How are you flowing through time?
- Michael Edmondson
- Apr 16, 2019
- 2 min read
Today is April 16 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How are you flowing through time?”
Michael Punke wrote The Revenant, a 2002 book inspired by the life of frontiersman Hugh Glass.
While it took over ten years for Hollywood to translate Punke’s work into the big screen, Alejandro G. Iñárritu directed the 2015 picture starting Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy, the story of how Punke wrote the book serves as another example of a successful person learning to create options by engaging in subtle maneuvers.
Punke grew up in Torrington, Wyoming where he and his brother engaged in various outdoor activities such as fishing, hunting, hiking, and mountain biking while growing up.
He graduated George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs and then Cornell Law School where he focused on trade law and became Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell International Law Journal.
He worked as a government staffer for Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), and served at the White House as Director for International Economic Affairs and was jointly appointed to the National Economic Council and the National Security Council.
While working in Washington, D.C. Punke had a desire to write a political novel but nothing caught his interest.
Once he came across the story of frontiersmen Hugh Glass however, he knew he discovered the topic for his novel.
According to Tim Punke, Michael’s brother, Michael “used to get up at five in the morning, go into work and write for three hours, and then he do his job for eight or ten hours.”
The book took four years to complete and the final year was particularly intense as Punke caught pneumonia four times finishing the novel.
While working a full-time job Punke engaged in subtle maneuvers for four years until he completed his novel.
Although initial sales were disappointing, Punke sold the movie rights to his book in 2001 to with producer Akiva Goldsman and 14 years later The Revenant was launched as a major motion picture.
Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata observed “Time flows in the same way for all human beings; every human being flows through time in a different way.” To flow through his time Michael Punke persistently applied himself to writing his book over 4 years and then waiting another 14 for it to become a major motion picture.
How are you flowing through time?
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