If you need proof that stories are the right way to inspire and motivate others, then just think about Christmas.

Christmas, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Christmas adverts.

Christmas carols.

Christmas songs.

Father Christmas.

From the founding story of one of the world’s great religions to the annual battle among retailers for the best Christmas advertising campaign…and ultimately your money.

All are a story, have stories running through them or will use story structures to capture and keep your attention.

All attempt to tap into your emotions which psychologists have identified as motivating forces, preparing us for action. They are spontaneous biological processes that are out of our control. Like when you blub at your child’s nativity.

But how successful that new Christmas song or ad campaign will be comes down to how we interpret our emotions. That is how we feel. Whether about the John Lewis advert or Kylie’s bid for Christmas number one. We are consciously aware of our feelings and can make decisions based on them.

The very best stories then are those that connect through our emotions as a chemical process in our brain releasing hormones.

Dopamine to feel good. Oxytocin which builds trust. Cortisol which captures then keeps our attention when we are listening to a story.

Stories have the power to change another person’s brain. To motivate others to act.

Yet our emotions and feelings are subjective determined by our thoughts, our environment and even shaped by the culture we have grown up with.

This is why knowing your audience is so important. It will help you understand how they see and interact with the world, what motivates and excites them.

Then you can craft your story to connect with others that will lead to both biological and cognitive processes taking place. You will create unconscious emotions and make them have conscious feelings and thoughts. Do this successfully and you will move others to take the action you want.

Just like Christmas, good storytelling is mystical, magical and motivates action in all of us.