Have You Tried Writing Your Own Biography?
I had no idea how difficult it is to be articulate, concise and yet be informative about key facets of ones life. Let alone make your biography interesting enough, that it may spark some level of interest for someone to explore more about what you have to offer. It was a great exercise for me and I think writing your own biography will be introspective, fun for you, your family, friends and even colleagues.
I had no idea where to begin, so I researched the internet and found a couple of good starting points to learn a little bit out biographies and what they contain; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biography, http://www.infoplease.com/people.html, http://www.mozartproject.org/biography/index.html.
I found the research interesting because of the variety of famous people documented and commented on. One common editorial on biography writing is, be careful about telling a false story about the actual events. As one critic commented, do not fall in love with your subject, stick to a timeline, key facts and points you want to make. By all means select you can select positive, actionable words, but stick to the events; do not make up a story.
Ok, here is what I think the key items are that need to be included in your biography. First you need to set a time frame, birth to present day, started my career xx years ago, during the years between 19xx and 20xx, you get the idea. Next, include geographical location, key events, milestones, adventures and incidents that shaped who and what you were about during this time frame. Include historical events (natural, world or local) if you believe they add significance. Close with where you are at today, geography if important and what you see yourself doing in the future.
This is one biography example I wrote:
Kent Jacobson is a traditional working professional, graduated college, accepted an engineering position in Dallas 23 years ago and over the years has developed a keen sense of what it takes to be successful in a corporate environment. Through his years of experience, training, professional certifications and corporate instinct, Kent has acquired a broad perspective on what it takes to become successful and now shares his insights for success with a loyal following of Blog readers at: http://www.Shortcut2Success.com/blog
There are different as many different ways to write your biography as there are kinds of apples, my intent was to help get you prepared so when the request is made you are better prepared. Have fun with your biography, you might even surprise someone in your family or one of your friends by writing about them.
I had no idea where to begin, so I researched the internet and found a couple of good starting points to learn a little bit out biographies and what they contain; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biography, http://www.infoplease.com/people.html, http://www.mozartproject.org/biography/index.html.
I found the research interesting because of the variety of famous people documented and commented on. One common editorial on biography writing is, be careful about telling a false story about the actual events. As one critic commented, do not fall in love with your subject, stick to a timeline, key facts and points you want to make. By all means select you can select positive, actionable words, but stick to the events; do not make up a story.
Ok, here is what I think the key items are that need to be included in your biography. First you need to set a time frame, birth to present day, started my career xx years ago, during the years between 19xx and 20xx, you get the idea. Next, include geographical location, key events, milestones, adventures and incidents that shaped who and what you were about during this time frame. Include historical events (natural, world or local) if you believe they add significance. Close with where you are at today, geography if important and what you see yourself doing in the future.
This is one biography example I wrote:
Kent Jacobson is a traditional working professional, graduated college, accepted an engineering position in Dallas 23 years ago and over the years has developed a keen sense of what it takes to be successful in a corporate environment. Through his years of experience, training, professional certifications and corporate instinct, Kent has acquired a broad perspective on what it takes to become successful and now shares his insights for success with a loyal following of Blog readers at: http://www.Shortcut2Success.com/blog
There are different as many different ways to write your biography as there are kinds of apples, my intent was to help get you prepared so when the request is made you are better prepared. Have fun with your biography, you might even surprise someone in your family or one of your friends by writing about them.
posted by Kent Jacobson, a.k.a. "Mr. Success" at 3:57 PM
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