How do we change our stories?

Growing up in Boston during the 1970s, I struggled with reading. Frankly, I was terrible at school. Many years later, after a formal diagnosis at university, I realized that my early academic challenges were rooted in a rather extreme form of dyslexia.

Through a combination of sports, a few incredible teachers (shout-out to Mr. Troy), and my mother's determination, I learned coping strategies that supported me through college and into a successful career. While dyslexia has little impact on my life today - the stories I internalized from that time continue to shape my identity and many of my choices.

Two stories, in particular, have proven most unhelpful and are the genesis for my current writing experiment. Story #1: You can never let anyone know you're stupid (we tend to use exaggerated language when we are kids). Story #2: I can't write - because if I do, everyone will know story #1 is true.

I have many newer stories I tell myself about why I don't write in public. "There is too much noise out there already. You have nothing original to say. Don't waste people's time with pop psychology nonsense." The reality is these are all just clever ways to protect me from story #1—the dominant narrative. (I wrote about this earlier)

The move to Creative leadership begins with conscious self-authoring. The past continues to inform but no longer dictates our story. We become the authors of our own narrative - and future.

My experiment in self-authoring is to write on LinkedIn daily for a month.  For someone who believes he can't write, this experiment is both vulnerable and, I'm happy to report, rather liberating.

Do you have a story you want to self-author differently? If you're willing, please share in the comments below. You may discover a lab partner for your experiment.