At the end of every day, [I] ask myself one simple question: If I had to tell a story from today–a five-minute story on-stage about something that took place over the course of this day–what would that be?
Matthew Dicks
Matthew Dicks has won the Moth Story SLAM championship 36 times. In his book Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling*, he shares that his most compelling and popular stories don’t come from the extraordinary or near-death moments that have happened in his life. They come from everyday moments.
To that end, he collects such stories every day in an Excel spreadsheet. He simply jots down some words or phrases to help him remember what happened that could make for a tale. He calls this story-worthy habit “homework for life.”
As a result, he not only generated material to share but also saw behavioral patterns and got insights on what matters to him.
So, maybe it’s time you start this story-worthy habit and open a spreadsheet?
Knitting Notes
I’m very lucky to have friends who give me yarn. I started a hat for Friend A who gave me some green yarn, but used pink yarn Friend B gave me. I made the same hat with the green yarn and will likely donate that one.

Learn more about Stacy’s Book Notes.
Sign up to receive a monthly digest of book notes via email.
*Some of the links on this page are “affiliate links” where I receive a small commission from any purchases at no cost to you. Some of these funds will be donated to organizations supporting women and girls.