Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
the one he’d expected to write. ‘Isn’t that so true about life?<br />
We put something out into the universe and expect exactly<br />
what we had in mind. Life always has other ideas.’<br />
He also found it difficult to say more by writing less, and he<br />
references Mark Twain’s words, ‘I didn’t have time to write a<br />
short story, so I wrote a long one instead.’ Yet, it didn’t take<br />
him very long to write. ‘My name isn’t “Richard last-minutedot-com”<br />
and “If-there’s-no-pressure-it-ain’t-gonna-happen<br />
Richard” for nothing! My deadline for the final manuscript<br />
was the last week of January this year. I started writing on<br />
the seventh of December 2019.’<br />
He’s written his story with extreme frankness – or, as he puts<br />
it in his prologue, ‘I have shared my nakedness.’ There’s tact<br />
behind this strategy as he’s found his social media followers<br />
resonate more with his posts when he is candid.<br />
As a result, his vulnerability is inescapable, and he says this<br />
is what readers comment on the most. ‘To know that my<br />
openness has had such a huge impact is humbling.’<br />
Writing with raw honesty came with its challenges too,<br />
and he says his childhood was particularly tough to write<br />
about. ‘I haven’t expressed much about the deepest most<br />
painful parts to many in my life so that was big for me. Also<br />
knowing that my parents would read it. Writing about the<br />
affair was equally tough. It’s something that I freely talk<br />
about and everybody who is close to me knows the story.<br />
Before I had an affair I was extremely critical of those who<br />
had cheated on their partners. I’m aware that many reading<br />
the book might feel the same about me.’<br />
His biggest hope is that The Power of Purpose gives readers<br />
a chance to pause for reflection – and perhaps even see<br />
ultra-endurance races and their abilities in a new light.<br />
‘The thoughts that we put in our own heads are both<br />
the most powerfully crippling and the most powerfully<br />
advantageous. Your choice.<br />
‘The choice will determine the outcome.’<br />
Details: iamrichardwright.com or @thewrightrich on Twitter.<br />
<strong>Nov</strong>ember 20 Get It Magazine 13
Change language