The Pixar Guide to Storytelling: How to Make Your Content Unforgettable

The Core of a Great Story: Why Trying Matters More Than Winning

Ever wondered why we root for the underdog? It’s not because they win—it’s because they try.

Think about it. Nobody would care about Rocky if he just knocked out Apollo Creed in the first round like some boxing prodigy. We wouldn’t be inspired by Harry Potter if he was a perfect wizard from day one. And Pixar, the undisputed king of emotional storytelling, knows this better than anyone. Their golden rule?

"The audience loves the hero because of the way they try."

That means the best stories aren’t about success—they’re about struggle. The hero doesn’t win because they were destined to; they win (or sometimes, don’t win) because they refused to quit.

Failure Is the Glue That Holds a Story Together

Imagine two versions of the same story:

🚫 Version 1: “I had an idea for a business. I launched it. It was a huge success.”
✅ Version 2: “I had an idea for a business. I spent six months pitching it to investors who all laughed me out of the room. My bank account was at $3.87. I almost gave up. But then—one last attempt changed everything.”

Which one keeps you reading?

The second one, because it follows the three-step formula of transformation storytelling:

1. What did you try?
2. What resistance did you face?
3. How did you overcome it?

This is the emotional backbone of every great story. Without resistance, there's no tension. Without tension, there's no payoff.

The Myth of the Effortless Winner

A lot of people think that audiences admire effortless success. That’s wrong. In reality, we resent it.

Ever seen someone post a “humble brag” about making six figures overnight? Your instinct isn’t admiration—it’s suspicion. It doesn’t feel real.

That’s why even the most successful public figures go out of their way to highlight their struggles. Steve Jobs didn’t just build Apple—he got fired from it. Oprah didn’t just become a media mogul—she grew up in poverty. And Tony Robbins didn’t just become a self-made millionaire—he washed dishes in his bathtub because he couldn’t afford a proper sink.

We don’t connect with their victories. We connect with their battles.

How to Make Your Audience Root for You

If you want to tell a compelling story—whether it’s about your personal life, your brand, or your business—ditch the “I was perfect from the start” narrative. Instead, highlight your journey.

• Start with failure. What moment made you feel like quitting?
• Show your fight. How did you push through doubt, rejection, or setbacks?
• End with transformation. How did you change because of it?

The best stories aren’t about winning. They’re about trying, failing, and refusing to give up.

Because that’s what makes a hero worth cheering for.

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Zooming In: How to Make Stories Feel Real

Good storytelling isn’t just a list of events. It’s a cinematic experience—one that makes your audience feel like they’re living it with you.

Think about the difference between these two statements:

🚫 "I was broke and turned my life around."
✅ "I was sitting alone in my apartment, washing dishes in my bathtub because I couldn’t afford a sink, listening to a song about loneliness, realizing: this is my life."

The first one is a fact. The second one is a scene. It puts you in that tiny, dimly lit apartment with Tony Robbins, feeling the weight of his situation.

This is how you take a story from meh to mesmerizing.

The Power of Micro-Moments

The biggest mistake in storytelling? Summarizing.

The best stories don’t tell you what happened. They zoom into a single moment and make you feel it. Instead of saying:

• "I was nervous before my speech," say:
  "I could feel my palms sweating as I gripped the microphone. The room felt ten degrees hotter. Someone in the front row checked their watch. Was I already boring them?"
• "I was heartbroken," say:
  "I sat in my car outside her apartment, gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white. The song we used to sing together played on the radio, but now it just felt like noise."
• "I felt like a failure," say:
  "I stared at the rejection email on my screen, re-reading the words: 'Unfortunately, we’ve decided to go in a different direction.' My stomach sank. Different direction? What direction was I even going in?"

See the difference? Instead of telling emotions, these examples show them.

How to Zoom In Like a Pro

✅ 1. Focus on One Moment

Pick a single moment that represents the bigger picture. Instead of saying, "It was the hardest time of my life," describe one specific scene that made it feel that way.

✅ 2. Use Sensory Details

Make people see it. Hear it. Feel it. Ask yourself:

• What did the room smell like?
• What noises were in the background?
• How did your body physically react?

Even small details matter. Saying "It was raining outside" is fine. Saying "The rain drummed against the window as the smell of wet pavement filled the air" is immersive.

✅ 3. Make It Personal (and Universal)

Paradoxically, the more specific you get, the more relatable your story becomes. If you say, "I felt sad," it’s vague. If you say, "I felt like the last kid picked in gym class, watching everyone else run ahead while I stood there, alone," now you’re hitting a universal emotion.

Why This Works

People don’t connect with events—they connect with experiences. They don’t just want to know what happened. They want to feel what you felt.

So the next time you tell a story, don’t just give the summary. Zoom in, slow down, and bring your audience inside the moment. That’s how you make your storytelling unforgettable.

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Emotion is the Key: Crafting Content That Resonates

If information alone made content go viral, Wikipedia would be the most shared website on the planet. But guess what? It’s not. Because people don’t share content because it’s useful—they share it because it makes them feel something.

A viral marketing expert once said, "The only things people share are LOL, WTF, OMG, and AWW." That’s the entire formula for virality right there. If your content doesn’t spark a reaction, it’s as good as invisible.

Think about the last post, video, or article you shared. Was it because it was mildly informative? No. You shared it because it made you laugh, gasp, or get goosebumps.

The Science of Shareability

When people experience a strong emotion, their brain releases dopamine and oxytocin—the same chemicals that make us feel connected and engaged. That’s why emotional content spreads like wildfire.

So, if your content isn’t being shared, it’s not because people don’t like you. It’s because they don’t feel anything when they read it.

How to Inject Emotion Into Your Storytelling

Instead of just writing, "I launched a business, and it was tough," give people an emotional experience.

1️⃣ Want People to Laugh? Exaggerate Your Failures.

• Instead of: "I had a rough start as an entrepreneur."
• Say: "My first pitch was so bad, the investor fell asleep mid-sentence. I considered crawling out of the room on all fours to avoid eye contact."

Humor works because self-deprecating moments are relatable. Nobody wants to hear about your perfect life. They want to hear about the time you spilled coffee on your laptop five minutes before a big presentation.

2️⃣ Want to Inspire? Show How Bad Things Got Before They Got Better.

• Instead of: "I struggled, but I finally succeeded."
• Say: "I had $4.87 in my bank account, three overdue bills, and a job rejection email staring at me. I thought about giving up. Then, one day, everything changed."

The deeper the struggle, the more satisfying the comeback. No one is inspired by a smooth, straight path to success. They need to see you fight for it.

3️⃣ Want to Shock? Drop an Unexpected Twist.

• Instead of: "I failed my exam, but I made it work."
• Say: "I failed my exam… and then my professor called me into his office. I thought he was going to scold me. Instead, he offered me a job."

People love surprises. The more unexpected your story, the more memorable it becomes.

The Secret Sauce: Work Backwards From Emotion

Before you write, ask yourself: What feeling do I want to leave people with? Then, build your story around that.

• If you want excitement, make your pacing fast and your stakes high.
• If you want nostalgia, use vivid, sensory details to bring people back in time.
• If you want anger, highlight an injustice and make your audience feel the unfairness of it.

Great content isn’t just consumed—it’s felt. Make people laugh, cry, or gasp, and they won’t just read your story. They’ll remember it.

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Writing for One, Not Many: The Jenny in Her Bedroom Rule

When you create content, it’s easy to imagine a massive audience—thousands of eyes scanning your words, an entire crowd nodding in agreement. But here’s the harsh truth: no one reads your content as a crowd.

Instead, every single person who comes across your post, tweet, or article is alone—scrolling in bed, sitting at their desk, or killing time in a waiting room.

That’s where the Jenny in Her Bedroom Rule comes in.

Meet Jenny.

Jenny is lying in bed, scrolling mindlessly on her phone. She’s not actively looking for life-changing wisdom—she’s just bored. If your content doesn’t immediately hook her, she’ll keep scrolling.

Steve Bartlett, a social media genius, built his empire by asking himself:
"How will Jenny react to this?"

If Jenny doesn’t stop, think, and feel something, your content fails.

How This Changes Your Writing

Most people write as if they’re addressing an audience—but an audience is just a collection of individuals. When you write for one specific person in one specific moment, your message becomes personal, direct, and powerful.

🚫 How Most People Write (Mistake #1: Writing for the Masses)

"Hey everyone! Hope you’re all doing great! Today, I want to talk about why storytelling is important. We all love a good story, right?"

Jenny in her bedroom? Checked out already.

✅ How You Should Write (Writing for Jenny, Not the Crowd)

"You’re lying in bed, phone in hand, mindlessly scrolling. You don’t even know what you’re looking for, but then—something makes you stop. This post. And it’s about to change the way you tell stories forever."

Boom. Now Jenny is paying attention.

How to Apply the Jenny Rule to Your Content

✅ Write in second person ("you"), not third person ("they")

• Wrong: "Many people struggle with confidence."
• Right: "You know that moment when you second-guess everything you say? That’s what we’re fixing today."

✅ Speak directly to one person, not a faceless crowd

• Wrong: "Thanks for reading, everyone!"
• Right: "Hey, you. Yeah, you. The one reading this right now."

✅ Make it feel like a private conversation

• Imagine you’re writing a text to a friend, not delivering a TED Talk.

✅ Consider where your reader is

• Are they on their phone? On their lunch break? Distracted?
• Write in a way that grabs their attention in that exact moment.

The Secret to Viral Content: One Reader at a Time

The next time you write something, forget about reaching a million people. Just reach one person. Make Jenny stop scrolling.

Because if you can make Jenny stop, you can make anyone stop. And that’s how you create content that actually connects.

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The Viral Formula: Work Backwards From the Emotion

Let’s clear up a myth: Virality isn’t luck—it’s a formula.

Some people think content goes viral because it’s really smart or insanely useful. Nope. The truth? Content only spreads when it triggers a strong emotion.

An ad agency that specializes in viral videos once revealed their hit rate was 8 out of 10. That’s not a fluke. That’s a system. Their secret?

They don’t start with the content—they start with the reaction.

Instead of brainstorming topics, they ask:
➡️ Do we want people to laugh?
➡️ Do we want them to be outraged?
➡️ Do we want them to say, "Holy sht!" and send this to their friends?*

Once they decide the emotion, they build everything around that.

The 3-Step Viral Formula

1️⃣ Choose the Emotion You Want to Trigger

Before you write anything, decide:

• LOL 🤣 → Comedy, ridiculous exaggeration, self-deprecating failures
• OMG 😲 → Shocking facts, plot twists, unexpected turns
• WTF 😳 → Controversial takes, bold statements, things that make people mad
• AWW 🥺 → Heartwarming, wholesome, stories that restore faith in humanity
• ANGER 😡 → Injustice, calling out corruption, "Can you believe this is happening?"

🚨 If your content doesn’t fit into one of these, it’s not going viral. 🚨

2️⃣ Write Specifically for That Emotion

Once you pick an emotion, every single word in your content should amplify it.

✅ Want people to laugh? Make it ridiculous. Exaggerate. Throw in unexpected punchlines.
✅ Want people to be inspired? Start with rock bottom. Make them feel the struggle before the success.
✅ Want people to be outraged? Call out the absurdity. Make them feel like they need to share this to expose the truth.

If your content doesn’t make you feel something while writing it, it won’t make anyone feel anything while reading it.

3️⃣ Make It Extreme

Here’s the difference between forgettable content and viral content:

🚫 Boring: “I had a hard time starting my business.”
✅ Viral: “I spent six months eating dollar-store ramen, maxing out my credit card, and getting laughed out of every investor meeting. I almost quit. Then, this happened…”

🚫 Boring: “Dogs are loyal.”
✅ Viral: “A dog waited outside a hospital for 5 years after his owner died. The entire town came together to adopt him.”

🚫 Boring: “This CEO made a mistake.”
✅ Viral: “This CEO lost $1 billion in 24 hours. His response? ‘Oops.’”

The best content doesn’t play it safe. It pushes the emotion to the absolute limit.

Stop Writing “Informational” Content. Start Writing Emotional Content.

Most people create content that just delivers facts. The best creators deliver feelings.

Because nobody shares facts.
They share LOL, WTF, OMG, and AWW.

And if you want to go viral, you need to make people feel first—then think.

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Harnessing Your Energy: Miss Excel’s Magnetic Content Strategy

Yes, an Excel influencer is a thing. And yes, she figured out something most content creators never do:

👉 The energy you bring to your work matters more than the work itself.

Meet Miss Excel, a TikTok sensation who teaches spreadsheet tricks while dancing. But here’s the secret sauce—her success isn’t about posting consistently or following some SEO strategy. It’s about energy transfer.

Miss Excel’s 3-Step Content Strategy (That Works for Writing, Too)

Instead of grinding out content like a robot, she creates from a state of high energy and excitement.

1️⃣ Change Your Energy Before You Create

Most people sit down to create in low energy mode—tired, uninspired, and staring at a blank screen. Not Miss Excel.

🚀 Before she creates, she moves. She dances, exercises, or shifts her mood so she’s in an excited state.

Why this works:

• Your audience can feel your energy. If you’re bored while creating, they’ll be bored while consuming.
• High-energy content is contagious. People don’t just watch it—they feel it.

📌 Apply it to writing:
Before you start writing, do something that boosts your energy. Play a song you love. Do 10 jumping jacks. Take a 5-minute walk.

2️⃣ Let Ideas Come to You—Don’t Force Them

Most creators try to force ideas out of their brains like squeezing the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube. Miss Excel does the opposite—she gets into flow and lets ideas come to her.

💡 Instead of sitting down and thinking, "What should I write about?" she trusts that good ideas will arrive when she’s in the right state.

Why this works:

• Creativity isn’t a factory—it’s a wave. Catch it at the right moment.
• Your best ideas don’t come when you’re forcing them—they come when you’re relaxed and inspired.

📌 Apply it to writing:
Instead of sitting down with zero inspiration, get inspired first. Read a great article, go for a run, or talk to someone interesting. Let the ideas come naturally.

3️⃣ Capture the Energy While It’s Fresh

Miss Excel doesn’t wait. When an idea hits, she records instantly—before the energy fades.

⚡ Think about it:

• Ever had an amazing idea but wrote it down later… and it just felt meh?
• That’s because energy doesn’t translate well when it’s delayed.

The best content isn’t polished—it’s alive.

📌 Apply it to writing:
When you get a great idea, write it immediately. Even if it’s messy. Even if it’s not perfect. Capture the energy first. Editing comes later.

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Writing Is Just Energy Transfer

Miss Excel doesn’t sell spreadsheets—she sells excitement. And that’s why people love her.

The same applies to writing. Your audience isn’t just reading words—they’re absorbing your energy.

So next time you sit down to create, don’t ask:
❌ What should I write?
✅ How do I get into the best energy to create?

Because if you feel it, they’ll feel it too. 🚀

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