It should come as no surprise that Cory Richards we chose our interview time to enter his 10,000 steps. And that 10,000 steps would end up being more like 20,000. Whether it's climbing to the top of the world or paddling through crocodile-infested waters, the former professional mountaineer and award-winning photographer it has thrived on perpetual motion and pushing past boundaries.

Richards' career as a restless adventurer has been marked by incredible (and literal) ascents, including climbing Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and being the first and only American to reach the world's highest peak, Gasherbrum II of Pakistan, in winter. It is also marked by horrific near-death experiences, including being engulfed in an avalanche while descending Gasherbrum II. (See his award-winning self-portrait taken moments after he dug his way up.)

Related: 4 Leadership Lessons I Learned from a Mountain Climbing Crisis

Richards' latest book, The Color of Everything: A Journey to Calm the Chaos Withinis a memoir documenting his career and travels, as well as the mental health and personal struggles he has battled throughout his life, such as when he was diagnosed with Bipolar 2 at the age of 14. We talked about the lessons he's learned in perseverance and how he hopes his journey from a runaway teenager to a man standing on top of the world will help others find their purpose.

In this book, you are incredibly honest about the struggles in your personal and professional life—some of the problems you write about were self-inflicted and caused others a lot of pain. What was it like sitting down to write it all?
In the book deep work, the author talks about meaningful experiences starting with a grand gesture. I was lucky enough to get a portion of my book in advance and use it to go elsewhere to work on it. I realized when I was in LA, I'm not writing. So once I got myself out of there, I was able to immerse myself in the process. And it was so wonderful. I loved him. Of course, digging up painful history can be difficult, but even this seemed to have a real joy. It gave me a deep sense of purpose and I think it's something I honestly still struggle with. What is my purpose? And so when I have a project or I'm going on an expedition, it pushes me because it gives me this purpose.

Many inspirational images and memes feature someone climbing a mountain. Having done this, do you see any actual parallels between climbing and starting a business?
Mountain climbing is in many ways an entrepreneurial activity because the outcome is so uncertain. You know where you're going, you know what the goal is, but then there's a huge void between the couch and the top. So it's a step-by-step thing. Break it down into very digestible buckets. One would be physical ability, and that depends on putting in the work on training days. And then get into logistics. Like any business, you will have puzzles that require a certain degree of creativity to overcome. And of course, you have the financial implications – finding ways to fund this expedition is just like finding investors. And then you have the last part, which is the actual process of putting one foot in front of the other and navigating obstacles like bad weather, falling rocks, and avalanches. All of these things can end entrepreneurship, so it's very, very allegorical about the process of building a business.

Related: Ryan Devlin of the Struggle Climbing Show for Overcoming Obstacles

In 2011, you and your crew survived an avalanche and took an incredible photo of yourself right after finding your way to the surface. How does such an experience change your perspective?
The avalanche was such a visceral, physical experience. It was a kind of destruction because there was a deep fear of death, which is the totality of loss. You're crushing, you're jumping, it's chaotic. There is no security, there is a feeling of helplessness, extreme anxiety and there is a sense of wasting time. Not only the waste of the remainder of your time on Earth, but time itself seems to have a very different quality, a much more infinite quality. When the brain undergoes life-threatening experiences, its ability to process large amounts of information is awakened. It is an awakening, but the irony is that you are awakening in the last moments.

What changed in your life after that?
The avalanche created the gateway to everything that I've started to address and invest in, not only an introspection of myself and how the mind works and how the heart works, but also coming back from the destruction, from losing the war. In terms of entrepreneurship, if you're looking at a failure and thinking, 'Damn, I've lost everything,' you have to remember so many stories about the birth of great ideas that came from a sense of despair. We constantly fear failure, when in fact failure is often the door to success.

What do you think separates people who are adventurers and entrepreneurs?
I think we are all entrepreneurs because we are all creators who create a life around us. And I think the idea of ​​self-esteem is related to that. This can be a good thing or reflect something darker. Often, people who don't have much self-esteem try to prove that worth on the outside. But I think the most interesting creators in the entrepreneurial world are creating from a place of self-worth. They approach things like, “I've let go of the need to matter. And that's freed up space for me to be really creative.” That's idealistic, I know, but that's how I tend to see things.