"The Superpower Quest" First Draft is Done!

Earlier this month, I finished the first draft of my book, "The Superpower Quest!"

I officially started this journey seven months ago, with this post: https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/johnny-levy_enneagram-myersbriggs-ikigai-activity-7011165111155388416-P2DJ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

You can see, even in the comments for this post, how my community rallied around me.

Since then, I can't tell you how many people have checked on me, encouraged me, and held me accountable. My beautiful wife Sarah Levy supported and sacrificed to help me get to the finish line. I am immensely grateful to everyone who cared enough to speak into this project and give me feedback, support, and critique. You know who you are, and I am grateful to you.

What follows is the first chapter of the book, which should give you a full taste of what this book is about and what I am endeavoring to accomplish beyond the book. Please take a look, and give me your thoughts!

The Superpower Quest

Chapter 1: Start with the End

“Embrace your Design, impact your Community.” That's what this book is about.?

I go to a coffee shop in my town called “Loyal,” and it’s the best. That’s where my wife and I go to plan our life together, almost every week. The baristas are all young people, college-aged, and I am always struck by the welcoming culture and the emphasis on excellence. I’ve had several conversations with one young man who works there. We go deep and talk about some of the struggles his generation is facing in the current era, this age of speed and distraction that has left so many young people feeling burnt out and lonely. He’s passionate and vibrant and curious. We always have such awesome conversations!??

One day, I was meeting with my wife, and he came by the table. The three of us had a lively discussion about isolation, community, and redemption. We talked about how hard it is to grow without community, but how hard it is to find true community and mentorship. I talked about how rare it has been for most of my life for people to really see me, and really invest in me, which has fanned the flames of my dogged dedication to find my mentors at any cost, and expose myself to excellence at every turn. The young man resonated with me on that.?

He said, “I need someone to see my potential and pull me in.”?

I wish you could have seen his eyes, deep with longing and intensity.?

I felt that he had put words to what I felt my whole early life. I wonder how many people feel this and have never put it into words. I suspect that many of us, and especially the younger of us, are waiting for the “benevolent upperclassman” to notice us, grab our hand, and tell us how the world works. And maybe even tell us how we work. And it’s rare that this ever happens, because we are all so busy taking care of our own unwieldy lives. Many of us are treading water too hard to think about helping someone else stay above the surface.??

His phrase of longing was striking enough for me to include it here, right at the front of the book, as a sort of rally cry for what this book is about.?

This young man expressed a longing to be seen. To be noticed, to be recognized, to be called out for who he is. This only happens when others take the time from their busy lives to focus on someone else with a spirit of patience and curiosity.?

He also expressed a desire to be “pulled in.” Assembled. Collected. Invited into a community; able to contribute corporately. Grafted into something greater than himself.?

I believe these two basic desires -- to be known and leveraged -- are rampant in the hearts of most of us -- young and old alike. I believe these drives are part of what makes us human. I also believe they are two sides of the same coin. We want to be known, and we want to be assembled. Self-knowledge is important, and community is equally important. What good is it to be known, and to know yourself, if you don’t have the impetus or opportunity to leverage that knowledge in the place of your invitation, among the people who have invited you into a worthy goal? We were not made for stagnation and passivity. We were made for the heroic. It calls to us. Even in an age of distraction. Perhaps, especially so.?

This book is an attempt to address these two longings. It is an attempt to name them, and to equip the honest seeker with tools for self-exploration and for effective collaboration. Radical self-knowledge is the goal, but this doesn’t exist apart from using that knowledge to effectively benefit the people in your circles. Healthy self-interest flows outward into healthy investment in the world. I believe we were designed for this.?

My design? I’m a Connector. I love being with people, understanding people deeply, encouraging and connecting with people. I love watching people thrive in their gifts and reach their potential. I love making introductions between people that I think can mix together to make an explosive combination. I’m kind of a mad scientist that way.?

My wife Sarah sometimes sends me to the store for milk and eggs, and I'll come back an hour later with just milk (forgot the eggs) and a story of how I spent 30 minutes talking to my barista from Starbucks who happened to be shopping with his wife. On a first meeting, some people will tell me things that they don't tell anyone. This is my Superpower of Connection at work.

I was sitting at the auto repair shop, next to a rumpled man with gray hair and dirt beneath his fingernails. Neither of us really wanted to talk. And suddenly I thought, “Let’s see if the magic works every time.” I began asking him questions, out of the blue. I uncovered vulnerability, passion, and a story inside this man, waiting to be told. This man who almost tricked me into thinking he was commonplace.?

This book is the output of that love for humanity and the power of connection that gets me into so much adventure and trouble, and that fills my life with the faces and gifts and sufferings of so many fellow humans.

The great writer and philosopher C.S. Lewis said, "There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal …" I agree wholeheartedly. We are tragically glorious. We are angels in gutters, royals in restaurants, Michelangelos on bus benches. We are common, we are extraordinary.?

There are no ordinary people. You are no ordinary person. And this book is no ordinary book.

I’m starting with the end in mind. I’m picturing you at the end of this book. I'm picturing you closing the back cover, or shutting your Kindle, and taking a moment to close your eyes and reflect on the experience. I'm picturing the feeling you may have: Excitement. A sense of accomplishment. A calm clarity and a sense of confidence. A readiness. And most of all, a sense of your beauty and value, with a gentle acceptance of your flaws, and a zeal against your destructiveness, and an eagerness to give your gifts to the world.?

You will have invested many hours into figuring out how you specifically work, with your strengths and weaknesses. You will have a language for articulating your unique Superpower, and you’ll be able to accurately describe the things that hinder you from effectiveness (Kryptonite). You will be able to recognize your Supervillain, the part of you that destroys yourself and others, and you will be better equipped to punch that rapscallion in the face. Equipped with this self-knowledge, you will be better able to recognize the habits and systems you need to build into your life, and the kinds of people that you need to link arms with for accelerated progress.?

But I don’t want to stop there.?

As a Connector, I want this book to be the beginning of an ongoing relationship. I want to create a community of people with radical self-knowledge and a common language, and experiment with what’s possible if we work together. I have created an online portal where we can Join Forces to put the principles of this book into action. Each chapter will have a “call to action” for you to join the “League of Superheroes” and input your Superpower Quest findings into your personal “Hero Profile.”?

We’ll talk more about this later, but for now, check out superpowerquest.com to begin taking action on this book, and joining with others on their journeys of self-discovery and enhanced impact.?

My goal for writing this book can be summed up in this phrase: “Embrace your Design, impact your Community.”?

You will hear this call repeated throughout this book, like a heartbeat. When all is said and done:?

1. I want you to know yourself better and feel more confident about your unique gifts.?
2. I want to equip and challenge you to put those gifts into practice for your joy and for the benefit of the communities in which you participate.?
3. And I want to connect with you and partner with you on that journey, far beyond this book.?

Now that we’ve started at the end, let's go back to the beginning, with my Origin Story, and the origin of this movement.?