There is a great clip of the artist Kendrick Lamar playing his "wackest" song, laughing at himself the whole way through. Most musicians will tell you the same thing: you write the bad songs before you write the good ones.
I have started six books and finished none of them.
The first was in 2008, a teenage version of the certified classic The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. It revealed my limitations as a fiction writer and my lack of original ideas. The second, in 2013, set out a new model for selling built on truthfulness, humility and integrity. I never found the balance between writing something useful to people in sales and sounding like an over-zealous activist. Then came a book about volunteering, another about humanitarian aid, a biography of Kanye West, and a sixth that is too complicated, and too stupid, to explain.
I don't mind the failures. They sharpened whatever skill I have. They brought me to the point where I think I can write a book of meaning and I hope, value.
The book tells the story of a man almost nobody has heard of, yet everyone who knew him adored him. His name was Harry Hanks. I have met many people who told me that Harry saved their life. Each moved me to tears.
Harry cared for the excluded: people too traumatised to live alongside the rest of us, people who had given up hope, people who had done harm to themselves and to others, some of them close to death. He was there at their lowest. He took responsibility for them. He showed them that they were more than the pain behind them. He did it all in the shadows. He never announced his good deeds, and he went out of his way to avoid recognition.
I hope the book moves others to follow him and be a shining light in service of others. All proceeds will go to The Shining Light Project. If you would like updates, you can sign up for our mailing list here, where I will share early versions and passages from the book. For now, I will leave you with something I came across, by a writer I cannot name, that captures who Harry was:
"There are people whose hearts are pure, in whom there is no pride, who are humble, who look upon every living being as their friend, who treat everyone equally with tenderness and love and wish to do good. It is in these people that light shines both inwards and outwards." (Source unknown)
Thank you for reading. Take care of yourself and others.
Much love,
Benjamin
If this story has left you thinking about your own purpose, we run an online course called Living With Purpose: seven modules, at your own pace, that help you work out what matters most to you and what to do about it. You can learn more here.
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