How to Create Wonder

In a world where engaging content is the norm, storytelling is everything—and likely has been for at least 100,000 years. To tell better stories, you need to move your audience. Captivate them with a sense of wonder.

To inject wonder into your work, add these 5 elements.

Spectacle: Catch their eye. Hit them with the wild, the novel, or something outrageous.

Tension: Introduce conflict. Without a villain, there is no hero.

Contrast: Highlight differences.

Emotion: Pull on their heart strings. Create a character to root for or play to universal human values like love and belonging.

Surprise: Deliver the unexpected. Keep them on their toes.

Bonus: Add tragedy (tension and emotion) to deepen the drama, and redemption (surprise and emotion) to Illustrate a powerful transformation.

Children’s author Adam Rubin taught us these elements by example by putting it “all on the line” for us at last month’s Creative Mornings.

Watch his full presentation (start at 20:10). It’s worth the 20 minutes.

Masha Naidenko

Masha is a humble-badass - a rare blend of calm and focused drive.

I met Masha through Mai Nguyen. They’re besties AND business partners - a pair to be reckoned with.

Admittedly, I tend to forget all the projects and side missions Masha’s working on. There’s too many.

Like many of us, Masha’s projects span both professional and personal. A couple of examples:

• Creating a beauty product business that’s focused on improving people’s self-image.

• Pushing her ability to fully express herself professionally and socially.

Masha is an elite thinking partner. She embodies the strong, silent type when it comes to active listening. Her inquisitive, no-fluff follow up questions get you thinking way deeper than you were before.

Being in the same weekly accountability group, I consider myself lucky to regularly pressure-test ideas with her.

Connect with Masha on Instagram.

What’s one habit you believe contributes most to your effectiveness?

Favorite piece of content that changed you or influenced how you operate?

What’s one piece of advice you often hear in your field that you disagree with?

Why do you think you have not “made it” yet?

I still don't think I'm doing what I should be doing, like I'm cheating on my "the one". Maybe that feeling never goes away and a FOMO mindset is too loud here. But to me, the term "made it" means you found your thing through dozens of experiences and experimentation, and you no longer question why you're doing it.

Brag, Ask, Give

Brag: What’s your biggest, baddest, real brag? Lay it on thick. Flex on 'em.

Ask: What or who are you on the hunt for right now?

Being around people who are quite uninhibited and slightly "out there". Self-expressed individuals who are unbothered by social standards.

Think Freddie Mercury.

Give: What can you offer to potential collaborators/mentees/clients?

Dry sense of humor.

Possibly some advice in a business of physical products.

Photo of the week - Dog drawings from memory

My friends and I toured the AKC Museum of the Dog. At the end of it, there was a library. On a table lay paper and pencils. The challenge: each person draws a dog from memory. Can you guess which one is mine?