What's your story?

And B, because even if they are useful and insightful books, most only apply the theory in their lives for a short stint until they're back where they started.

Words - written, spoken and imagined

Recently I was sent a copy of Justin Cohen's latest book; The Astonishing Power of Story and had a read. It really is amazing how story can influence the way in which we think and the way in which people around us think. Unconsciously I've known this to be true, but Cohen's book made me much more aware of the power of words - written, spoken and imagined.

The book looks at how stories can influence the world around us so that we live the life we build rather than live in the world constructed for us by others. Your limitations are set by you. The Astonishing Power of Story will show you how you can use story to ensure or rather encourage a more productive environment at your place of work and become a better leader and influence those who work with you to perform well of their own free will.

Mirror neurons - imitation and emulation

It's light, easy reading and Justin Cohen definitely has a sense of humour as he reminds his readers that your quality of life is determined by you and you can influence your future through the stories you tell others as well as yourself.

He delves into the depths of brain science looking at mirror neurons in our "virtual reality machines", exploring how we've been cultivating our lives and the very essence of who we are through imitation and emulation and how the imagination can play an important role in the mirroring process: "...excellence develops by imitating and practising excellence."

The most powerful form of influence though is, according to Cohen, through words: "Unconsciously our mirror neurons compel us to imitate the meaning of the word." This is a strong statement because we are continuously surrounded by words - particularly the words we form in our minds directed at ourselves.

Influencing the workplace

Influencing the workplace can be done in a similar manner through the stories leaders tell their staff - either in everyday conversation, during meetings, when highlighting the mission or legacy story of the company - motivating listeners subconsciously to work positively. Story-telling is key in sales as you'll read, followed by the extraordinary power of word-of-mouth marketing.

Positive-thinking is not a secret

It occurred to me that people, including myself, really do take the obvious for granted. We do know that in order to be successful in all spheres of our lives we need to be positive-minded and yet we don't actively, often enough, put ourselves in a positive state of mind. Positive thinking is not a secret to success; we know it is the means, what we do need to know is how to achieve positive thinking. The Astonishing Power of Story will tell you one of the ways how.

This book has influenced me to think twice about buying LG products, to read The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and to use the power of story to create the world I want to live in.

For more information, go to www.biglittlestories.com/. For more on Justin Cohen, go to www.justinpresents.com/.