Tell the Dream

Blogging (even video blogging) comes and goes for me these days. I rarely share links of interest here, instead doing it via Twitter.

But, I don't find myself at a loss for creative output or for sharing my takes on things. That's mainly because I get a lot of email from people asking me questions. I'm happy to reply as it allows for intimate idea sharing, as well as a natural back-and-forth that I enjoy.

Nonetheless, after a recent exchange with a friend who has some big ideas, I kept telling him to share his vision with as many people as possible. He's never short on ambition or big dreams – he just has trouble when it comes to implementing these dreams, mainly because he's not quite sure what the first step is.

So, whenever you have big dream and are left to wonder what the first step is, it's this:

Tell as many people as possible.

Big dreams require lots of things to become a reality. They require other people on board, a big social network, some financing, lots of time, a stroke or two of luck and an entire list of things that I'm too lazy to come up with right now.

The only way you can begin to get the things you need to turn your dream into reality is to bring more people to the table. So, that's the first thing to do when you have a big dream. Tell as many people as possible.

Here's why:

• You'll know if your idea is stupid. If you start sharing your idea with people and a lot of them think your idea won't work, that it's worthless or they don't want to be involved, then you'll know that you need to scrap it or drastically change it. This will end up saving you time, heartache and even money.
• You'll know how quickly your idea will happen. When you tell people, maybe half of them will want in, maybe most of them will want some kind of involvement, or maybe all of them will call you a genius. By gauging the level of excitement about what you're trying to do, you'll have a rough idea of the difficulty of your idea, as well as the time commitment needed to make it happen.
• You'll be able to move on to step two. When something (a new nonprofit, a business idea, a community initiative) is just beginning, there are countless ways you could go, innumerable next steps and it all can get confusing. Sharing your idea with others will help you determine what the next step is. If you want to build a building and you tell your idea to an architect and she loves it, then maybe it's time to draw up some plans.

Of course, someone could steal your idea. If you're worried about that, then don't tell the kind of people who steal ideas. If you know those kinds of people, you should stop being friends with them.