LinkedIn Personal Posts

Generate a series of personal story posts that build credibility and attract buyers — using the 5-section storytelling template. Takes a LinkedIn content guide (ICP + offer + pains→goals) and hooks as context, then outputs 3-5 ready-to-post personal stories.

Source: Nick Broekema (Content Design) — "How I write personal stories to build credibility and attract" framework.

Why personal stories? They rank #1 in LinkedIn content effectiveness. The algorithm rewards them because they generate the highest engagement, longest dwell time, and most saves. They're also the hardest to fake — which is exactly why they work.

How this differs from linkedin-expert-posts: That skill handles educational/framework content. This skill is exclusively personal storytelling — a rigid 5-section template applied across a series of posts, each mapped to a specific ICP pain→goal pair.

Doctrine inherited (Step 7 — 0626 rollout, locked 2026-06-04)

Output complies with output-tenets.md, output-simplicity.md, ai-speak-anti-patterns.md. Step 6 calibration: see [[feedback_execution_doctrine_refinements_step6]].

Refinements applied: R1 (post body is end-customer-facing — no source tags), R3 (operator-direct first-person voice), R9 (5-section template steps verb-led).

---

The 5-Section Personal Story Template

Every post follows this exact structure:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1. PAINS ICP (OR PEERS) │
│ Hook with a mutual pain │
│ → Start with a shared struggle │
│ → Use words your audience uses │
│ → Use real examples so it resonates │
│ → Address real emotions/frustrations │
│ → Make the story relatable & sincere │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 2. BREAK │
│ Let the post breathe │
│ → Breaks (re)gain attention │
│ → Breaks allow for "plot twists" │
│ → Breaks prevent boring writing │
│ → 1-3 short lines that shift energy │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 3. SOLUTION │
│ Present the problem you solved │
│ → Describe the results of inaction │
│ → Show how tough it was for you │
│ → Show how you mastered this │
│ → Build credibility with evidence │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 4. ICP'S IDEAL SITUATION │
│ Paint the outcome your ICP desires │
│ → Describe the solution's outcome │
│ → Paint a picture your ICP desires │
│ → Or: your peer's desire │
│ → Present the outcome as a solution │
│ → Make it exciting for your audience │
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ 5. MOTIVATIONAL ENDING │
│ Close with purpose │
│ → Personal story = helping people │
│ → Personal story = attracting people │
│ → Personal story = encouraging people│
│ → Personal story = about what you do │
│ →...while building credibility + │
│ attracting simultaneously │
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

---

Claude Code Triggers

Invoke this skill when user says:

• "Write personal story posts for [client/person]"
• "Generate a personal post series"
• "LinkedIn credibility posts from my ICP"
• "Story posts from my content guide"
• "Personal posts that build authority"
• "Write a series of personal LinkedIn posts"

Do NOT invoke when:

• User wants educational/framework posts → Use linkedin-expert-posts
• User wants to build the ICP + offer first → Use linkedin-content-guide
• User wants LinkedIn comments → Use linkedin-comment
• User wants to optimize their profile → Use linkedin-profile
• User wants a single post (not a series) → Use linkedin-expert-posts or linkedin-sales-posts

---

Inputs

Required

Input	Description	Source
ICP context	Pains→goals table, ICP description, offer statement	linkedin-content-guide output OR user provides manually
Personal story seeds	Real experiences, turning points, failures, lessons	User provides (prompted by story mining questions)

Optional (improve quality)

Input	How It Helps
Voice profile / TOV guidelines	Ensures posts match the author's actual voice
Hooks library	Provides proven hook formulas to draw from
Proof points	Real metrics, client names, outcomes to include
Author's existing content	Reference posts to match their style

If inputs are missing: Ask for ICP context and personal stories. Use the story mining questions from the premium reference to extract story seeds from the author.

Validation Checklist

• ICP pains are specific (not generic "they struggle with marketing")
• At least 3 personal story seeds provided (real experiences, not hypotheticals)
• Author identity is clear (who is posting)
• Goal is understood (build authority, attract buyers, grow audience)

---

Process

3-phase flow: Story Mining → Series Generation → Quality & Variation Check. Each phase has explicit checkpoints and references the 5-section template above. Full step-by-step in the premium reference.

---

AI-Speak Scan (Personal Story Edition)

Personal stories are WHERE AI writes worst. Scan every post for these tells:

Pattern	Why it kills personal posts	Fix
"X isn't Y. It's Z."	THE #1 AI tell. Never use in personal stories.	Just state the point directly
Wrapped bow ending	Real stories don't resolve neatly	End on a question, open thought, or mid-realisation
"Here's the thing:"	AI transition tic, not how people tell stories	Cut entirely — just say the thing
Uniform paragraph rhythm	Stories meander, stall, speed up	Mix one-word lines with longer passages
Progressive ClientCo	"Each step taught me more"	Real growth meanders. Show the setbacks and dead ends directly.
Wisdom narrator voice	"Looking back, I realise..." as if writing memoir	Stay in the moment. "I didn't know it then."
Humble-brag setup	"I failed... but then I crushed it"	Sit in the failure longer. The lesson is the post, not the win.
Generic motivation	"Just start. Take the leap."	Specific > inspirational. What EXACTLY did you do?
Story time. as a break	Overused. Everyone does it.	Find your own break style. "Let me explain." / Just a line break. / A one-word reaction.

---

Nick's X-not-Y sweep (mandatory before delivery)

Added April 2026 in response to Nick Broekema's coaching feedback (see feedback_no_x_not_y_hooks.md). Before output, scan every line of the draft for false-contrast structures — the AI-Speak Scan above catches the most obvious forms, but the full sweep covers disguised variants.

Build a sweep table modelled on 0426-pmm-os-post.md lines 79-96:

Candidate sentence	Verdict
{exact line from draft}	{OK: positive declarative / OK: temporal transition / BANNED: rewrite}

Check at minimum the hook, every reflection beat, every transition, and the closing line. Any line matching "not X — Y", "X. It's Y.", "isn't about X, it's about Y", "Stop X. Start Y.", or two-sentence parallels where the second sentence asserts the inverse of the first is banned. Rewrite to positive declarative + behavioural implication before output. Real dialogue quotes are exempt if the speaker actually said those words — but pick a different real quote when possible.

---

Anti-Hallucination Guardrails

1. Never invent the author's personal stories. Every story must come from real experiences the author has shared. If no stories provided, ASK — don't make them up.
2. Never fabricate metrics. "My content generated $0" is powerful because it's TRUE. Don't invent numbers to make stories more compelling.
3. Never add fake emotional details. "Kid on the way" works because it happened. Don't add family/health/financial details the author hasn't shared.
4. Mark placeholders clearly. Use [YOUR SPECIFIC EXPERIENCE HERE] when a story detail needs the author's input.
5. No composite stories. Don't blend multiple experiences into one fictional narrative. Each post = one real story.

---

Quality

Pre-delivery checklist covers template adherence, voice quality, format quality, series variety, coach's quality gates, and the 5-dimension refine rubric (hook strength, clarity, engagement potential, platform fit, authenticity — score per post; iterate any dimension ≤ 6). Gold standard worked example + full checklist in the premium reference.

---

Final ship gate

Run /premortem --output before ship. See /premortem skill for the 5 execution domains (will-it-resonate / will-it-convert / will-it-stay-on-brand / will-stakeholder-push-back / will-it-degrade-over-time) and output template.

Trivial-case escape: ## Premortem\nNo failure modes — trivial change satisfies the contract for genuinely trivial outputs.

---

Persuasion & stickiness pass

Output complies with persuasion-and-stickiness.md — Cialdini's 7 persuasion levers + Heath's SUCCESs. Deploy the 1-2 Cialdini levers that fit the reader's barrier (never all seven; every lever must be TRUE), run the SUCCESs diagnostic (Simple / Unexpected / Concrete / Credible / Emotional / Stories) over the near-final draft, then the rule's pre-ship gate.

---