Day 29 of the 7-40 Challenge
Thursday, January 29, 2026
I’m reading Carmine Gallo’s Talk Like TED, and today I learned something that made me laugh.
Aristotle called it “pathos.”
I’ve been calling it “finding the hook.”
Same thing.
What Pathos Actually Means
Pathos is the emotional appeal in a presentation. It’s the moment when the audience stops analyzing and starts feeling. When they see themselves in your story. When they care.
Gallo breaks down how the world’s best TED speakers use pathos. They don’t lead with data. They lead with stories that create emotional hooks.
And I realized: I already do this.
“There Is Always a Story”
In 2016, I gave a Toastmasters presentation called “There Is Always a Story.”
I opened with a mistake: As an 18-year-old college freshman working for the student newspaper, I brought a date to cover a guest speaker. I cared more about her than doing my job, so I snuck out early.
The next day, my advisor asked, “Did you get my story?”
I said, “I listened. I just didn’t think there was much of a story.”
She exploded: “Are you out of your mind? He was a rescue worker at the Oklahoma City bombing! What do you mean there’s no story? There is always a story.”
That was the hook.
I called the man. He was a youth pastor who loved his life. When the bombing happened, he wanted to help. But at the site, he wasn’t prepared—rubble, bodies, parts of bodies. The team’s morale was crushed when they learned it was an American who had been the cause of the carnage..
Not long after, he found himself on a dark highway at 118 miles an hour, hands white-knuckled, heading for a bridge embankment. The pain had to end.
But the wheel pulled back. Again and again. Someone was praying. Their prayers were answered.
He realized he needed help. Eventually, he started helping others with his story.
When I told that story in my presentation, I wasn’t talking journalism. I was asking the audience: “What story are you telling with your life?”
I used the emotions of the story I told to challenge others to use their stories for good. That’s pathos.
How This Applies to the 7-40 Challenge
I’m creating content every day now, and I’m realizing:
The 7-40 Challenge isn’t compelling because of the system. It’s compelling because of the story.
People don’t care that I’m doing seven habits for 40 days. They care that I’m a 47-year-old two-time cancer survivor who wasted 20 years writing “someday I’ll…” notes and finally started.
They care that I fell in a winter storm but didn’t quit.
They care that I’m doing this for my wife and son—not for fame.
They care because the story is really about them and not me. Hopefully I am just giving an example of something that they could do. Maybe even better than I am doing it.
That’s the emotional hook. That’s pathos.
What I’ve Been Doing Without Knowing It
For years as a Toastmaster, I’ve made people feel before I asked them to think. I opened with relatable human moments, then built to the bigger question.
Today, Gallo reminded me this isn’t accidental. It’s Aristotle’s framework. It’s how the best communicators make ideas stick.
And it’s what I need to keep doing with the 7-40 Challenge.
Find the emotional hook. Connect the audience to the topic. Make them feel before you make them think.
That’s how stories stick. That’s how transformation becomes contagious.
And that’s what Day 29 taught me.
Day 29: Complete ✓
All seven habits executed (walking + reading + creative work done).
Round 1 Progress: 29/40 days (72.5%)
You can watch my Toastmasters presentation “There Is Always a Story” here: https://youtu.be/9-HtN0kA3pI
See you tomorrow for Day 30.
The 740 Challenge 