Today, tell a story through a series of anecdotes (also called vignettes): short, episodic scenes or moments that together read as variations on the same theme. They can each be as short or long as you see fit — they don’t have to be the same length — but they need a common feature to tie them together, whether it’s a repeated phrase, a similar setting, a literary device, or the appearance of the same person.
I remember the first time I used the phrase, I was teaching some friends how to do a backflip. It was back in high school around 2007. I had learned how to land one after three months of training, once a week for 2-3 hours per session. Now, a handful of my friends were asking me to help train them.
“I can’t do it, it’s just so difficult,” my friend said.
“Not with THAT attitude… 😏” I retorted.
In college, I was trying to convince my close dancer friend to audition for a competitive collegiate dance team with me. The audition process, we heard, was extremely difficult.
Better dancers than us didn’t make it past the audition process. Not only that, we were competing against more experienced and talented dancers for a handful of coveted spots. It took her a full week of convincing and spamming across several mediums (text, Facebook, and a few others).
She kept giving me the same excuse, “I don’t think I’m good enough!”
“Not with THAT attitude! 😏” I said mockingly.
Interestingly enough, that was our team name for the audition, and we both made the team!😁
Whenever someone tells me they can’t do something, my automatic response is to give them the catchphrase I’m wildly known for:
“Not with THAT attitude!”
Marlo Yonocruz 