Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️

Founder of the Microstory Journey, a 3-Minute Story Blueprint to engage, connect, & grow your business.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

Interested in Microstories, Communication, or Positioning?

Over the next 30 days, I'll be writing 30 Atomic Essays.

Follow my Social Blog on @typeshare_co:

https://t.co/QLPlP88viy

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

The leaders people trust most aren’t the loudest.

They’re the ones with a quiet, relentless commitment to 3 things:

growth
integrity
learning

That’s what self-mastery looks like.

And that’s what people follow.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

If you’re stuck on how to create a brand message, copy this:

\[Power verb\] + \[ideal client\] + to + \[visible outcome\] + so + \[what they do next\]

Simple beats clever. Clear words create visual moments. Visual moments make people lean in.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

The fastest way to lose a buyer is to use dead words.

If your words don’t create a picture, your audience can’t see the value.

Our brains take words and transmit them into pictures.

No picture, no attention.
No attention, no sale.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

If your marketing sounds smart but nobody buys, this is probably why:

jargon creates dead words

And dead words create no picture.

Our brains take words and turn them into images.

If people can’t see it, they won’t feel it.
If they don’t feel it, they won’t act.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

The best brand message is not the one that sounds most impressive.

It’s the one your customer understands fastest.

Clever gets praised.
Clear gets remembered.
Clear gets action.

If that makes sense, choose visual words over dead words every time.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

I used to freeze on stage trying to remember the “right” way to tell a story.

Name the enemy.
Enter the cave.
Find the lesson.

Too much structure made me worse.

So I simplified storytelling into 3 parts.

Clear beats clever every time.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

The fastest way to lose a buyer is to use dead words.

If your words don’t create pictures, your audience checks out.

Better messaging:
Cut jargon
Replace abstract words with visual words
Turn the point into a micro story

Clarity makes people lean in.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

Unpopular opinion: the hero’s journey ruins more business storytelling than it helps.

When you’re selling live, you don’t need caves, enemies, and epic arcs.

You need a micro story your audience can picture in 30 seconds.

Simple sells. Complex performs badly.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

You don’t need a long story to make people lean in.

You need a 30-second visual moment.

Our brains take words and turn them into pictures.

If your message is full of dead words, people tune out.

If it creates a quick 3-part micro story, they pay attention.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

If people can’t picture what you mean, they won’t care what you say.

Your brain doesn’t buy words. It buys pictures.

Stop using dead words.
Start using visual words.

The clearer the image, the faster the message lands.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

https://t.co/sIz1FMitp0

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

Hey @lindseyvonn, critics:
Critiquing from your couch is easy.
Choosing to compete again when you’ve already proven everything is not.
That’s what courage looks like.
That’s what real competitors respect.

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

@NevadaDMV Yes thank you who do I address it to? I’ll upload it on Meta

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

@NevadaDMV have you been hacked again? Im getting insurance verification email and my insurance is fine

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

@NevadaDMV I talked to the insurance company yesterday and they have sent verifications

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

From Overlooked to In-Demand: The 50+ AI Advantage

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

If You Want Peak Focus, Start With How You Check Email

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

3. Energy Protection
→ Delegate decisions, not just tasks
→ Define outcomes, not methods
→ Trust your team to decide within their lane
Cut 30–40% of your decisions. Gain clarity, focus, and strategic edge.
What decision can you systematize this week?

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

When decision fatigue hits, leaders default to:
→ Playing it safe
→ Postponing key calls
→ Sending mixed signals
→ Missing big opportunities
High-performers don’t power through.
They design systems to reduce choices.
Here’s the 3-part framework

[Mike Hays 🚢 ✏️🏴‍☠️ @MicrostoryMike]

2. Communication Guardrails
→ Create standard responses
→ Equip your team with playbooks
→ Set clear input criteria