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Welcome to this week’s newsletter. I’m really pleased that last week’s audio experiment seemed to resonate. So before we begin, don’t forget that if you’d like the full Jackanory experience, you can listen to me narrate this newsletter here.

Testing new things is all part of nurturing my curiosity and to help me recover from decades of perfectionism. I held myself back because I feared getting things wrong and I assumed others would judge me, when really the judgement was coming from within. By growing my self‑compassion, I’ve created more space to play.

And that brings me to this week’s theme: the stories we live inside and the freedom that comes when we question them.

Some stories are external - the norms, values and beliefs that shape society, workplaces and communities. It’s why I loved sociology at A‑level and why I ended up in marketing. I’ve always been fascinated by how stories influence behaviour. At one end, they help us question propaganda and at the other, they help marketers use behavioural economics and nudge theory to make us buy more stuff we don’t need.

Marketers are brilliant storytellers, it’s why I enjoyed it. Stories are used to balance the rational and the emotional and to motivate action based on belief. So sometimes those stories are used to fuel insecurity and consumption. But they can also be used for positive change, to inspire or empower. The point is we need to understand which stories we want to create, reinforce or reject. Because life runs on stories and our willingness to obey them.

Society functions because we conform to collective narratives. It’s the attachment/authenticity seesaw I often talk about, inspired by Dr Gabor Maté. If one goes up, inevitably, one goes down. It’s the constant dance between staying true to ourselves and staying connected to others.

It’s a powerful reminder that stories can keep us safe but they can also keep us stuck when we choose safety over freedom.

At this point, it’s important to remind ourselves that nature doesn’t operate through stories. Humans invented them, often as a way to control other humans. So when we re‑wild ourselves, we remember we can choose which stories to ignore.

‘Time’ is one of my favourite examples of how strange our man‑made stories can be. This weekend we all changed our clocks by an hour without question. Imagine someone suggesting that for the first time today, we’d think they’d lost the plot.

And it gets stranger. In 1752, the UK skipped 11 days to correct the calendar. We went from 2 September straight to 14 September. According to official records, nobody was born between the 3rd and the 13th because those days simply didn’t exist. If I told you I fancied skipping 11 days this year, you’d think I was mad. But we’ve done it before. Someone decided it, enough people agreed and now we barely talk about it.

So what else feels immovable but isn’t?

Right now, stories about AI, the economy and productivity are making people feel they must move faster, do more and embrace this new world without question. But blind compliance to those stories isn’t helpful. We need new ones, ones that remind us we have agency and choice.

The philosopher Alan Watts puts it beautifully - if speed were the measure of success, the best pieces of music would have only one note. Efficient, yes. Meaningless, absolutely. But the journey is the point, it always has been.

We can forget that in modern life because it’s so noisy. I’ve seen whole teams in businesses get swept up in stories they’ve inherited. Sometimes they even go along with decisions they don’t believe in because it’s easier than rocking the boat.

There’s even a management principle famously used by Amazon called ‘disagree and commit’ which encourages people to speak, then get on with it. In theory, it encourages challenge. In practice, it can mean overriding our own expertise or values because we’re outnumbered.

And when we ignore our authenticity, it rarely ends well.

This is where communication becomes everything. Our ability to express ourselves clearly without collapsing into the familiar drama triangle of victim, persecutor or rescuer is the real skill most of us were never taught.

In many ways, ‘disagree and commit’ reinforces that triangle perfectly. If I’m honest, it’s not a huge surprise it’s a well liked principle by Jeff Bezos - he doesn’t exactly strike me as someone who invites open challenge to his vision. I’m not sure many billionaires do.

And I can’t mention billionaires without exploring the stories they are using. The hoarding of resources at the detriment of others isn’t seen anywhere else in nature but we laud these people as being super ‘successful’ and something to aspire towards. But I don’t want that, I want to belong, I want to feel proud of the value I add and I want to share what I find.

It’s very well summarised by this quote from George Monbiot who is sandwiched in the photo below between me and my mate Dan Pringle…

Dan joined us last Thursday at the Natural Network event at Patch to talk about his new film project, The Girl Who Cried Wolf. It’s inspired by George’s book Feral and explores the idea of rewilding and storytelling. The film invites us to notice how often we ignore what’s right in front of us simply because it doesn’t fit the story we already believe.

Dan’s crowdfunder launches today and the timing feels perfect. All donations are match funded so check it out here and feel free to donate if you’re in a position to.

And speaking about our gathering at Patch last week, it all went very well. The pastries were legendary and the conversation magical. We even managed some guided breath work and visualisations courtesy of my co-host, Karley Woodford. It feels like the beginning of a powerful new story.

Upcoming Events

The Natural Network at Patch

30th April: 10am - 12pm at Patch. Tickets here

We’re now getting in to our stride with these events. We will always be gathering on the final Thursday of the month between 10-12 at Patch with the best pastries in our hands. We’d love you to join us.

Wrapping up…

So maybe it’s time we learn to communicate from a place of strength and clarity instead of fear and compliance. It’s what we need now more than ever - within ourselves, within our businesses and across society.

Because once we see our stories as human inventions, not universal truths, we can choose better ones. And that’s the real work - noticing the story, questioning it and deciding whether it still deserves a place in our lives.

If we can change the clocks overnight and all agree to play along, imagine what else we could rewrite.

Until next week, and always with curiosity and compassion,

Nick

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