I don’t care how disciplined you are—even Navy Seals deal with procrastination.

When someone flags a problem at work, my default reaction is: “That’s something for future Adam to deal with.”

(And just to be clear: I’m not a Navy Seal—just making a point).

Of course, I don’t just ignore it.

I’ll analyze the issue, weigh it against the backlog, and decide if it’s worth tackling now or later.

This goes to show that if a problem doesn’t feel painful or urgent enough, it’s easy to:

• Delay
• Forget
• Ignore

Your audience is no different.

If there’s no tension—no clear risk, no stakes—they won’t act. They won’t even care.

Every good story needs a compelling conflict, or you’ll risk facing these other problems:

• Missed Opportunity to Showcase Problem-Solving: No conflict means no struggle—and no chance to show how your product, idea, or insight made a real difference. Also, if you don’t show the “pain” that your product addresses, it’s difficult to highlight why it’s different from competitors, making your solution seem generic.
• Your Story Doesn’t Stick: Without conflict, your message blends in with every other “meh” piece of content. Think about how many pitches, posts, or product pages you’ve glazed over today. Chances are, they felt flat because there was nothing at stake—no problem that made you stop and say, “Ah, that’s what I feel too!”.
• Flat Narrative That Doesn’t Drive Action: People typically make decisions based on emotions first and justify them with logic later. Think about the last time you ordered food delivery—you could’ve just cooked your own meal or driven to the restaurant. But in that moment the conflict was real—your energy was drained, your fridge was uninspiring, and the thought of traffic felt like a punishment. Conflict and stakes are powerful emotional triggers—they drive action, whether it’s a purchase or a sign-up.

The Reason This Happens

Let’s face it: most people in tech are overly obsessed with the solution.

We love showcasing what we’ve built or innovated—but skip over the messy problem that made the solution necessary in the first place. Everything that once felt risky or confusing now feels obvious in hindsight, so we unintentionally leave them out. But in storytelling, you need to build tension for a more satisfying release.

If Lord of the Rings skipped straight to when Frodo destroyed the One Ring, it’d be boring. No orcs, no Gollum, no impossible journey—just a guy tossing a trinket into a volcano.

Here are some other reasons why people in tech skip conflict and stakes in their stories:

• Assuming the Audience Knows the Pain: Not everyone in your audience is aware of the problem (even if they’re tech savvy). And even if they are aware, they may not feel how painful or urgent it is—until you show them.
• Fear of Sounding Negative: Some folks avoid highlighting problems too strongly because they don’t want to sound dramatic or overly critical. But conflict isn’t complaining—it’s context. It frames your solution as necessary, not just nice-to-have.
• The Need to Show You’re in Control: Admitting there was risk, failure, or uncertainty can feel like showing weakness. But here’s the truth: confidence without vulnerability sounds more like a PR statement. Sharing the messy middle—the tough calls, the failed experiments, the moments you weren’t sure it would work—makes your story more believable. It shows you earned the insight, instead of just declaring it.

How to Fix It

To make your story stick, you don’t need drama—you need pain.

Studies have shown that humans are more motivated to avoid pain than to chase gains. This phenomenon is called “loss aversion” and marketers, politicians and entrepreneurs have leveraged its power to add weight to their stories.

So instead of avoiding conflict, you need to lean into it.

And it doesn’t have to be in a fear-mongering way. Steve Jobs did this during his 2007 iPhone reveal presentation where he showed how phone keyboards were not customizable and took almost half the real estate. This made the revealing of the solution much more compelling.

Here are other ways to add conflict to your story:

1. Add clear stakes to amplify the pain

Most people treat conflict and stakes like they’re the same thing—but they’re more like salt and pepper in a story. They work best together, but they add different flavors.

Let’s go back to Steve Jobs’ iPhone reveal presentation. He didn’t just say, “Smartphone keyboards are bad.”

• First, he showed the conflict: clunky plastic keyboards, every phone locked into it forever. It was annoying, restrictive, and clearly not built for the future.
• Then he added the stakes: If this problem isn’t solved, we’ll be stuck with outdated devices that limit innovation and user experience.

That’s when the touchscreen reveal hit hard—it didn’t just look cool. It solved a real, painful, urgent problem.

So when you’re writing your own story:

• Use conflict to help your audience feel the friction.
• Use stakes to make them care about the consequences.

Together, they turn a flat explanation into a persuasive message that sticks.

2. Be specific and tangible

Don’t just name the problem—paint it. The more specific and tangible your description, the easier it is for your audience to say, “That’s exactly what I’m dealing with.”

• Specific means narrowing in on a clear, concrete moment. (Which part? When? Who?)
• Tangible means describing the problem in a way people can picture or feel. (What does that actually look like in real life?)

Let’s say you’re building a better onboarding experience:

• ❌ “Onboarding is confusing.”
• ✅ “New users drop off after they verify their email—because they aren’t guided to the next step.”

Or maybe your tool helps teams collaborate better:

• ❌ “We make collaboration seamless.”
• ✅ “No more late-night Slack messages asking, ‘Which version of the deck is final?’”

Use both to create that “aha, this was made for me” moment.

3. Use the right frame

The way you frame a problem changes how big—or small—it feels.

A weak frame makes the issue seem like a minor inconvenience. A strong frame reframes it as a threat, a risk, or a frustrating roadblock that your audience can’t afford to ignore.

In general, people are eager to avoid wasting:

• Time - Wasted hours, delays, waiting, or slow progress
• Money - Direct costs, lost revenue, inefficiency, missed sales
• Opportunities - Missed chances to grow, get ahead, or win

Example of a weak frame: ** ❌“Onboarding is confusing.”

Let’s reframe this in other ways:

✅ Time

“You’ve spent weeks driving traffic and signing up users—only to lose them seconds after they verify their email. All that effort, gone in a click.”

✅ Money

“Every user who drops off after email verification is a lost conversion. Every dollar is wasted on acquiring users who never stick around long enough to bring value.”

✅Opportunity Frame

“You’re missing the chance to activate new users while their motivation is highest. That moment of excitement? It’s now given to your competitors.”

Notice how the core problem remains the same, but the way you describe the problem can make a huge difference in how people perceive them.

Takeaway

Conflict and stakes are essential to making your message stick. The clearer and more urgent the problem, the more your audience will care—and act.

So next time you tell a story, ask yourself: What’s at stake here, and how can I make it feel real?

P.S. I’m working on something special—a course on storytelling for people in tech. To make sure it’s as useful as possible, I’d love your input: Which of these is your biggest struggle right now?

• ​Writing product landing pages that convert readers into customers​
• ​Writing social media posts to build to promote myself & my work​
• ​Starting a newsletter to promote myself and my thoughts​
• ​A combination of the above​

Looking for something else? Reply and let me know!

Adam