems to have their life all figured out, remember this. You're not behind. You're just too honest with yourself to fake it. Your awareness of the complexity, the nuance, the unknowns, that's not a weakness to overcome. That's clarity that a lot of people haven't achieved yet. So the most powerful position is never. I have all the answers. The most powerful position is I have some valuable insights. I'm actively working on some important questions, and I'm bringing you along for the journey. That's not just good ethics. It's good business, it's good creativity, it's good life strategy. But what I'm ultimately advocating for isn't just a different approach to content creation or to business building or to storytelling. It's a fundamentally different relationship with success itself. Most people view success as this fixed destination they need to reach as quickly as possible, even if that means faking their way there. They're willing to compromise who they are to achieve what they want. But I want you to just reframe that. What if success isn't a destination at all? What if it's more like a conversation, an ongoing dialogue between your evolving skills and the world's evolving needs? In that framework, storytelling isn't manipulation, it's translation. It's how you communicate your unique value in a way others can understand and appreciate. And when you combine genuine competence with effective storytelling, you create something truly rare and valuable, you become the exception to the rule. Someone who doesn't just look successful, but actually delivers the value to match. And this is the true opportunity, hiding in plain sight. While others are busy crafting perfect stories about imperfect skills, you can be developing the perfect combination. Elite skills translated through powerful storytelling. And that gap that you saw earlier, that's where you step in. That's where you win. I want you to master your craft. I want you to master your story, and I want you to build something real.