How To Start Talking About Your Dream
/Generation Distinct started with a Blog.
I first had the vision and idea to equip the next generation of leaders to make wrong things right in the world when I was 16 years old. However, I really had no idea how to turn that dream into a reality.
So, I started with something that felt accessible and practical.
I bought a domain name, created a simple website and started pouring out the passion I carried into writing.
That domain? Yep, you guessed it. It was www.GenerationDistinct.com
For a year or so, when I was 19-20 year old, www.GenerationDistinct.com was simply the place where I wrote about this burning desire I had within me to help more young adults step into their callings and make wrong things right in the world. I was still working full time jobs, but I would write early in the morning, sneak away during my lunch break or stay up late at night pounding away at my keyboard trying to express my passion and vision into a blank, white document on a screen.
Halfway through 2016, I made the choice to leave my full time job and take side hustles to support myself to launch what is now Generation Distinct. But… I didn’t know how to talk about it. I didn’t know how to say, “I’m leaving because that Blog I started from a Panera in my neighborhood will one day be an organization that reaches young adults around the world.” I mean…wouldn’t that sound crazy to people?
I knew the massive vision I was chasing after. But I didn’t know how to tell other people about it.
A week before my last day I sat in a living room of one of my friends homes. As we all shared updates with each other I hesitantly shared, “I am leaving by job to….spend more time working on my blog.”
I left it there because I felt unsure of how it would come across for me to tell them the full, audacious vision I was really working towards. Because I wasn’t sure how they would react, I diminished the dream itself.
But here is what I learned. If you speak little of your dream others will think little of your dream.
Next time someone asks you what you are doing with your life, you don’t have to tell them the thing that makes you money. That isn’t want they asked you.
Tell them the thing that you were born to do. Every time someone asks you that question is a free opportunity to spread the message of what you are trying to build. Don’t waste a single opportunity.
A couple of weeks into this new season of side hustling and dream building, I was walking around the grocery store near my parents home when I ran into a woman I knew from my childhood. She lived in my parents neighborhood and she also happened to be successful entrepreneur.
And of course, that question came up again, But, this time I was ready. She asked me, “What are you doing now?”
I took a deep breath, looked at her right in the face and said, “I am starting an organization.”
This moment changed everything. She told me she wanted to meet with me to hear more.
A couple of weeks later, we sat in a coffee shop and I poured all of my big dreams and visions out to her.
She started meeting with me every other week, coaching me in business, leading me through SWAT analysis’, helping me develop our customer journey and more.
Today, she is the President of the Board of Generation Distinct and one of the most influential voices in my life and the life of GenD over the last 8 years.
And this was all because I had a moment of courage to tell the truth about what I felt called to build.
All you need is a moment of courage. Share the dream. Cast the vision. You never know who might hear and end up changing you entire life