What makes someone a Visionary?

Please hand me the ingredients...

I think the first necessary ingredient for being a Visionary is to be idealistic. Often frowned upon, idealistic people see the world not as it is but as it could be. They compare the present to the possible future. This creates a pain point in them, which makes them unwilling to accept the status quo as permanent. They begin looking for ways to disrupt the shortcomings of society.

The second necessary ingredient for being a Visionary is to see the future before others do. Unlike a psychic who sees the future "as-is", a Visionary sees the future through the binoculars of "what-if". A Visionary sees past reality and gazes upon "ideality". When they see what could be, it frustrates them to sit idle.

When they are ready (meaning: when the frustration becomes too strong) and courage is obtained, they spring forward on their mission to change the world and make it ideal (or at least better in some way). They actively spread the word and evangelize their vision of the future, which often attracts a few followers (early adoptors) to their cause. Through the power of social proof, their followers grow in number and their vision becomes less of an "ideality" and more of a reality.

Pick a flavor...

I think Visionaries come in all shapes, sizes and flavors. The world is full of Visionaries we never hear about because they are too afraid to act on their vision. The ones we hear about often, are the ones who have courageously executed their vision. Throughout history, there have been countless Visionaries who have made the world a better place (Jesus Christ, Christopher Columbus, Ben Franklin, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, etc.), and Visionaries who have made it a worse place (dictators such as Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, etc.).

Regardless of their motives, each one of these Visionaries envisioned the future before most of their generation and then courageously went out and made their ideality the world's reality. Will you?

Wanna know my vision...

I am on a mission to make entrepreneurship easy (or at least easier). To do so, I am co-creating a entrepreneurial habitat called CoCreativ, where people wanting to add value to the world through their projects or businesses can meet to launch, sustain and grow their visions.

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