Time is cruel. It moves on before you’re ready.
All the moments you want to hold onto are gone as you register them, fixed in the past whilst you’re borne away by the tide of the present moment.
And if your hands are full trying to hold onto every special memory you ever had, you’re not going to find it easy to swim.
That’s why I started to write those memories down.
It’s not a diary, it’s called Homework For Life and it’s so much more enriching than I ever imagined.
Matthew Dicks has had an amazing life. He died twice, has been held at gunpoint, worked as both a teacher and a wedding DJ, survived a targeted hate campaign, has written books and won The Moth storytelling competition a record 60 times.
His storytelling success isn’t due to his amazing life, however. It’s because his stories connect with his audience.
Each story has a kernel of universal truth that we recognise as part of the broader human experience.
Even when he’s telling you about his teenage body soaring through the windscreen of his beat-up car, what sticks with you is how his friends rallied to his side in his time of need.
Love, loss, connection, moments of growth and becoming closer to the person we were meant to be: these are the currency with which Matthew's stories buy your attention and your heart.
Every podcaster knows how valuable these commodities are.
But if the moments you connect with are the small, everyday ones, how do you make sure you catch them?
It’s not easy when they are, by nature, unassuming.
Mr Dicks thought for a while and arrived at the pedagogical panacea: homework. Not one simple homework assignment, though, no. He gave himself Homework For Life.
He details the Homework For Life procedure in his book Storyworthy, which I discussed on my podcast with my cohost Nicole here and here.
Put simply, Homework For Life is a spreadsheet (and now an app!) with a column for the date and a column for the moment and you fill it in daily.
Your moment can be the smallest thing that made that day stand out, just a few lines to capture something worth hanging onto.
It doesn’t have to be special, life-changing, portentious or even positive. It’s just a screenshot of a few seconds of your lived experience.
And it’s changed how I see my life.
I’ve been practising daily since 24th March this year and it’s taught me so much:
That something can and does happen every day.
That quieter days can bear more meaningful moments than busy days.
That life is better when you observe it.
That 24th March 2025 is the best day to change your life, because it was today.
That the best moments are the connections you would have never thought you’d make.
That by holding onto things, you’re freer to let them go.
I don’t often look over my Homework for Life spreadsheet because I’m not ready to see the big picture yet. It’s still loading. But when I do, I love that I have banked my memories to do with what I want.
Like the day my brother sent me a recording of my four-year-old nephew singing a song he made up to himself, and how it got stuck in my head all day.
Like when I was by the beach and I saw two young guys get out of the sea after an impulsive swim and try to dry themselves off with pizza box lids.
Like when the elderly people at the home where I volunteer shared their memories for France's Liberation Day after the Second World War and some of them met their fathers for the very first time.
And I will never not laugh at the memory of when I told a friend that I like their new haircut and they told me “Thanks, it’s for court!” (This friend is not a lawyer).
As a podcaster, you already know that stories are the most powerful connection tool that mankind has ever created.
But don’t be fooled into thinking that the stories on your podcast need to be sweeping and dramatic.
Start with your small moments and build around them. That’s your bridge to your audience’s hearts.
And start now. Time’s already moving on.
Eager to hear your story,
~Sarah at CopyHop~
I'm Sarah Hopkinson and I write meaningful emails that help podcasters increase their revenue and build a community around their podcast.
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