Maybe it’s one you’ve never told anyone about, or haven’t fully admitted to yourself. Most of us carry ideas like this: visions we never act on because we lack the time, confidence or skills to turn them into reality.
Not every idea is meant to be built. Learning to tell the difference is an ongoing lesson for me. But when I get clarity that something is meant to happen, acting on it has almost always been empowering, even when it doesn’t turn out as hoped.
Helping people launch things is one of my favorite parts of my coaching and consulting work. The clients I love working with most know what they want to build, but fear, isolation or not knowing where to start has kept it stuck as an idea instead of a plan. If that’s you, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
Below are two recent projects of mine, one that worked and one that didn’t, and how both still felt like a win.
What worked: Our Freedom Festival
A month ago, I watched one of the most rewarding projects of my career come to life: the inaugural Our Freedom Festival, a day-long Bay Area celebration of freedom, justice, music and movement(s).
My co-creator and I took this on knowing it would be the biggest, most complex event either of us had organized. We hired performers, set up fiscal sponsorship, brought on a virtual assistant and built a production team. There were real stretches where we didn’t know if it would happen at all. Watching it come together, and hearing from attendees and performers what it meant to them, made the work worth it.
What didn’t: our cohousing project
I’ve spent years trying to build long-term communal living in the East Bay, an alternative to raising a family in isolation. Four and a half months ago, my family found a property that felt like the one: six homes on a single lot. We talked to about 60 people about the vision, had hard conversations about money, learned the legal and financial mechanics of co-buying, and built a group of 10 adults and four kids ready to buy it.
Our real estate agents called it the most complicated deal they’d ever worked. Getting an accepted offer felt like a small miracle. Then inspections turned up enough necessary work to make the property unaffordable, and we walked away.
I could tell this as a story about losing to the Bay Area housing market. Or as a story about a group of people who worked hard for a shared dream and, even though this property didn’t work out, walked away with a real team still committed to the path.
Both are a form of power
Self-efficacy comes from your ability to turn a spark of passion into action, or to consciously decide not to. Even if you don’t “win,” it’s not a failure. Bringing ideas to life creates good in your life, and spreads goodness beyond what you’re even aware of.
What’s the project you’re sitting on? If you’re ready to bring a vision to reality, or know someone who is, reach out.