Origin Story | No Mercy / No Malice

If you want to decipher who you are, it’s good to begin with the question of what stories have been told about you. Do this not because they are true but because they will help you locate the mirages and their origins. They will help you rend mask from flesh. They may also help you grab hold of something real.

Your story can be a reminder to ask the big questions that will guide you, and make the small choices that sustain you. Your identity can ground you—serving as a reminder to be intentional about the work you do and deliberate about creating the future you want to see.

sometimes the answer to the question reveals something much deeper — a hidden truth that often makes for a great story. Bruce Springsteen once said in an interview: “Most people’s stage personas are created out of the flotsam and jetsam of their internal geography and they’re trying to create something that solves a series of very complex problems

The most gripping stories are those concerning identity—who we are, where we’ve come from, and where we’re going. They tap into something common to all people.

Ironically, the people who create fulfilling lives and careers—the ones we respect, admire and try to emulate—choose an alternative path to success. They have a powerful sense of identity. They don’t worry about differentiating themselves from the competition or obsess about telling the right story. They tell the real story instead.

Dan Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, explains the connection between your story and authenticity brilliantly, “We are our stories. We compress years of experience, thought, and emotion into a few compact narratives that we convey to others and tell ourselves. That has always been true. But personal narrative has become more prevalent, and perhaps