The Art and Practice of Listening to and Sharing Powerful Personal Stories with Scott Johnson from the “What Was That Like” Podcast

Scott Johnson is the host of the podcast What Was That Like.

What Was That Like is a podcast comprised of unique and unusual stories of people who have gotten through those situations. With his curiosity to know and ask questions, Scott uses his storytelling skills to convey the unreal situations of real people’s experiences.

In this episode, Scott shared what it was like to host his podcast and the criticalness of listening and being genuine to the people telling their stories.

For Scott, it is a privilege to hear these people’s stories, especially since most of these people are not public speakers and are not often interviewed.

He is not a journalist, but he has a computer business. And when he started listening to podcasts, he thought that he should do his own for his business. This is the root of what led him to a podcast.

When listening to other podcasts, Scott realizes that the ones he enjoys are those with the storytelling element. And when he searched around, he did not find any other podcasts with what he liked. And so, with his podcasting background, he decided to do it himself.

Scott Johnson talks to Dr Brad about the value of listening and its importance. When someone is telling their story, he listens to them as if that person is the only one in the world. Furthermore, he also tries to put himself in their situation, enabling him to ask questions.

Episode 235 of The Beyond Adversity Podcast is a must-listen for anyone who wants to tell their unique, unusual, and unreal true stories for the whole world to hear. To let you know that there are people willing to lend an ear to your stories, whatever it is.

“The Beyond Adversity Podcast with Dr. Brad Miller is published weekly with the mission of helping people “Grow Through What They Go Through” as they navigate adversity and discover their promised life of peace, prosperity, and purpose. 

https://whatwasthatlike.com/

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/whatwasthatlike/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/whatwasthatlike/ 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pctutor/ 

Transcript
Brad Miller::

Today we're talking to a person who specializes in talking to people who've had

Brad Miller::

challenges or unique situations in life. And they've got through them and have a

Brad Miller::

story to tell. He's a podcaster. His name is Scott Johnson. And his podcast is what

Brad Miller::

was that like? And you can find it at what was that like.com. And this is all about the

Brad Miller::

conversations he's had with lots of people who have been through some extremely

Brad Miller::

unusual situations and circumstances, some of them very daunting, such as plane

Brad Miller::

crashes and being bitten by a rattlesnake and many things. Some of them are a

Brad Miller::

a little bit more entertaining, like going through the Shark Tank experience. But he

Brad Miller::

Has some fascinating stories to tell. He's learned a lot, but what he's gone through,

Brad Miller::

and he's our guest today and he's a great story, listener and storyteller in Arizona,

Brad Miller::

right? And his name is Scott Johnson. Scott, welcome to Beyond diversity.

Scott Johnson::

Hey, Brad, thanks for having me on here.

Brad Miller::

Enjoy, and say I am a fan of your podcast, What Was That Like. You are a great

Brad Miller::

listener of stories and a storyteller in your own right and helping people draw out

Brad Miller::

their stories. Scott, what is it like to host What was that like?

Scott Johnson::

I counted it as a great privilege and honour to hear these people's stories. You

Scott Johnson::

know, most of the people that I talk to are not public speakers. They're not often

Scott Johnson::

interviewed. And then they but yet they come on the show. So many times, they tell

Scott Johnson::

their story with great vulnerability, they just get to they just get to the real story.

Scott Johnson::

Like they're telling someone who genuinely wants to hear everything that

Scott Johnson::

happened. And that's who I am. I'm, I have a natural curiosity. The stories that we

Scott Johnson::

talk about are ones that I find really interesting and valuable to hear and to be able

Scott Johnson::

to do this and bring these stories to my audience. It's a great privilege. I enjoy it.

Brad Miller::

When we say what was that like? And these stories, you do tell some extreme

Brad Miller::

stories of people in extreme circumstances. You kind of gave us a broad brush

Brad Miller::

here. Give us a context of what a what was that like episode might be like, in terms

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of our listeners here on Beyond adversity to get a little better idea about what kind

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of folks you talk to and what happens in an episode.

Scott Johnson::

There is such a variety. I talked to people who, like I said, they don't normally get

Scott Johnson::

interviewed. They just happen to have this one big, weird thing happen to them.

Scott Johnson::

And that's what we want to talk about. I had a story with a gentleman who was

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asleep with his wife in bed one night, and they heard banging on their door, and it

Scott Johnson::

was somebody trying to break into their house which ended up with him killing that

Scott Johnson::

intruder. I have a couple of stories of men who have been put in prison and spent a

Scott Johnson::

long time in prison, one of them 35 years. And yet they were innocent, and they

Scott Johnson::

were later exonerated. And they talked about that experience. And then, on the

Scott Johnson::

other hand, I've got someone who was once a driver of the Oscar Mayer

Scott Johnson::

Wienermobile, so when I say variety, there's lots of variety for sure.

Brad Miller::

I guess, so that's awesome. I did because I just happened to see one of those Oscar

Brad Miller::

Mayer Wienermobile is a ball doing some promotion thing. What got you interested

Brad Miller::

in this in the first place? I mean, this is a little bit bizarre thing to be did something.

Brad Miller::

Do you have a background in this? Are you a journalist? What things got you

Brad Miller::

interested in these unique, kind of off-the-wall and intense, sometimes intense

Brad Miller::

Stories, What got you interested in doing this?

Scott Johnson::

I'm definitely not a journalist, or don't I'm not one by trade. Anyway. I have a

Scott Johnson::

computer business. I started listening to podcasts back in 2011. As I heard some

Scott Johnson::

podcasts, I thought, well, you know what? I should do my podcast for my business.

Scott Johnson::

And so I started doing just computer tips and tricks for non-techy people. And I did

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that one. It was like over 400 400 500 episodes up four and a half years ago, five

Scott Johnson::

years ago, maybe I started thinking. I realized that when I listened to other

Scott Johnson::

podcasts, the ones that I enjoyed were the ones where somebody was telling a

Scott Johnson::

story. It's even better if it's a personal story, a true story, something that happened

Scott Johnson::

to them. And I liked listening to that kind of content. And as I looked around, I didn't

Scott Johnson::

see any other podcast that was doing that, at least not the way I wanted, would

Scott Johnson::

have wanted to do it. And so I thought, well, I already know how to do a podcast.

Scott Johnson::

I'm just going to do it myself and decided to do it. I and I made a list. Right off the

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bat. I made a list of people I want to talk to, like somebody who was struck by

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lightning, or, you know, somebody who was attacked by some kind of animal, or

Scott Johnson::

You know, a variety of those things. And then I just started looking for him. There

Scott Johnson::

was the first episode on was Fourth of July 2018.

Brad Miller::

And you started finding them in various places, in news reports, and online. I

Brad Miller::

assume you found these folks. And yes, I reached out to them and began, things

Brad Miller::

started to happen. Once these people were found, you said many people aren't

Brad Miller::

used to being interviewed. Did you find them often anxious to tell their story that

Brad Miller::

maybe they had not been heard perhaps tell a little bit about the dynamic of these

Brad Miller::

relationships as you started them?

Scott Johnson::

Yes. In some cases, yes. People wanted to get their stories out there. And so we've

Scott Johnson::

got I have those types of people. And then there are other people who, when I

Scott Johnson::

contact them, either too soon after the event, whatever happened, or for whatever

Scott Johnson::

reason, are still too traumatized to talk about it. And for those people, I have no

Scott Johnson::

problem at all with that. I don't want to push anybody into anything. But yeah,

Scott Johnson::

there are people that like the very first episode that I did was with Jennifer,

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a young lady in Texas, she was a mother, she, what happened to her was she was

Scott Johnson::

with at night driving her car with her two little girls in the car, pulled into an

Scott Johnson::

intersection didn't see a motorcycle approaching from the left, and the motorcycle,

Scott Johnson::

hit her car, she pulled over, left her two little girls in the car went over and is

Scott Johnson::

Newing in the road with this motorcycle driver who ended up dying, I got the 911

Scott Johnson::

audio that she made from right there. And so people can hear that she had to have

Scott Johnson::

that episode and listen to her listened by her therapist before she could listen to it

Scott Johnson::

because it only happened about two years after that happened that we were

Scott Johnson::

recording. The thing with her is her cause now. She is a great advocate against

Scott Johnson::

distracted driving because, in her case, she was not distracted driving, she didn't

Scott Johnson::

have her phone, and she didn't even have the radio on. And there's still no

Scott Johnson::

explanation why she didn't see that motorcycle coming, other than the fact that

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there's a rise in the road to the left, maybe she looked, and he wasn't coming down.

Scott Johnson::

And that's that part is still a mystery. But the other part is she wants to help other

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people who have been through the same thing. When this happened to her, she

Scott Johnson::

went through all kinds of stuff, you know, the guilt of having caused this man's

Scott Johnson::

death and the financial strain of having to hire an attorney, criminal possibility of

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having to explain to your little kids that mommy might have to go to prison. And

Scott Johnson::

there were just all kinds of, and she was diagnosed with PTSD as well. Other she

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looked around for resources, counselling, you know, things that where she could

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talk to somebody about this, and there was nothing for people that had been

Scott Johnson::

through something like that, where they had accidentally actually killed someone.

Scott Johnson::

And so now she provides that, that resource for others who have been through

Brad Miller::

well, that's an amazing story in itself, just that one there. And that's just a

Brad Miller::

microcosm of the many stories you've done. I don't an exact number, but well over

Brad Miller::

100 episodes, as you have done with similar types of stories, some of the great

Brad Miller: 00:08:15

intensity, some of them a little bit light-hearted, but always memorable, aren't

Brad Miller::

they've made an impact on those people? And then you're telling the story. It has

Brad Miller::

helped you to make an impact on others. So I'd like to talk to you for a minute here,

Brad Miller::

Scott, about listening and storytelling because that's part of what you did there with

Brad Miller::

this particular woman. And what I've noticed and listened to your podcast, you're a

Brad Miller::

good listener and you're a good reframing of their stories. And, as well. So tell me

Brad Miller::

about listening, what is tell me how you approach listening to the people telling

Brad Miller::

stories, and how the value of that and terms of presenting their stories to other

Scott Johnson::

it's absolutely critical. When I'm talking with someone, and they're telling me this

Scott Johnson::

story, it's like this person is the only person in the world. That's all I want to hear.

Scott Johnson::

I'm kind of, I'm not kind of I'm very empathetic by nature. And so I try to hear their

Scott Johnson::

story and put myself in their situation. By doing that. It enables me to ask questions

Scott Johnson::

like, How did you react to that? Or what did you think when that happened? Or you

Scott Johnson::

know, anything like that. So by being genuine, someone who's genuinely interested

Scott Johnson::

in hearing what happened to them, it really, it makes them feel much more at ease,

Scott Johnson::

And able to, you know, to get this stuff out. And one of the unusual effects I've

Scott Johnson::

had that I didn't expect is I've had so many guests. Tell me that after we had our

Scott Johnson::

conversation about the podcast, asked, they felt so relieved. It was therapeutic for

Scott Johnson::

them. I've had some guests who, this was the first time, they've told the story in

Scott Johnson::

detail verbally to another person. And they have told me that, you know, just

Scott Johnson::

getting it out there to someone who listened to the whole thing was just such a

Scott Johnson::

relief. And it's like therapy. I'm not a therapist. I'm not a counsellor. But just being

Scott Johnson::

someone who's genuinely interested goes a long way

Brad Miller::

There's a little different dynamic that goes on and getting your story out to a

Brad Miller::

therapist or to someone in private, a family member or whatever, and going out

Brad Miller::

publicly to say it to be interviewed in some sort of a public forum. That gets it out

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there. And I'll just share one brief story from Mike history past right opportunity to

Brad Miller::

interview a member of my church who was a survivor of the Battle of Iwo Jima

Brad Miller::

during World War Two. So this is 60-plus years after the fact most of his buddies

Brad Miller::

were killed, and he was pinned down by the enemy fire for 10 hours and was

Brad Miller::

wounded like a times story to tell. But he the profound this was it his family told me

Brad Miller::

this is that they hadn't even really heard the whole story and their whole lives. This

Brad Miller::

guy was in his 80s at the time. So but he got it out. It was becoming an emotional

Brad Miller::

moment. My point is, you had to be a good listener and have to, there's a point of

Brad Miller::

getting out to the world, which is, which is important. And so I guess I'm using a

Brad Miller::

context, actually, Scott, is what kind of transformation? Do the folks that you talk

Brad Miller::

to? Do they either report to you? Or have you seen or learned about later on what

Brad Miller::

kind of changes or transformations happened to them after their story was told?

Scott Johnson::

Primarily, what I've just mentioned, is that they felt a lot better just by telling it.

Scott Johnson::

But in a lot of cases, they will, you know, for people that want to be contacted,

Scott Johnson::

after they tell their story, usually will have their email address, or if they have a

Scott Johnson::

website, you know, I'll put that in the show notes for the episode. And so, a lot of

Scott Johnson::

times, my listeners will contact them and tell them how great it was to hear

Scott Johnson::

their story. And that's great. It's reaffirming for them. And we've got a large

Scott Johnson: 00:12.13:

Facebook group for the podcast. And a lot of the guests that have been on

Scott Johnson::

the podcast is also in that group. So they can go in and participate. And people

Scott Johnson::

can give them feedback directly right there, or my listeners might have questions

Scott Johnson::

that they want to ask the guest that I didn't ask during our conversation.

Scott Johnson::

And so they can do that directly right in the Facebook group. So it's some

Scott Johnson::

communities being built as well. So yes, yeah, the community is a big thing for sure.

Scott Johnson::

And a lot of the people that I talked to when he talked about transformation,

Scott Johnson::

sometimes they've already gone through that by the time they talked to me,

Scott Johnson::

you know, they've gone through years of therapy, or, you know, they just

Scott Johnson::

worked through it. Some of these things, it's not like you can completely get past it

Scott Johnson::

because it's always gonna be with you, but they're able to learn how to deal with

Scott Johnson::

day-to-day life much better than they could immediately afterwards