Emergence of Inflection
Writing a book is an inspired process. The core idea to the book Live Your Purpose emerged as a consequence to an unexpected source.
The stone wall of Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul was the background to me posting about the idea for the book Live Your Purpose as I was beginning to frame the idea back in July this year.
The book emerged as a culmination of posts I wrote during the second half of 2016 as I participated in the 22 Push-Up Challenge and subsequently my training and running of the Marine Corps Marathon.
That time in 2016 was instructive. There was no intention to write this book then, but at the conclusion of the marathon I had the idea to put some of the reflections which resonated with others into a book.
Jump ahead to April of this year, and I made an admission about anxiety that I was more acutely becoming aware as debilitating influence on my performance.
That led to an art work expressing a theme: “I Require Assistance” reflecting my reticence to ask for help, a common condition many can relate to, especially men.
From those experiences, I found myself recording my thoughts against the stone wall of the palace. I asked a question of those listening to the conversation: how ought I to frame the book?
At that stage, I was contemplating a title Live On Purpose, and it was the sub-title that I felt I was struggling with. Ought it to be about a manifesto, about on coming back from loss, or having greater emphasis to talk about overcoming injury and getting back into the game?
Darren commented early and suggested that it ought to reflect the reader’s perspective more, and so it became Live Your Purpose. Others agreed.
Rod highlighted the benefit of a manifesto. It was a line in the sand, a statement that you held onto as a lived out commitment to change. I liked the emphasis on the manifesto, but there were more people who argued against it as being too regimented. The thought remained in my mind, and more on that later in this post.
Kyle suggested On Coming Back From Loss as the sub-title. It was short and punchy. Nothing wrong with the added emphasis. Good discussion ensued with others.
Days passed, and the stone wall remained unchanged all the while I sought to grasp in greater fidelity the essence to this idea.
Jumping ahead to September, and I found myself entering the hurt locker in ways I never really expected. Fortunately, good friends were there to support me, and make what you will of the RSL organisation but it came through as to provide good support. Ironically, this was like a slow-moving storm cloud about to overtake me, and at the time all I could see the shadow.
I launched a crowdfunding campaign and was for a time overwhelmed by a range of immediate considerations that left me questioning the foundation of my professional and personal life. Difficult as it was, grist for the mill in terms of writing this book.
Some days, I did not write at all. It was slow progress, but progress all the same.
I lost the appetite to pursue the crowdfunding with the vigour that was required. It was the shame of it all that I found difficult. Shame is such a pernicious influence on our capacity to engage with the community at large. Shame creates its own barrier to talking with others, itself the antidote of shame. Shame cannot exist where empathy is present.
Sometime around this time, Kyle asked Facebook what people’s favourite book was. I responded with “The Ecology of Commerce” written by Paul Hawken.
Weeks later, I was trying to somehow codify the idea behind the book that was becoming Live Your Purpose. I thought back to Rod’s words about a manifesto.
Picking up The Ecology Of Commerce, I was reminded of a electronic posting that subsequently became a book in the 90’s which I loved called “The Cluetrain Manifesto”. I was wondering how I might combine the essence of both books to give me what I was looking for in Live Your Purpose.
The Cluetrain Manifesto has 95 chapters, pointing to the 95 Theses of Martin Luther, as if to say it was a document about the internet which would have equal measure in changing history as much as the printing press had back in the day.
I played with the idea. Secretly, I hoped that I had 95 ideas that would form a framework, but it was a little contrived. More thought. As a result of the thought, the idea became more cogent.
The flow of the book was sound as it had stood earlier, but needed something extra. I had these 100 sequenced points in a process that worked towards living fully with purpose on coming back from loss. The concept of an Inflection Point sprang to mind: it is mathematical expression for a point of change on a graph where a range goes from a negative to a positive value.
Coming back from loss is not a singular event, but a committed sequence of actions that together led towards the ability to get back into the game. It was more a campaign than a tactical intervention. It requires work.
And so the 100 Inflection Points were formed. These woven through the core ideas framing the flow of the book across 30 chapters.
The book now will feature three formats complementing each other:
- A comprehensive resource to open a conversation most recoil from, that is dealing with the shame of loss when working to find a path back to purpose.
- An elegant photo essay produced to have appeal as a coffee table book.
- An importantly, a 14 week personal journal to promote reflections leading to action by those reading the book.
Live Your Purpose is an investment in leadership. The idea emerged through the collaboration of many. Click here to read more.
I welcome your support. Thank you!
