You really don't want to be like Walter White

I wake up with the house phone ringing.

It rings a couple of times but it stops just as I pick it up. 

“Is Francisco at home?” my mom asks. 

My brother, on the other extension, answers before I can.

“Yeah, he’s still sleeping. Why?”

“He crashed the car last night.”

“Wait—“ I jump in, “I didn’t! I got home fine last night.”

“Really?” my mom says. “Then go check out the car in the garage.”

I have absolutely no idea what’s she’s on about. 

I did get home fine last night…

…Didn’t I? 

Slowly the night comes back to me.

*

“Are you ok to drive?” my friend Camila asks me. 

“Sure. Why?”

“You were nodding off during that last beer.”

“I guess I might be a little sleepy. But my house is 10 minutes away, I’ll just slap myself awake and I’ll be fine.”

So that’s what I do. I navigate the tangle of small streets downtown until I get to the main road leading to my house. 

It’s right next to a canal. 

It’s really a short drive, but I nod off once. 

Twice. 

Next thing I know I have to pull the car back just before it launches off the road into the water. 

That wakes me up enough to get myself home, safe and sound. 

I really don’t get why my mom thinks I had a crash. 

*

I walk into the garage and the back of the car looks fine. 

Walking around the passenger’s side, then the front, there’s nothing. 

Then I see it. 

There are scratches on the driver’s side, starting at the front of the car and going all the way to the trunk. 

That’s not all: the driver’s door is caved in. 

It’s not hard to guess what happened:

Our garage is a tight fit, with pillars on both sides. I must have backed in right up against one of the pillars, was too messed up to just come out and try again, so I got stuck there and kept pushing the car until the impact beam on my door collapsed. 

No matter how hard I stare at that car, I don’t remember any of it happening. I never will. 

But I will remember what almost happened. 

And I never drink and drive again. 

Quentin and Vince did it…

The first time I watched Pulp Fiction, it blew my mind. The dialogue, the music, the incredible characters—but, above all, there were the time jumps: 

• The story starts in one point, then the next scene happens before it

• A character dies, then he shows up again 

• You see the consequences first, then you see the causes

It really was like nothing I had ever seen. The movie become a phenomenon, Quentin Tarantino’s fame exploded, and we started seeing that type of messy timeline more and more since. 

Recently it was used in the opening of Breaking Bad, from Vince Gilligan: Walter White is in the desert, wearing a dress shirt, underwear, socks, shoes but no trousers. He’s holding a gun, and there are sirens in the distance. You watch that and it’s hard not to go, “WTF is happening here??” 

Then the story goes back in time to show us how he got into that situation. 

…But you shouldn’t 

Broken timelines are great for adding tension to a story. They work well in the cinema because there are visual cues to show you what is the past and what is the present. 

(And they work well in writing, because if you get even a little confused, you can always go back and reread.) 

But in the type of storytelling that works in presentations or in business, the risk of confusing your audience is just too great. Whatever might be gained from the extra tension can too easily be lost if they lose the thread of the narrative, even if it’s just for a moment. 

So when I tell the story of my car crash in person, I start at the bar, arrive home “safe”, then the phone rings and I go to the garage. 

Is it less exciting? Yes, I think so. But not to the point I’ll lose the audience before my point, which is really what matters. 

If you want to be inspired by Walter White, be my guest: cook up meth, shave your head, start calling yourself Heisenberg and get in bed with international drug dealers. 

Be my guest. 

But, when it comes to your stories, tell them straight. 

Messy timelines (and amateur drug dealing) don’t work so well in real life anyway🤘

-Francisco 

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

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

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