'desperation Can Lead To Greatness': What Surviving An Avalanche Taught This Adventurer About Finding Purpose

It should recreation arsenic nary astonishment that Cory Richards chose our mobility and reply clip to get his 10,000 steps in. And that nan 10,000 steps would overmuch apt upwind up being 20,000. Whether it is climbing to nan apical of nan world aliases paddling done crocodile-infested waters, nan erstwhile maestro upland climber and award-winning photographer has thrived connected perpetual mobility and pushing past limits.

Richards' occupation arsenic a restless adventurer is marked pinch unthinkable (and literal highs), including climbing Mt. Everest without supplemental oxygen and being nan first and only America to acme 1 of nan world's highest peaks, Pakistan's Gasherbrum II, successful winter. It's too marked pinch terrifying near-death experiences, including getting swept distant by an avalanche during nan descent from Gasherbrum II. (See his award-winning self-portrait taken moments aft he dug his measurement retired above.)

Related: 4 Leadership Lessons I Learned From a Mountain-Climbing Crisis

Richards' latest book, The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet nan Chaos Within, is simply a memoir that documents his occupation and travels, arsenic bully arsenic nan intelligence wellness and individual struggles he's battled passim his life, for illustration erstwhile he was diagnosed pinch Bipolar 2 astatine spot 14. We said astir nan lessons he's learned successful persistence and really he hopes his recreation from a runaway teen to a man who's stood connected nan apical of nan world will thief others find their purpose.

In this book, you are highly candid astir struggles successful your individual and maestro life — immoderate problems you represent were self-inflicted and caused others a awesome woody of pain. What was it for illustration sitting down to represent it each down?
In nan book Deep Work, nan writer talks astir meaningful experiences starting by making a expansive gesture. I was fortunate tin to return a information of my book beforehand and usage that to spell location different to activity connected it. I realized that erstwhile I was successful L.A., I'm not writing. So erstwhile I sewage myself retired of there, I was tin to dive into nan process. And it was truthful marvelous. I loved it. Of course, nan excavation of achy history tin beryllium hard, but moreover that seemed to personification a existent joyousness to it. It gave maine a dense consciousness of intent and I deliberation that's point that I honestly still struggle with. What is my purpose? And truthful erstwhile I personification a task aliases I'm going connected an expedition, it drives maine because it gives maine that purpose.

A batch of inspirational images and memes characteristic personification climbing a mountain. Having really done that, do you spot immoderate existent parallels betwixt climbing and starting a business?
Climbing mountains is successful galore ways for illustration an entrepreneurial activity because nan consequence is very uncertain. You cognize wherever you're going, you cognize what nan extremity is, but past there's this immense void betwixt nan sofa and nan summit. So it's a step-by-step thing. You break it down into very digestible buckets. One would beryllium beingness fitness, and that comes down to putting successful nan activity connected training days. And past you get into logistics. Like immoderate business, you're going to personification conundrums that require a definite people of productivity to overcome. And of course, you've sewage nan financial implications — uncovering ways to money this expedition is precisely for illustration uncovering investors. And past you've sewage nan past piece, which is nan existent process of putting 1 ft successful beforehand of nan different and navigating hurdles for illustration bad weather, rockfalls, and avalanches. All of those things tin extremity nan venture, truthful it's very, very allegorical to nan process of building a business.

Related: The Struggle Climbing Show's Ryan Devlin connected Overcoming Setbacks

In 2011, you and your portion survived an avalanche and you took an unthinkable photograph of yourself conscionable aft uncovering your measurement to nan surface. How does an acquisition for illustration that alteration your perspective?
 The avalanche was specified a visceral, beingness experience. It was a benignant of devastation because location was nan profound fearfulness of dying, which is nan totality of loss. You're getting thrashed, you're getting thrown, it's chaotic. There's nary certainty, there's a consciousness of helplessness, of utmost discomfort, and there's a consciousness of nonaccomplishment of time. Not only nan nonaccomplishment of nan remainder of your clip connected Earth, but clip itself seems to personification a very different quality, a overmuch overmuch infinite quality. When nan encephalon undergoes life-threatening experiences, its capacity to process immense amounts of accusation is awoken. It's a wake-up, but nan irony is that you're waking up successful nan past moments.

What changed successful your life aft that?
The avalanche created nan gateway into everything that I've started to move towards and put in, not only an introspection of aforesaid and really nan mind useful and really nan bosom works, but too coming backmost from devastation, from losing nan fight. In position of entrepreneurship, if you're looking astatine a nonaccomplishment and thinking, 'Well shit, I've mislaid everything,' you personification to retrieve truthful galore stories astir nan commencement of awesome ideas that came from a consciousness of desperation. We're perpetually acrophobic of failure, erstwhile successful truth nonaccomplishment oftentimes is nan doorway to success.

What do you deliberation separates group who are adventurers and entrepreneurs?
I deliberation we're each entrepreneurs because we are each creatives generating a life astir us. And I deliberation nan thought of self-worth is tied to that. That tin beryllium a bully constituent aliases bespeak point darker. Oftentimes, group who don't personification a batch of self-worth are trying to beryllium that worthy outwardly. But I deliberation nan astir absorbing creators successful nan entrepreneurial world are creating from a spot of self-worth. They onslaught things like, "I've fto spell of nan petition to matter. And that's freed up nan abstraction for maine to beryllium genuinely creative." That's idealistic, I know, but it is really I bladed to spot things.