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Read them, listen to them, watch them. The Storyteller Notebook publishes a new true story every Monday — and every story lives on here, in whatever form suits you best.

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Storytelling

When you tell a personal story, make someone else the hero.

4 min read

This Week's Story

I Never Stood Alone

Over the years I’ve attended countless meetings, conferences, workshops, and speeches. Somewhere along the way—I’m not even sure where anymore—I learned one of the most valuable lessons I’ve ever received as a storyteller. It may have been…

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Running

Audio

Old age doesn't begin when your hair turns gray. It begins the day you stop showing up.

The Day the Competition Disappeared

★ Featured Aug 10, 2026

The January air was cold enough to make you question your sanity. As I stood at the starting line of the Mansfield Run…

3 min readRead or Listen

Wisdom

Audio

Positive people don't have fewer bad days — they keep looking until they find the blessing.

The Luckiest Bad Days of My Life

★ Featured Aug 3, 2026

People sometimes ask me how I stay so positive. The truth is, I don't think positive people have fewer bad days than…

5 min readRead or Listen

Storytelling

Audio

Comparison doesn't just steal our joy. Sometimes it steals our participation.

When Comparison Silenced Me

People have been telling me for years that I should sing. Sometimes it's after church. Sometimes it's after a speech.…

3 min readRead or Listen

Wisdom

Audio

Courage and wisdom aren't always the same thing — maturity is knowing which battles belong to you.

The Shirts Were Insured

"Wisdom is knowing the difference between what is worth fighting for and what is worth walking away from." Just the…

4 min readRead or Listen

Wisdom

Audio

Discipline is far more dependable than motivation — extraordinary lives are built by ordinary habits repeated with extraordinary faithfulness.

The Quiet Power of Discipline

★ Featured Jul 20, 2026

Every morning at six o''clock, my alarm clock and I have the same little disagreement. The alarm says, "Time to get…

3 min readRead or Listen

Family

Audio

Courage isn't the absence of fear — it's the willingness to keep moving in spite of it.

My Father Never Hit The Brakes

“It took me many years to understand what my father was really doing that night.” When I was growing up, we didn't take…

4 min readRead or Listen

Retirement

Audio

Live so fully that when your time comes, you die empty — because you gave this life everything you had.

The Years Ahead

The second Saturday of every month, I attend a Men's Circle. It's one of those places where men can slow down for a…

3 min readRead or Listen

Personal Growth

Audio

You don't have to be certain — you only have to believe enough to take the next step.

Believe Just Enough to Make the Effort

Before 1954, people didn't simply believe that no one had run a four-minute mile. They believed no one *could*. That…

4 min readRead or Listen

Business

Audio

People judge you by what they see, not by what you intend.

The View from the Other Side

I thought I was the perfect employee. I took my breaks exactly on time, ate lunch exactly on time, and went home…

3 min readRead or Listen

Speaking

Audio

The day I started calling myself a speaker wasn't the day my career changed. It was the day my thinking changed. Everything else followed.

The Day I Gave Myself Permission to Speak

During my run this morning, I found myself wondering when I actually became a speaker. It wasn't when I won my first…

3 min readRead or Listen

Running

Audio

We often discover our greatest supply only after making a greater demand on ourselves. Don’t let your first limit become your final destination.

The Other Side of Supply and Demand

This morning, somewhere around mile three of my run, I found myself back in an economics classroom. Funny how that…

3 min readRead or Listen

Personal Growth

Audio

Most of our biggest challenges are too overwhelming if we try to tackle them all at once. But almost anything becomes possible when we simply focus on taking one more step.

Sometimes You Have to Take the Stairs

Every year my nephew, Lemuel, calls with the same invitation. “Uncle Michael, are you coming to Seattle for the stair…

4 min readRead or Listen