How To Launch Your Dream When You Don't Have Time
/I started building Generation Distinct seven years ago. I left my job on staff at a church to pursue this dream God had given me and picked up 5 odd jobs that would give me the flexibility I needed while also paying me enough to get by.
Nannying
Coaching Middle Schoolers Volleyball
Teaching Music Lessons to kids
Editing blog articles for a non-profit
Running the Social Media for a startup
I quickly found that although I had planned to use the time in between each job to build Generation Distinct from the ground up, that time would often slip away into running errands, helping out a family member, taking a long phone call from a friend, doing laundry, or answering emails.
All of these are good & important things. However, when I had such limited time to invest in my dream, I had to prioritize it. If I had been waiting for time to start a nonprofit, I would have never done it.
Instead, I realized that if I wanted anyone to respect what I was doing, I was going to need to respect it first. You show respect to your vision by treating it less like a hobby and more like work.
I went to my calendar each week and I blocked out time to work on this dream I had called, “Generation Distinct.” But I intentionally labeled that block of time in my calendar not as “dream-building.” Instead, I labeled it, “Work.”
It is too easy to sleep through or schedule over a dream. But no one can simply forget to “go to work” one day.
I would guess you have never called your boss to say, “So sorry, I really wanted to come into work today…but now is the only time I could run to the store so I will just be coming into work a few hours late today.”
Or. “I really wanted to finish the project you told me was due today…but I haven’t felt inspired so I will just give it to you next week.”
Or, “I know I really should be at the mandatory staff meeting right now, but my friend really needs a ride to the airport.”
Too many of us are treating our dreams like a hobby we wish we had more time to invest in.
We come up with many reasons why we shouldn’t invest in our dream, therefore we don’t prioritize it and we allow other people to speak for our time.
We don’t treat our dream like work…we treat it like a hobby.
So why are we surprised when our dream stays just that…a hobby?
If you want your dream to one day be your full-time work, you have to start treating it like work right now.
The dreams you treat like hobbies stay hobbies.
The dreams you treat like work become work.