The future belongs to those who are building the answers to the questions that don't yet exist. The separating factor for influencers and everyday people is that an influencer is anticipating a question no one is thinking, and they decide to build an answer to that question before it comes. Throughout history, we find that the most influential individuals were those who created things in a time that forced them to be labeled weird or strange. We see an example of this in the life of Noah as he built the ark. Let’s look at Genesis 5:9-15,
9 This is the account of Noah and his family.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.
10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence.
12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.
13 So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
14 So make yourself an ark of cypress[c] wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it:
God gives Noah an answer to a coming question, and then he tells him specifications for building the solution. As an influencer are you tuned in to hear what is coming in our world and preparing the answer? The reality is our vision must be consumed with the problem we were created to solve. God's plan of preservation connected to what he gave Noah. Noah was discouraged many times, as I'm sure he was mocked and antagonized for building something that didn't make sense at the time. Every company I've ever established was out of the need to answer a future question.
If you build for the present, your "answer" will become obsolete, but if you study the future and create with that in mind, your "answer" will be a generational solution. The missing element to the vision conversation is asking the critical question of "what problem will this initiative or venture solve?" In the time that we live in, it is vitally important that we have more than just a good idea or aspiration but that we have a vision that is changing the way we think, live and see life.
Today's visionaries need to focus on more than money, fame, platforms, etc. they need to focus on building what will change the course of history. Noah built something that there was no model or blueprint for prior. Noah becomes a history maker but created a form of transportation that changed the course of history.
We realize from this account that Noah was building a solution to a future problem, but how did he finance it? How does one finance a vision that speaks to the future while you have present financial needs?
I want to share with you a few thoughts concerning funding a big vision:
1. Don't lower the size of your dream due to limited funds
2. Do what you can with what you have
3. Work on acquiring your budget in small increments
4. Finding low-cost ways to get big things accomplished
5. Eliminate unnecessary personal expenses to make room to fund your dream
It takes money to build anything of significance. However, money should never deter a visionary from building what's in their heart.
In 2020, I want to encourage you to build BIG solutions because that's what you're doing when you develop your vision!
