Tell me about yourself! What is your story? Where have you been and where are you heading?  How many of us have not been caught by surprise when someone we just met asks us to introduce ourselves, or stumbled at the common first question in a job interview: Tell us about yourself?

Why is the question so dreaded? Why does it take so much work to prepare the so called elevator speech or 90 / 20 second professional yet personal self introduction? After all, it is about me and who knows me better than I do?

That’s exactly the challenge. You know yourself too well. You are too intimately aware of your strengths AND your weaknesses, your achievements AND your failures. To prepare a unique and memorable self introduction you need to first step back and try to look at your self from afar. Sounds difficult? It doesn’t have to be.

One way is to look at yourself and your life as a story. Imagine that you are writing a novel about a character that’s you. What are the core traits and personal characteristics of the main character? What does he like to do? What are his interests, dreams, values and core beliefs?  What is his occupation and what successes has he reached during his life?

If you can answer all these questions, you are on your way to developing a captivating life story. Because just as every person is unique, every story is unique.

Now how do we turn it into a short “elevator speech”? That dreaded introduction that is supposed to not last longer than 90 seconds.

What makes a great story or a great speech so great?  The rule of three (3)! Yes, three is the magic number; it has a nice rhythm to it. Think about the great memorable speeches over time? …”and that government of the people, by the people, for the people…” the Gettysburg address by Abraham Lincoln (1863).

The same applies to story telling, a good story usually have the following structure:

1. A beginning;  2. Middle;  and 3. an end. How do you apply this to your “elevator speech”?

The beginning is your past (who are you? what have you done? What is your professional identity? ); the middle or the body of your story should explain what makes you special, what are you good at, what is you area of expertise?; finally the last section of your story should include why you are here? Where are you going / or want to go? What can you do for them?

Try to follow these guidelines and you will see that it becomes easier to talk about yourself. Use the same rule of three when you prepare your interview answers. It makes your answers easier to remember both for you and the one who listens to you!

Good Luck!