Concept
Begin at the Opposite
Beginning at the opposite is Matthew Dicks's advice for shaping a story of change: open the story with you as the opposite of who you become at the end, and open it in motion, in a specific place and moment, rather than with background, so that the audience can feel the distance the story travels.
A story about change only works if the listener can see the change, and that needs a clear starting point. If the story ends with you learning to ask for help, it should begin with you refusing help, not with you already half-convinced. Dicks suggests working backwards: find the five-second moment and where you end up, then ask who you were before it, and start there. He also argues against the warm-up most people give: the date, the weather, how you came to be there. Starting in motion, with a person doing something in a particular place, puts the audience inside the story at once, and the needed background can be added in a sentence later. Together, the two moves create the gap the story then closes. The same logic serves a business story: show the team or customer clearly in the before state first.
A real-life example
Can, a startup founder in Antalya, tells investors how he learned to listen to customers. His opening used to be the company's founding date. He changes it to the opposite of where the story ends: standing at a trade fair, explaining his product to a hotel manager and not letting her finish a sentence. The investors laugh, and the story's ending, when he finally listens, lands much harder.
How to use it
- 1Write where the story ends, then write the opposite of that, and open the story there.
- 2Cut the warm-up: start with a person doing something in a specific place.
- 3Add only the background the audience needs, in a sentence, once they are already in the scene.