Facts Fade, Stories Survive

Once Upon A Time...

Now how about that game?

Two questions:

 1. According to Pink's research, How much money will move from America's economy to low-cost locals?

2. Who relates to John Henry?

Pink asked these very questions, though not in so many words. You'll find, most probably, that you did not quite remember question one, but you knew the answer to question two almost immediately. Why is that? The answer is simple, it's because question one was a fact. Facts are difficult to remember. You could remember question two because it wasn't a fact, it was a story. Stories appeal to us in ways that facts do not. 

Facts are straightforward and cold. Stories have an emotional edge, which almost always appeals to our emotions. This makes them easier to remember. Stories are not just entertaining works that your mom read to you so you could sleep, stories are the way our minds work. Our memories consist of a bunch of stories compressed together: the story of our lives. 

This "story" mode of thinking is so ingrained in our minds that we use it even without realizing it. Stories hold information, knowledge, context, and emotion all together. E.M. Foster's said as much with her famous quote: a fact is " The Queen died and the King Died". A story is "The Queen died and the King died of a broken heart."