Know your origin story

A few words about the importance of your origin story.

Iron Man and Spider-Man have origin stories — and you do too. You need to put your Spider-Sense to work and have it ready when some asks you.

I’ve already written why you should trash your elevator pitch and use a 15-second intro instead.

But your origin story goes a step further. It tells your business partners and prospective employers who you are and how you arrived. Your origin story is short and sweet — about three or four sentences. It should include the following information:

1. What you did or dreamed of doing when you were a kid (and possibly what your parents thought about it) That should be one sentence, maybe two.

2. How you worked to achieve that goal. That should be one sentence.

3. A realization of your childhood activities led you to where you are today. Also, it might say how working to achieve that goal helped you achieve it — or perhaps you set you on the wrong track. That should be one sentence.

4. A final sentence that wraps up your idea of how you got from there to here — and what’s so fascinating about it.

This is your origin story. Write it. Remember it. Live it.