Storyworthy Summary (C19): The Two Ways of Telling a Hero Story

This page may contain affiliate links.

Buy Storyworthy here: https://amzn.to/41yZrmJ

This post is a Storyworthy summary. Specifically, it is a summary of Chapter 19: The Two Ways of Telling a Hero Story.

Storyworthy was written by Matthew Dicks. This chapter summary was written by Sam Fury.

The problem with telling a success story is that you’ll sound like a douche!

Failure is much more engaging than success, and people would much rather hear about failures. They’re more relatable.

However, there is a way to tell a success story, if you really must.

Be the Underdog

To tell a success story without being a braggart, you must marginalize both you and your success.

Do this by casting yourself as the underdog. Being the underdog makes the audience want to root for you, just like Rocky.

They should expect you to lose, while hoping you will win.

Tell Your Faults

Open your story with failure.

Give your audience examples of how you were bad at doing something before you tell them how you did something good.

For example, if telling a story about how you “got the girl”, you can start by retelling “all” the times you got rejected.

Sam’s Note: I put the word “all” in quotations because, as is true for most guys, it would be ridiculous to list all the times I got rejected. Maybe just list several.

Small Steps

Most overnight successes are not really overnight successes. They are the culmination of many small wins stacked onto each other.

Step-by-step accomplishments are what most people can relate to and understand.

Instead of telling the story of your big accomplishment, share a small step within the bigger accomplishment.

Buy Storyworthy here: https://amzn.to/41yZrmJ

GET ANY OF MY BOOKS FOR FREE!

You'll Also Get Exclusive Access to Book Previews, Latest Releases, Discount Offers, and Bonus Content.

🔒 Your information is safe. I stick by the privacy policy.

www.SamFury.com is an SF Initiative.

Copyright © 2025, SF Initiatives OÜ (16993664), All rights reserved.