The most exciting way to end a holiday

It’s Monday night. I’m packing to go back home with my family. 

We’ve been in Brazil for a month, and we fly the next morning. 

“Patricia, have you seen the kids’ passports? And mine?”

“No, you had them at the airport. You never gave them to me.”

“Hm.”

So I look through my bag. They’re not there. 

I look through my backpack. They’re not there either. 

“Huh. Where could they be?”

After we turn the room upside down, I start to get worried. My wife is not saying much. 

“Ok, let’s think about this. We went through immigration on the way in, but I definitely got them back there. Then I needed to show them at the gate, so if I lost them, it would have had to be between the gate and the plane. Someone would have found them, right?”

“I guess…”, my wife says. 

So I try the lost and found at the airport, but it’s late, they’re closed already. 

I go online to find out if I can report them lost, and travel with a police report and passport scans–but I can’t. 

I reach out to my travel agent to see how much it would cost to change our (very expensive) flights, but it’s late, she’s not answering. 

Now we’re in full-on panic mode–or I am, my wife is remarkably quiet. She’s not even had a go at me yet. 

But I’m still trying to plan my way out of it: 

“Ok, so we wake up tomorrow early, and call the lost and found. If they have them, all good. If they don’t… well, maybe we can still change the flights and not lose them… I’ll also have to email the camping site we booked for the weekend and cancel it… I hope we can still get a refund…”

I get back to my room, and I’m baffled. I just can’t imagine how I would’ve lost three passports at the airport. I was exhausted, the kids were half asleep, I was carrying all our bags, but still… 

Looking up, still lost in thought, I see a pile of fairytale books on the shelf. Something clicks inside my brain. 

I slowly lift the books, and there they are: three beautiful passports. 

Then I remember: they got folded funny inside my bag on the way in, and I placed them under the books to flatten them out. 

And I thought, “Maybe I should make a note that I put them here… Or tell Patricia…. Nah. I’ll remember.”

I didn’t. 

I walk in the living room, and my wife has her back to me. I tap her on the shoulder, she turns around, and sees the passports in my hand. 

For a second, she doesn’t move. 

Then her hand goes to her mouth, and she starts sobbing. 

I hug her and, when she has calmed down, I almost make a joke about how much more exciting I’ve made the end of our holiday. 

But I don’t. 

Patricia hasn’t said anything yet, but her silence says it all: 

I’ve done enough already. 

And, one day… 

I’ll pay for it 😅

Past or present 

A few weeks back, my friend Rob Willis had a go at storytellers who use the present tense (just like I did here). He feels it’s artificial and annoying. 

I get it. The first few times I heard it, I thought it was a bit weird too, but I got used to it pretty fast. Some of the best storytellers I know do it, and I agree with them: it does make the story feel like it’s happening right now. To my ear, it definitely adds more tension and excitement. 

It has one additional advantage, which is that it allows you to easily separate something that happened in the main story from something that happened in the more distant past (like I did when I remembered putting the passports under the pile of books). 

I understand how it can feel theatrical, or not something anyone would do in a professional context, but here’s my take: 

The only “problem” is how you start the story. 

If the first words out of your mouth are “I’m 15 years old, walking into my classroom and…” then I agree: on stage, that would work, but in a meeting or business presentation, that could be a little odd. 

But you don’t need to tell the whole thing in past tense to fix it. Just do that for the first line, like this: 

“When I was 15 years old, I was in school, and this happened: I walk into my classroom and…”

Deliver that confidently, with a casual tone of voice (you’re not on Broadway!) and most of the problem goes away. 

But…

You can also just ignore all of the above. If the present tense bothers you as much as it bothers Rob, don’t force it. 

It’s not the end of the world to tell stories in the past tense. Do whatever you feel confident with, and that will come through in the story. 

Some stories already have excitement and tension to spare.

If that’s not enough for you… 

You can always misplace your passport.

That one never fails 🤘

-Francisco 

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Getting clarity through your story to stand out from all the other coaches, speakers and entrepreneurs out there 

2. If you dream of speaking on the Red Dot, take this Scorecard and instantly discover how likely your idea is to be accepted by a TED-style organizing committee

3. If you (or your team) got any storytelling challenges, I’m sure there’s something we can do together ;-)

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