Anecdote. Technically, an anecdote is a short narrative about a real incident or person, usually intended to illustrate or support a point in a speech or written text.

I like to think of an anecdote as something that’s different from a story.

A story involves a journey from conflict to transformation.

An anecdote is more of a factual recounting of something that happened.

Here’s an anecdote:

Today I shot a “word of the day” video about the difference between an anecdote and a story.”

That’s it. Something happened. This anecdote is journalism—a factual recounting of events.

And here’s a story:

The dictionary definition of the word anecdote wasn’t very useful to speakers and storytellers. How was I going to create a video that actually delivered value?

See? There’s the conflict.

By highlighting the difference between an anecdote and a story, the video ended up inspiring viewers to create more powerful messages.

And that’s the transformation.

Anecdotes have their place, but if you want to transform your audience, stories will do a better job.

Be a journey-ist, not a journalist.